Hey rockstars,

I hope you’ve all been good! There has been a lot going on in my end but the only thing I want to talk about today is this past weekend, when I was surrounded by warmth.

This past weekend one of my family friends got married and I did a dance at the wedding with one of my best friends! Of course it’d been weeks of putting together music and dance moves (on her part) and weeks of me saying “Shoot I need to learn this dance.” Thank god for Friday evening, when I finally went over to her place and we practiced, tweaked, and perfected it. If I do say so myself, the dance went perfectly! But on a more humble note, I absolutely love dancing at my friends’ weddings. Especially if it’s an Indian wedding, then you basically never leave the dance floor because you’re dancing to both English and Bollywood bops.

But the best part of my weekend actually happened Sunday morning. I met up with three of my family friends after a long time (besides seeing them on Saturday at the wedding): Sid, Sav, and Shrey. That morning with them instantly became one of my top ten most relaxing mornings. It was a fairly spontaneous hangout—Shrey was visiting from across the country, and I wanted to squeeze in time together before he flew back home.

So I went over to Sid and Sav’s house to see the three of them and sat in their living room as I waited for the promised coffee that lured me over there in the first place. We’re sitting and catching up, and as lovely as it is, they’re all cozy… and I’m coffee-less. I’m thinking: “… Do I suggest it now? Do I just ask them to make me some?”

Finally, when my brain cells pulled themselves together long enough to formulate “Sandhya + X = happiness,” where X = coffee, pastry, flowers, etc., I managed to speak:

“Soo… no pressure or anything, but if we’re not going out then can I have a coffee, and if not, then can we .. go…?”

Thank god I did because then Sid was like “oh yes yes, let’s get you a coffee.” I followed him into the kitchen, where he poured me a cup. It smelled amazing—but when I asked for cream and sugar, they all looked at me like I was an alien. Awesome. I’m surrounded by three sociopaths who drink black coffee.

I took a sip, immediately handed it to Shrey, and said, “Yeah, you can have this.”

The great thing about old friends is they can read your mind, so I didn’t have to say much. Shrey just went, “Okay, let’s not ruin Sandhya’s morning—let’s get her a latte.” They finally understood the urgency when Sid asked, “Did you have any coffee today?” and I practically shouted “NO!” They correctly interpreted this as “If you want me to keep my sunny disposition, haul ass.”

Long build-up aside, the coffee—and the company—were great. We caught up on life, talked about building a life we’re happy with, family dynamics, pet peeves, horoscopes, and being brave in new and completely unknown experiences. It was one of those conversations where, even if you haven’t seen someone in forever, you slip right back into your rhythm because you were once so close.

One thing I loved was when we were eating and came up with a “challenge” for the person to our right: a way to tap into our artistic or creative side. My challenge? Start pottery and learn how to make latte art. What I loved is that the challenge wasn’t framed as, “Based on your personality, you should do this,” but instead, “Based on your personality, you could do this.” That shift from should to could felt so much more hopeful, like these were hobbies and parts of myself just waiting to be unlocked.

Eventually we made it back to Sid and Sav’s and ended up sitting around, talking about mindfulness, meditation, and books—especially The Artist’s Way, a workbook I bought and started that same day. I’m not a big group meditation person—to paraphrase Rory Gilmore, “I view [meditating] as a solitary activity.” But when Sid suggested we meditate for five minutes, it turned out to be an overdue and much-needed pause.

I mentioned how my biggest struggle isn’t awareness—it’s being present. I’m always multitasking. Even when I’m relaxing, I’m thinking about everything I need to do. If I’m eating, I’m usually watching TV or working at the same time. And then Sid did one of my favorite things in the world: he stood up and said, “I have a book for you.” He walked over to one of his many bookshelves, pulled out a book he’d already read (and clearly loved, judging by the annotations in the margins), wrote a kind note inside, and handed it to me.

I’ve always felt that sharing things you love—your favorite books, songs, art, etc.—is a form of love. I love when someone says, “I read this and thought of you,” or “I made this painting and wanted you to see it.”

Sometimes, when my friend Neel and I are both working late, we’ll go through new albums together, like when TTPD came out, and we listened to the whole thing start to finish while working. Or when we haven’t talked in a bit, and he randomly messages, “Give me a song.” I think art is one of those little ways we show care.

I saw a quote on Instagram recently that said:
“It’s hard being an artist in this day and age because it feels like nothing matters, but also everything does.”

And maybe that’s why art matters now more than ever.

So maybe go ahead and share the things you love with someone you love today.

Next time you’re listening to a song you love, maybe send it to a friend and say, “This has been stuck in my head,” or “I just finished this book—it changed my life.” Or even the opposite: “I read this and didn’t get the hype at all.” Maybe we could all do a little better at sharing the things we love.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally figure out how to make hearts in my latte.

What’s a song, book, or piece of art you’ve been loving lately? Drop it in the comments below because I would love to check it out. 💛

Until next time!

xo

Sandhya

If you would like to celebrate my 30th year around the sun with me, then please click the follow or subscribe button! Feel free to connect with me through this platform, twitter, my coffee and checkins Instagram, my podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or Amazon Music, or email me at coffeeandcheckins@gmail.com! If you have any suggestions for topics or anything you’d like me to write/speak about, please let me know🙂❤