5 Killer Habits: Be A Rebel

The main idea behind being a rebel is the act of questioning. In the very beginning of the text, a rebel’s duties are defined: think differently from society’s collective mindset, take nothing that is not backed with valid logic at face value, and above all, lead and care for your people. These exact words act as a guideline for what we can expect from this text. Yet, there is so much more.

I have always read books like 5 Killer Habits with one thing in mind- how much can I relate to it? How much of my current self can I connect to it? In the very first chapter of this text, the line ‘a trick to keeping good habits is to pair them with another habit,’ resonated heavily with what I was doing while reading the book till that point. As someone who enjoys the idea of waking up at 5AM but never really succeeds in doing so, this chapter was a great motivation. The idea of pairing my favorite hobby (listening to music) to walking in the morning every day suddenly seemed like a reachable idea.

I have now faced some deeply jarring facts about India- our country is the second most sleep-deprived in the world. It makes me wonder why exactly many of us are missing out on so much sleep, even when we have a roof over our heads? Why did I, as a 11-year-old, stay up at night and wake up so early? For many, the reason might be different. Knowing the root cause can help one follow the truth of this book. Thankfully, I had already cultivated the habit of reading before sleeping every day, so there is one thing going well in this regard.

In all the almost 20 years of my life, what have I done for others? Chapter 2 had me wondering about how I can answer this question. Of course, I have been brought up well by my parents. I would like to think I have the basic human decency to treat others kindly ingrained in me. Giving your seat to the elderly, feeding the occasional stray dog, donating your clothes, they are all small acts that make differences that can change lives. They are the essence of volunteering- because volunteering starts with you.

From helping those nearest to you, to helping as many as you can, with volunteering you become, if only for the briefest moment, their heroes. Volunteering also opens a path for networking- you meet compassionate people that share your mindset, people who you can join hands with to help the world. You become a leader with a kind heart, ready to lead all those that need your help, and with this you find out your life’s purpose, your reason to live. A person who knows why they are living on this earth will live longer. It is love and human compassion tethering us to this world, which is why we should cherish it.

Even in death you can live longer, a part of you surviving in another’s body, which is possible when you become a donor. You save a life and leave a trace of yourself for a while longer than even death can stop. Donating your organs after death or donating your body for research gives the shell you leave behind a purpose, a value. If that’s not something you wish to do, donating blood is also a major act for saving countless lives, and your own from heart attacks and poor health. And even if you can’t do these acts, you can save the world itself.

What is a ‘dromomaniac’? The text describes the term as someone who is enthusiastic about travelling. This concept parallels the idea of a ‘pilgrimage’, something many of us might have gone on, usually to famous holy places. This idea is extremely important today. Don’t just pack your bags and go travelling with friends or family, try the idea of travelling solo. When we travel with another, we tend to place greater importance on their thoughts, views and opinions than our own. This doesn’t help us understand ourselves as much as we could have if we travelled solo. When we travel by ourselves, we will start placing value on the littlest things and live a life unconstrained by our current identity. Such a life would fill you with a love for living in the moment, and greater appreciation for your friends and family.

The top 5 regrets of the dying, as explained by the book, are: not be true to oneself, working so hard you end up doing nothing else for yourself, never expressing your true feelings, losing connections with people once close to you, and never letting yourself to be happier. This is the pain before death, our own regrets about how we lived snatching us away from a painless departure from life. If you can go on a journey all alone, spend your time reading and volunteering for a good cause, you could have a life of no regrets.

Since the third standard, I have had a habit of reading. From store signs and posters to novel series- I have practically devoured words, mostly fictional with the occasional non-fictional works making a part of my reading list. In each book I have seen a different life and lived it like my own. My love for reading is so immense I have feared death itself for it could stop me from knowing my favorite book’s end whenever it comes.

Words have continuously evolved since the day we could produce them and are now in this form they have taken today which would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. This is the growth of language, imitating the human lifetime with its development. The development has also brought many changes over the centuries to our holy scriptures and epic texts, becoming a version distorted from the original due to different human perceptions. To create these individual perceptions and still perceive others’ intents, reading is extremely important. We grow to empathize, see different angles of events, and realize other people’s understanding, thus making better informed decisions in our life. The best thing to do for this is reading non-fictional texts that fill you with knowledge outside your prescribed school texts. Reading also helps you delay your gratification and teach you the patience needed to postpone your selfish pleasure. Experiments have proven these facts well, so reading is important to succeed in life.

When you are curious about something, you yearn to know more about it and ask questions that lead to answers that feed you thirst for more. This curiosity is what brought humanity to its current state- a development over the centuries that has led us to our current life of comfort. Of course, this isn’t the end of staying curious, you must keep questioning and discovering, and all this starts with intent.

Try to find the intent of the author who has written the book you wish to read. How about starting with the very book I have talked of till now? Get the ebook for free here: https://amzn.in/d/2qS8gGj