20 thoughts about Adulting as a 20 something year old!

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Ever wondered what becoming an adult would entail? It’s not always the glory

days and moments of abundant freedom that we wish we slip into sooner as we stare

wistfully at our TV screens. Infact its way more than that and all at once. But cross the

adulting period and look back, you’ll never want it any other way. Coming from someone

who’s in the struggle, read on to find out what I’ve learnt so far!

Whoever said being a millennial was an easy task, you better eat your words back

right NOW! It’s frightening, exciting, and a little skip-a-beat in your heart, with its fair

share of the awesome and not-so-awesome days. A tumultuous melting pot of

emotions, minus the PMS (For guys, it’s an inside joke!) and god forbid you have

them both together, may you have the strength to get through those days!

Then again, it isn’t all that bad. With all that new found freedom comes a teeny bit

more responsibility, which kind of consecutively increases as the days go by. The

truth is, “love” is not a word that gets automatically linked to adulting because it just

doesn’t seem to fit into a socially accepted standard of something “fun”. But hey, it’s

all one day at a time. Right?

After all, there are no extended playtimes, no tiffins to share and definitely no PT

classes. But somehow the process of blooming into an adult is as fascinating as it

gets (even without all the hormonal changes!)

So without further ado, let’s get into a few of the amazing and sometimes even humorous things that make adulting the totally awesome thing it is:

1. Your own place, your own space!

Getting a place of your own is a big step on the road to becoming a real adult!

And what can be more fun than to inject some of your personality into your

living space (even hello kitty wall hangings, if you’re into it!), without anyone

having to judge you for the better or worse! Just keep in mind not to go

overboard with the spending! Now might even be a good time to organise all

those totally casual group hangs which you always dreamt of!

2. Let’s go job hunting!

The irony of trying to get a new job is that doing so is in itself a full-time job —

and a particularly frustrating one. There are only so many trying-to-be-clever-

but-not-too-clever job-specific resume tweaks you can make before you’ll

want to run screaming from your apartment building. Overwhelming much?

3. Landing that first job!

Starting your first job after college is the first major transition. Your job might

take you to a new area, sometimes a new state, and could force you into a

new living arrangement! Remember how every movie about post-grad life

shows the protagonist landing his or her dream job either right off the bat or

after a few humorous trials and tribulations under an overbearing boss. In all

honesty, it’s never going to be like that. Your first may not even be your dream

job. But the text message of money being credited at the beginning of the

month will make it seem all worth it, I promise!

4. Aaaand.. Keeping that new job too!

If you’re working that routine 9-5, then you can fully expect prolonged periods

of sitting without the liberty of those frequent college breaks. Also, your new

routine might not be something that you have relative control over- which

probably means the days of staying out late and getting to sleep in on

weekdays are over. On the brighter side, you do gain a newfound

appreciation for the weekend when you’re living in adult land.

5. Don’t ignore your funds

If there is really something that adulting teaches you about, it’s definitely

managing your funds. It might be tempting to spend your entire salary on

something super special — and, by all means, you should be treating yourself

for your hard work. But the mistake we always do is to put off on any saving

plans till the last few days and sooner than ever you’ll again be back to

borrowing from your friends who won’t hesitate to rub it in! All in good fun

though.

6. While you’re at it don’t ignore your loans!

Many of us tend to depend on study loans for a major part of our education. A

big mistake we often make is to put off that loan repayment or to pay back the

minimum for as long as possible. And while parents definitely have our backs,

you can’t beat that feeling of pride when you do manage to schedule your

payments and get that burden off your shoulders.

7. Travelling in traffic!

When you were living on a campus where everything was close by, traffic

would have been the least of your worries! But if your employment takes you

to a new town or state, or even a few streets away from comfort, then

comprehending traffic patterns and being able to schedule in time to possibly

shower, do your hair and makeup and pack a lunch is a very real struggle. Ugh!

8. Eat well

Now we come to possibly the most important of them all! Rising early, working

out, eating a healthy breakfast and packing a wholesome meal can be pretty

overwhelming! To save yourself some time, try planning your meals ahead

and storing it in ready-to-pickup boxes (if all fails, order in. No judging here)

Remember taking care of your body should come first!

9. Rise and shine sleepyhead!

Waking up early Mon.–Fri. is hard enough, without trying to get a couple

chores done before you head out for work. It’s easy to talk yourself into hitting

the snooze button when the only person counting on you to wake up is

yourself. But early mornings can be a great way to maximize your time, as

well as to energize yourself before the day begins. Try out yoga; it becomes

even cooler as you keep growing!

10. Group Workouts

Trying to fit exercise into your early morning routine? A great way to make

getting fit in the mornings both easy and way more fun is to make a

commitment with one or more friends to meet up for an early-a.m. group jog

or badminton session(pick any sport you like). That way you get the best of

both, little catching up and a fit body (hopefully!).

11. Not every night is party night

This might be hard to initially accept, but college doesn’t last forever and so

doesn’t going out every weekday night. The more adult thing is to remember

you have to work in the morning and make money. There’s this thing called

rent. You have to pay it, which is hard to do if you’re always spending it on

booze. No. 1 rule to remember: It’s hard to YOLO if you have ZERO in your

bank account.

12. Acceptance and moving on

Learning to accept mistakes and embracing our flaws is a crucial part of

getting older and understanding that we aren’t perfect. You’ll learn to discover

yourself through your failures and that the world does not come crashing

down around us when something goes wrong. You pick yourself up and you

get going!

13. You’ll never completely figure it all out:

It sounds terrifying, and it is. And that’s okay. Most people never do. Just think

about it, the universe is so infinitely filled with possibilities that we cannot even

comprehend. But that’s what makes it worthy of our awe. It gives you the best

gift of all: discovering yourself and our ability to be humbled by a world that’s

larger than us.

14. No one cares if you’re the popular one anymore:

This definitely mattered big time back in college, but out in the real world the

fear of being judged by the number of friends you have on Facebook is going

to the least of your worries, trust me when I say this! Being able to hold on to

just those handpicked few who have your back when you need a shoulder to

cry over your last breakup is exactly what you need now.

15. Failure is not the end of the road:

It can be so frightening to screw up anything, especially when you are

surrounded by other adults who seem to have it all sorted. But don’t let that

sucky job interview or burnt food put a damper on your spirits. You might not

get what you want all the time, but a lot of the time, what you end up with is

even better. So go on fail and learn from it for the better!

16. Also, looks are not always everything:

When you’re in college, a cute outfit was a must, especially if you had to catch

that cute guy’s eye. But as an adult, be thankful if you manage to still turn

heads while wearing crumpled clothes you picked off your bed. You should be

proud of saving the money you worked hard for. If you want to compete about

something, brag about how well you bargained from that street side shopkeeper.

Isn’t that great?

17. You can’t make everyone happy:

Now repeat after me. “I can’t please everyone. I can’t please everyone. I can’t

please everyone.” Truth be told, this little hack will save you from ever being a

doormat to anyone’s demands and will make you a happier person in the long

run. You might even lose a few friends along the way, but that’s how we find

our “forever people” isn’t it?

18. You’re going to do some things you don’t want to:

While it’s all so dreamy to be able to just throw away that crappy job and just

chase behind your dreams, it’s gonna be quite difficult if you’re not making

enough cash to fuel your crazy ambitions. Being an adult is realizing you can’t

have everything all at once and pulling up patience you never knew existed

until you get what you want.

19. Step out of your comfort zone:

This might not be true for everyone, but no offence, you can’t figure out who

you are if you never leave your hometown. At some point, you need to move

away or travel in order to see how much of the world there is. Is meeting new

people your thing? How well do you adjust to new food habits? You’ll never

know how you respond to curveballs life throws at you until you strive to

discover something outside of your own experience! Remember chose growth

over comfort.

20. Nevertheless, getting older is awesome!

Just a paragraph here might even just undermine this goldmine for what it is.

When you were a kid, you couldn’t stay up late, eat junk food for dinner or

decide if you even wanted to do housework at all - heck you get to make up

all the rules around here! I don’t know about you, but I’m stoked as hell for

what surprises my remaining twenties are set to bring for me!

So get set, on your mark, happy adulting!

By: Aishwarya Ganesh

PR for 📣Social Activism

By: Aishwarya Thapa ( Launchpad Communications)

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Any social activism starts out with a simple bottom line, communicating a piece of information that you believe in, to another person in the hope that you can convince them.

Having worked as a PR manager for multiple social campaigns, I understand that activism is a

spectrum, it comes in different shapes and sizes, but any activism that receives media support

always comes out on top for effective impact. Today I’ve put together my learning of how any micro; small to medium scale social activist/organisation can optimize media support to increase the volume of their message.

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Why Media Support?

The fastest way to reach large audiences today is online media (web publications), print media

(newspaper, radio, magazines) or electronic media (television, radio), the order of reach would

change depending on your audience.

I have met many activists who are doing great things on ground, using social media wonderfully, but aren’t seeing mass reach and new audiences. I believe that, this void can be filled by PR. Many associate a PR activity only with high profile companies who need to ‘manage the media’ but that’s quite inaccurate. Here’s what will happen if you ignore PR, you may be doing everything right but there’s no one telling the world that, this leads to the uncomfortable situation of catching up to a competitor’s narrative of the industry.

Use PR for a social campaign of ANY size to create strategic communication while leaving an

impact on a relevant TG, specifically, using the media as a tool.

PR Thinking during Planning Stage - PR Thinking

Let me bust a myth at the beginning, most causes/activists decide the campaign/event and then

think of how to get media attention. Don’t expect effective PR if you’re not thinking of a PR angle

from the start. A PR thinking cap requires keeping two people in mind – your target audience and

the media publications they consume.

You are the best judge of what your audience would find interesting, but I can tell you what the

media is essentially looking for:

- Relevance

- Unique proposition

In order to ensure what you are pitching is relevant and unique, ask yourself two questions:

- Is my message and CTA clear

- Am I executing my event or packaging my message differently/uniquely

A. Is my message and CTA clear

Whether you’re organizing an online campaign, an offline campaign or an event, remember to

peel off the layers and pick one main message and call to action. This helps your audience and

the media immediately understand your message. This main message should resonate with a

problem being faced in the NOW.

Example:

Campaign: Down Syndrome Awareness Rally, Chennai

Message: Raise Awareness about Down Syndrome

CTA: Join the rally at Besant Nagar Beach on Sunday

VS

Campaign: Down Syndrome Awareness Rally, Chennai

Message: Show parents that inclusivity is COOL, bring your kids out to play at the beach with kids

with Down Syndrome.

CTA: On World Down Syndrome Day, enjoy a beautiful morning at the beach with games, music,

and the waves, with kids with DS. #InclusionisCool

B. Am I executing my event or packaging my message differently/uniquely

Look at your contemporaries supporting other causes or similar causes and make it your aim to

come up with something totally different. Get creative and package your message in a way that

makes you stand out to your audience and to the media.

Example: The Down Syndrome Rally, on World Down Syndrome Day, the team had booked

Besant Nagar beach on a Sunday morning when it’s most packed, we had a band, we had actor

Sai Pallavi come in and speak for the cause, we had all the kids with DS enter from the ocean

which was a lovely photo opportunity, we had a float on the road with an MC engaging the

passer bys and more. So from an audience POV it was a Sunday beautifully merged together with fun and learning. From a media perspective, it was relevant because of the date, there was a huge crowd of 1000+ people, the beach in the morning made for a lovely backdrop, the music and the kids dancing made for amazing photos.

Example: Ranjini Srikantan, a 12th Grader from Bangalore discovered the benefits of Green

Chemistry in school and wondered why more corporations didn’t use it? Her objective was to

spread awareness but here’s how we executed it, along with using a website, social media, and

pamphlets, we knew we needed something different – something that would make people stop

and look up to this young, 17 year old thought leader. We found out that the Industrial Green

Chemistry World Conference was coming up in Delhi. She connected with them about her

initiative and was invited to speak! She prepared a speech that stunned the audiences filled with

CEOs of huge corporations from around the world!

Media Liaison: Now that we’ve covered the basics of PR thinking at the planning stage let’s move to the execution. Once again, to reiterate, I have collated the most practical method for activists without any PR reps or relatively new PR reps. The media liaison process takes a minimum of 1 month, start accordingly.

1. Identify where your audience is:

Identify the medium through which your audience consumes information, is it the

newspaper, is it web publications, is it television, radio, is it a combination of these?

2. Identify the right journalists:

Every publication has editorial departments with tight deadlines and stories planned ahead

for days. Take time to go through your selected media and track it for at least a week or two.

Shortlist the section in the media that your story would fit in, would it be the ‘City Section’,

‘Event Section’, ‘Weekend Supplement’, etc. Note down the name of the journalist who

writes about social causes, city events, or human interest features. This step is pivotal, you

will find no response to emails or calls to any journalist from a publication if it’s not from

their section/beat.

3. Plan the timing: The timing of the coverages is key to ensure it actually makes an impact to

your campaign. For example: If you’ve planned an event, aim for pre event and post event

coverages. If it’s a social campaign, aim for the coverages to come out as soon as the

campaign is live and keep it sustained for a few weeks. (Media samples A6, A7)

4. Connect:

The fastest way is to pick up the phone and call the office, if you don’t get through to the

journalist directly you will at least be able to get an email id to contact them at. You can also

try looking them up on social media and dropping them a message.

5. Create customized pitch notes for your campaign by including these key details:

- Why are you contacting Journalist X specifically? (So they know this isn’t some mass

email)

- Who are you (Add a tiny intro to yourself so the journalist can get some context about

your credibility)

- What is the relevance of your social cause/campaign? (Briefly explain what your cause is

and why it’s relevant right now.)

- How is your campaign a must do/must visit/must read (Back up your campaign with

facts, figures, insights that are unique)

- End with a call to action (how do you want this journalist to help you?)

6. Keep a press kit ready: A document with information about your organization/campaign, the

founders and good quality images. Be extremely thorough with the language in this

document, it will decide how the journalists perceives you and writes about you to their

audience. Don’t forget to provide clear call to action for your audience. (website, social

media links, email address, phone number, etc)

7. Be quick: Provide journalists with what they need for their story as quickly as possible, they

are on tight deadlines.

Media Coverage Leverage:

Always send a personal thank you message to the journalist for choosing to share your story

amongst hundreds of others they would have been pitched. If you had a good experience with the journalist and the journalist also shared an interest in your cause, let them know you’ll keep them posted with future activities. Do NOT abuse the journalist contact with irrelevant messages or information.

What you do with the coverage after it’s out helps you build a foundation of credibility for years to come.

- Leverage the coverage by sharing it within your professional, personal and social

networks.

- Add it as a permanent fixture to your website

- If you have a physical space, frame it up!

I believe, the key advantage of any type of PR effort is, best case scenario your message goes viral (by viral I mean, it gets its due attention) and worst case scenario you get to hold on to the

credibility of being featured in the media. In between are your well deserved results like – getting

new inquiries, building new followers, increased good will with stakeholders, increased motivation within the team, a window to being thought leaders and taking control of a narrative.

By: Aishwarya Thapa ( Launchpad communications )

Infodemic: The Role Politicians Play

With the pandemic having created havoc throughout the entire world,

infodemic is what threatens the globe next.

Infodemic is a fake information pandemic when your mind is bombarded by

appealing headlines which though, turn out to be a massive disappointment

later.

COVID-19 death tolls have been continuing for almost half a year now after it

spread in last November from the suspicious Wuhan. While pandemic is

something, we must keep ourselves safe from at this hour, when India has

seen massive rises in the figures of death tolls, staying safe from blunt and

provocative information is equally important.

Politicians have a major role to play in spreading false information and

advertising wrong campaigns throughout the globe, creating havoc.

Talking about Brazil, President Jair Bolsenaro is least worried about his

people. He feels like he’s on his way to contest the Presidential elections

sooner.

In an advert move to save himself and his family from the accusations that

have been brought against him, he has been trying to lure his supporters by

moving out on the streets without a mask, maintaining no social distancing

and disregarding the norms specified by top health organisations across the

globe.(1)

He necessarily isn’t afraid of catching COVID-19 himself, because the

accusations that have been brought against him are deeply rooted and are

bound to bring his presidentship down.

At this hour, he feels it is more important to keep the supporters engaged and

as the President of one of the largest South American Countries, he

organises protests against his own governmental policies of creating

awareness for COVID.

What has been the consequence?

Last week, Brazil media sources reported of lakhs of graves being dug up

and thousands of dead bodies being put into it, maximum being those who

responded with affirmation and supported the President’s Political

propaganda.

In the United States similarly, when the death toll takes massive accession,

the President calls himself a war time President and asks his people to use

an untested Hydroxychloroquine for their COVID treatment, claiming that it

can heal anyone affected.

He also claimed, in front of the media, that he himself was on a regular

Hydroxy treatment. (2)

However, after the drug caused widespread deaths in the United States, the

President withdrew his claims saying he’d never been on hydroxy! He’s one

of the worst presidents the United States has ever seen. With almost no

claims that have truthful evidences, Trump is a complete ludicrous person.

Earlier he claimed that taking in dettol and Lysol , two disinfectants, could

help cure COVID-19. When people began consuming the same, Dettol itself

had to release guidelines on the same, labelling the president’s demands as

baseless and utter lies. (3)

Talking about a UFO issue that Sehaj has talked about in the earlier blog, with

a video attached, there was an official declaration by the Pentagon regarding

the sightings with which came this video, attached. (4)

Was it all a propaganda to turn away the attention from the hospitals turning

into morgues or is it Trump’s Election mandate 2020, where he desires to

revitalise the white supremacy once again?!

Amid the chaos, Iran has performed something exasperating! They’ve used

spurious liquor on advice of the diocese.

They poured in gallons of spurious liquors , mixed with ethyl, into people,

making them believe that this would cure Coronavirus. Such a rubbish

information led to several hundreds of deaths in the country. (5)

Talking about our own India, there have been reports from various sources

across Bengal, Orissa and Bihar that people have taken to putting mud and

gobar on their forehead to combat the virus. (6)

Amazing, right?

In this aeon of globalisation and industrialisation, when internet and correct

information is just a click away, these people are still fooled when their

government gives them certain directions.

Such mayhem is because they never keep themselves aware of the

happenings around the globe and neither do they have any information about

what to do and what to not.

It is very important to remember that COVID is a virus. It does not

differentiate between a president and a common man.

However, we must make ourselves self aware of such happenings and

whatever the government says, should try to keep ourselves protected

individually, if we fail to do it as a community. Only then can such ridiculous

happenings cease to take place.

By: Souhardya De

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own. Indian Youth Cafe neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)

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References:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/may/18/bolsonaro-greets-anti-

lockdown-protesters-as-coronavirus-cases-rise-in-brazil-video

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52717161

https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/24/dettol-and-lysol-maker-

warns-against-drinking-and-injecting-disinfectant-after-trump-

suggestion/#43847d8746a5

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/04/27/heres-why-the-

pentagon-officially-released-ufo-video-footage/#11757f921a6a

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/iran-700-dead-drinking-alcohol-

cure-coronavirus-200427163529629.html

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/coronavirus-

effect-cow-dung-urine-sell-for-rs-500/articleshow/74669478.cms?from=mdr