When life gives you lemons...

...they say, u make lemonade...But you know what? Sour lemons can only lead to sour lemonade, no matter how much sugar you put in...Adding other flavors doesn't help either...So what do you do then? Live with the fact that you got sour lemons? Make a yucky lemon pie? Say "lemon who"? Develop a liking for other, probably tastier, fruits?

Its one of the toughest conundrums in life. This might sound cliched, but how you react to the downsides in life defines how far you can go. It could be a personal issue, a professional setback, or even a psychological thing; how you face it and how quickly you can bounce back will more or less decide how quickly you can rise from the ashes. Alrit, enough of the Paulo Coelho-esque crap (If you are wondering whether I am a Coelho fan, lemme put it this way - I prefer a hamming Suneil Shetty to his books, that should put your doubts to rest...For those confused by the phrase "hamming Suneil Shetty", check this) ....Moving on to why I have been rambling about life, lemons and all kinds of random stuff...

People who have been dumped on e-mail, who have been stood up on their 4th date, who have been left at the altar, who have had to say goodbye to someone they have been with for more than half their lives, and who have seen the Mallika Sherawat, Rahul Bose starrer Pyaar Ke Side Effects, you all know what I'm talking about when I say "Break-up Ke Side Effects"...While the process by itself is painful, the aftermath may not be as bad as you may have imagined....

1. You suddenly have a lot of time on hand

Because something you thought about for 23 out of 24 hrs in the day till now is something you want to forget asap. So, suddenly you have time for all the things you had been postponing all these days for "lack of time" or some such weird reason. You can now register for that dance class you have been wanting to do for quite some time, play some sports, go talk to that pretty girl you have been wanting to talk to for a while but kept avoiding lest something serious come out of it....its time to start living for yourself for a change...

2. You are free to make your own decisions

Because that someone for whom you changed 11 out of 10 decisions no longer matters as much (not because you dont care any more, but because you have to make an effort to not care any more), you suddenly find yourself basing your decisions on what YOU want to do, rather than stuff like what will he/she feel, does he/she like it, will he/she have fun, does he/she dig it, yada yada...Its time to enjoy being in control of your life!

3. You can make friends with anyone!

Because you no longer have to worry about potentially inappropriate advances, inadvertent complications and jealous backlashes, you are free to meet new people, especially those belonging to the opposite sex, and try and strike a connect! Its time to forge new friendships, something you could do only to an extent till now because you had to devote so much time and energy to that special someone. Its time to get out on the dance floor of life and jive with new buddies!

4. You can reconnect with old friends like never before!

Because of 1, you have lots of spare air-time that can be put to good use by trying to rebuild relationships/friendships you could (unintentionally) give only so much time to, because that special someone demanded more of your attention! Its time to get back to pre-rel times and rock the floor, friendship-style!

5. You save A LOT!

Because you dont need to spend on gifts and on looking/being the way someone else wants you to look/be like, you can stop spending on relatively useless stuff and keep the money for stuff that really matters- good food and latest gadgets! This, friends, is a real saver and probably the biggest material side-effect, or should I say advantage!

6. You can go after your dreams!

Because the only person majorly affected in long-term by your decisions now is you, you can reopen that wish-list and finally try to make a serious effort towards making at least a couple of things written there true! Nobody/nothing stops you from going for what your heart wants, and has always wanted!

7. You can be genuinely happy!

Not that you weren't happy before! But you no longer need to suffer from an external focus of identity! Happiness can finally come from within, based only on how happy YOU are!

Pretty positive eh? Life post-breakup aint so bad! :) Its best to enjoy this phase before the next one beckons and history begins to repeat itself! :)