Number 22 and I go a long way. Make no mistake I don't believe in either lucky numbers or numerology but several important events happened in my life on the 22nd and just when I make up my mind to dismiss all of it as a coincidence, 22 pops up out of nowhere to once again remind me of it's significance. But this blog is not about my affinity to or my experiences with number 22.
September, 2016 was a tough month. I was saddled with multiple projects and really didn't have much of a breathing space. It was during the time that my sister nominated me for the 22 Day Push-up Challenge. I don't believe in taking up more than what I can chew but when your little sister pushes you forward for a noble cause, you don't have much of a choice. I was initially surprised that number 22 found it's way into my life again but was disturbed when I found that on average 22 war veterans were committing suicide in US everyday. Having lost some good friends to the malady of suicide, I could understand how hard it hits when someone you know suddenly decides to pull the switch. Incidents like these sap the life force out of near and dear and leave them with unanswered questions for a lifetime. I took up the 22 Day Push-Up Challenge as not only a salute to the war veterans but also as a tribute to my fallen friends. But this blog is not about how I accomplished the 22 day Push-Up challenge, it's about the number 22 itself and it's omnipresence in all our lives.
While I was pushing myself to achieve the target of 22 push-ups a day I continuously wondered about the significance of number 22 and whether it had any universal relevance. Guess what after careful analysis, I do believe 22 is a number which affects most of us one way or the other. Why? Please keep on reading (Yes you guessed it right, this is the topic of the blog):
September, 2016 was a tough month. I was saddled with multiple projects and really didn't have much of a breathing space. It was during the time that my sister nominated me for the 22 Day Push-up Challenge. I don't believe in taking up more than what I can chew but when your little sister pushes you forward for a noble cause, you don't have much of a choice. I was initially surprised that number 22 found it's way into my life again but was disturbed when I found that on average 22 war veterans were committing suicide in US everyday. Having lost some good friends to the malady of suicide, I could understand how hard it hits when someone you know suddenly decides to pull the switch. Incidents like these sap the life force out of near and dear and leave them with unanswered questions for a lifetime. I took up the 22 Day Push-Up Challenge as not only a salute to the war veterans but also as a tribute to my fallen friends. But this blog is not about how I accomplished the 22 day Push-Up challenge, it's about the number 22 itself and it's omnipresence in all our lives.
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| Push for a cause (Credits: Wounded Warriors) |
- All of us working in sectors with 5 day work weeks typically work anywhere between 21-23 days a month which means on average we work 22 days every month. So our career (and in one way our life) totally depends on what we do in those 22 days.
- Most of us finish our undergraduate degrees by the time we are 21 and step into full time careers by the time we are 22. For many of us, 22 is the age when the reality knocks on our doors and thrusts us into this big bad world. 22 is the age where impossible dreams make way for probable ambitions. 22 is the age where life forces you to start striking a balance between your personal and professional lives. If you were to ask me, i would say that the foundation for our adult life is laid at 22.
- Research says that any activity taken up for 21 consecutive days becomes a habit. So the 22nd day is the day that you officially make a habit or break a habit. Habits essentially define you so there's no denying the fact as to how important the number 22 is for a healthy and successful life.
- We have all heard of the phrase Catch-22. It's a conundrum where in what you want and what you need to get what you want are hopelessly interlinked. For Example: If you don't have experience you wont get a job but unless you have a job you cannot get the experience. 22 was an arbitrary number chosen by Catch-22 inventor Joseph Heller. Was Joseph Heller thinking on the same lines as I did when he assigned the number 22 to this principle? We will never know but I do know this, our very life is a Catch-22 principle. Everyone wants a change for the better in their lives, but in order for a change to occur we must become the very change we want to see.
- All of us must have dealt with geometry during our school days. In order to calculate the area of the circle we need a constant known as Pi which is nothing but the ratio of the circle's circumference to it's diameter. Pi's approximate value is 3.14159 or 22/7. Even the most fundamental equations require Pi which means number 22 has to be in the mix to arrive at a solution.
As for the 22 day Push-Up challenge, if you are serious about a strict personal regime and are also interested in making a social statement through your regime then this is the right initiative for you. Nominate only those who are interested in the genuineness of the cause and do ensure that you finish what you started so that you serve as an inspiration for those whom you nominated. Last but not the least anything you do is ineffectual as long as you divert attention away from the cause to yourself.
'The 22 Day Challenge' is my 44th blog post. Now this is no coincidence or divine magic. I arranged for it to be my 44th blog post. I could achieve this milestone but couldn't finish the blog on December 22nd as I had planned. So magic has to happen, it can neither be arranged nor forced. Let patterns appear, do not attempt to see a pattern in anything and everything because there's nothing predictable about the magic of life . May the magic of the numbers reveal itself and prove special for your lives.
Until Next Time,
Your Life Analyst,
J.J. Chaitanya
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