My friends dole out advice in bursts of random clarity and unapologetic honesty.

Some of their offhand comments have struck me as profound and meaningful. So I’ve pulled together a list of such quotes for your amusement. Enjoy ☺

1. Eat a Snickers, lie down. Tell me if you’re still stressed about it.
2. Just buy the damn dress/shoes/coat/books!
3. Stand up, roll your shoulders back and take a deep breath. You got this!
4. Stop crying over boys who can’t read basic Financial Statements (borrowed from @TheBig4Accountant)
5. Remember where you came from, but don’t be insecure because of it.
6. If it costs you…

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a popular novel by Oscar Wilde. It tells the story of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray whose enchanted portrait bears the scars of his old age and his sins while his own body never grows old nor develops any visible signs of decay or disability. Dorian sells his soul to make this happen.

Transforming into a werewolf was unpleasant enough, but to have it happen in front of his crush was plain devastating.

He tried to form the words to apologize but instead all that came out was a mournful, "Awoooooooooooooo".

How Lumin wished he hadn't left the house that day.

…...

Valentin "Lumin" Zykov was 13 years old when his first transformation happened.

He was sitting at the dinner table at his boarding school and suddenly the hair on his hands and forearms started to grow at an alarming pace. …

Arthur has always been able to see the clock that is sewn on everyone’s heart.

“It’s a gift”, his mother tells him when he is 5 years old, “You’re a timewright, just like your grandfather.”

Arthur does not understand but he nods anyway.

Years pass, and Arthur learns that everyone has a clock on their heart that only he can see.

But each person’s clock ticks at the pace of their heartbeat. Because of this, the time on one person’s heart never matches the time on another person’s. …

Sometime in 2016, I discovered that I suffer from GSA.

GSA refers to “Gnawing Sense of Anxiety”. It’s a feeling of dread that creeps up on me when I am working on something — whether at work or on a personal project. It’s the unshakeable feeling that I should be doing something else other than the things that I am currently doing. That I’ve ‘mis-prioritised’ my work and things will fall apart soon.

I started my career believing that every email is top priority and every task is super important, so it was only natural for me to develop GSA.

…

Years are not easily cooked — most times they are eaten raw and discarded without so much as a parting glance. Sometimes they are deep-fried with generous quantities of the self-doubt oil rendering them painfully tasteless in the process. Occasionally, they are baked for long durations at ungodly high temperatures and overloaded with greed-icing that leaves a bitter aftertaste following each bite.

The following recipe is designed to help you cook your years in a way that is right for you.

Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a culinary prodigy to attempt this recipe.

All you need is an…

Anyone who has ever been on a fitness journey realizes 2 things very early on:

1. The number on the weighing scale doesn’t drop very quickly even if you’re doing killer workouts everyday
2. Your motivation for the initial days comes primarily from wanting to keep your workout streak going (looking at all you folks doing the 30-day summer shred challenge from Chloe Ting — full disclosure, I’m one of them too :-) )

You might notice the following intangible benefits which no one else can see as proof of your progress:

• You feel physically stronger
• Your energy levels are generally high…

“If you’re failing to plan, then you’re planning to fail”

I heard this sentence for the first time when I was a CA student.

My classmates and I were listening to a guest speaker who was talking to us about the importance of having a well planned study schedule before taking the exams.

He ended his speech with, "if you’re failing to plan, then you’re planning to fail" , to resounding applause from the already stressed audience.

Many years of study plans and harrowing exams later, I've come to realise that while the advice around planning was quite sound, it's…