Of Fixed Mindsets & Prejudices!

I never understood why people in escalators start climbing the steps that are already moving upwards.

I never understood why people would go through the torture of getting their ears pierced again, just to wear a small stone.

I never understood how people appreciate Sambar Vadai even when its USP – It’s crispiness – being completely lost.

All of us have our own unique ways of doing things. While some of us are open to experimenting with different methods every time, some of us stick to what we know the best even at the cost of not even attempting another easier or better method. While some people believe that there are many ways to perform something in the right way, some people believe that there is just one right way to do anything and it’s their way. Though we might not belong to either of these extremes our mind constantly juggles between any one of the two states.

One such day, my mind was somewhere along how could people do this, to do people actually think doing this is better than doing it the way I do it. I kept wondering why certain people would do the aforementioned things. When I mentioned about this to my mother, who is an ardent fan of Sambar Vadai, she asked me how I could come to a conclusion without trying any of them. Having realized that the problem was with my understanding, I tried to attempt the said activities.

I climbed the stairs of the escalator while it was still moving upwards and realized it doesn’t make much of a difference other than saving a few seconds. So if that few seconds matter a lot of certain people, perhaps that’s the reason they choose to do it. My sister wanted to get her ears pierced (second ring) for a very long time and everytime she told me about it, I would discourage her as I really wasn’t into that idea and wondered whether the result would be worth the pain. One fine day, my sister and I went to the store, got a new set of ear rings and pierced our ears. I have invested in a few more second ear rings and I love the way it makes me look. Whenever my Grandma made Sambar Vadai or Curd Vadai, she used to save a few crispy ones for me as she knew I did not have much of a preference to the ones soaked in Sambar and Curd. One day, on a whim I ordered a plate of Sambar Vadai. Though I’m not a very big fan, I did enjoy the different taste and texture of the Vadai. I emptied my plate it minutes, but wasn’t sure if I’d order it again. (Update : I did!).

Once I’d tried all these things, I realized those weren’t bad after all, and I was trying to figure out why my mind was so prejudiced in the first place. Probably an overpowering influence or just that I found something that works for me and stuck it to for the sake of convenience. But I’m unable to remember how something that worked for my convenience, got promoted as the best possible way to get something done. No idea how that happened. It was amusing to note how opinionated my mind was for such silly things and how I’d stuck to it all along. For someone who considered herself flexible, I was surprised. I made a mental note to try and analyze how I make my decisions (starting with certain simple tasks) and understand if there were any fixed mindsets involved.

Anyway, now that I’m in this let-me-get-rid-of-my-prejudices mode, I felt this couldn’t have come at better time than this. As we step into yet another amazing year, it does make me feel good that I’m trying to step into the new year with an open mind. If I can change the way I think and look at the small things in life, it will definitely impact the way I think and analyze the more important things in life.

This did not start off as a new year resolution, but if you want to do something then – why not? 😉

Happy New Year 🙂

Do you mind sharing any such incident which made you realize that you were prejudiced for no reason? How did you react once you learned about it?