rose bud thorn

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: rose bud thorn 🌹 

at the end of the night on my birthday, katarina suggested we all do a round of “rose, bud, thorn.” basically, you say something your happy/grateful for (rose), something you’re looking forward to (bud), and something that didn’t go so well (thorn).

very teacher, very corny of us, but much needed. 🫂 

we were nearing the end of our time together, so it was a nice point of reflection to express our appreciation for one another. tears were shed, laughter was spilled and (many) birthday songs were sung.

i often reflect on gratitude mentally or through writing, but rarely do i remember to express it outwardly and verbally to others.

here’s my rose, bud, thorn from this entire trip:

something that didn’t go so well was the harassment our group experienced briefly in zanzibar. but like i said to the rest of the table that night, my philosophy is that you can only rate the things that are truly in your control otherwise every day would be a bad day because there’s just so much wrong in the world that’s out of our control. so truly, this trip was a 10/10. 💯 

i’m so grateful for everyones’ courage and excitement for life. our energy truly carried us all through a lot of hardships and made the peaks so much higher.

i’m looking forward to extending our friendships into the school year as we enter university together. climbing kilimanjaro is one hell of an orientation in a way. 🏔️ 

those corny icebreaker and mindfulness activities our teachers make us do in school have some merit to them after all.

what’s your rose, bud, thorn right now in life?

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