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Isha Jog

A lifestyle and dance blog

30 Hours in a Coffin – Why, Isha?!

October 14, 2019

Hour 1 of 30…

Happy October my friends! I received a lot of questions about my recent decision to stay in a coffin for a day and a half, so I thought I’d make a post to shed some light on this experience.

Six Flags Great America recently started a “30 Hour Coffin Challenge” where selected participants were challenged to stay in a closed coffin – with NO phone/books/electronics – for 30 hours.

1,600+ applications were received, and I was ecstatic to be selected as one of the 4 to attempt this strange feat. Although my mom really really didn’t want me to do this, she knows that I am the first person to say yes to strange situations and challenges, so there was so no stopping me from deciding to go for it.

It was definitely one of the most challenging experiences of my life! Our coffins were completely closed except for a tiny slit near the top so that we could breathe. Unfortunately, the evening of the challenge it started to rain and eventually down poured for several hours, soaking myself and my blanket inside the coffin. Then as it became nighttime, the temperature dropped, the costumed monsters came to scare us relentlessly, and all the guests and staff went home, except for two Six Flags team members who stayed in a heated mini van nearby to make sure we didn’t cheat. We started running through the different odd challenges, including one where we had to run through a haunted house one at a time, at 3:00am! Around this time I remember truly thinking about quitting and dreaming of my warm bed at home.

But as the night went on, so did I. Soon morning came and the park re-opened, which meant several of my family and friends came to cheer me on, their encouragement meant the world to me. My three fellow coffin dwellers and I successfully survived the challenge and we got to leave the coffin during the “Rising Ceremony”.

I entered this contest to experience something totally unique. In society today, we rarely go even a full day without technology, books, or constant entertainment. By participating in this, I challenged myself to stay distraction free for 30 hours and focus on the present moment, even through the extreme discomfort. As Bryant McGill once said, “Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth.” I will never forget this experience and I challenge everyone to go after even the craziest opportunities that present themselves. You never know what wild life story will occur!

ABC 7 News Coverage – Press Play
The coffin was fully closed except for the small slit at the top so we could breathe
Can you imagine how eerie the park was around 3am, when all guests and staff had left?
Feeling the rain fall into the coffin and soak everything really made me re-think my decision to stay the full 30 hours
My lovely fellow coffin dwellers and I – four of us selected out of 1,600+ applications
ABC 7 News Coverage

Thank you for reading! If you are interested in competing in the challenge next year – feel free to message me and I can share what my application looked like or further details of the challenge! It was such an interesting experience and I have loved getting to share this wild story with you all.

And yes – I got to keep the coffin!!! It is currently at my best friend’s house to serve as the coolest Halloween party prop next week.

Cheers,

Isha Jog

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24 Life Lessons in 24 Years

August 11, 2019

As of August 9th, 2019, I am officially halfway through being 24 years old. As someone who absolutely loves making lists and enjoys reading a great quote or two as often as I can, I decided to celebrate this half birthday by compiling together 24 life lessons that I have learned during my time on Earth so far. Especially during this ever-confusing decade, it was really great to reflect on some of the biggest trials and tribulations I have faced so far, and what I learned from them. 

Success + Goals

  1. You can never expect to succeed if you only put in work on days you feel like it. We tend to wait until the “perfect moment” to start working towards our big plans, but there is no such thing as the “right time”. There is only the present time and what you choose to do with it.
  2. You can literally do everything right and the universe still doesn’t owe you anything. Stay persistent, not entitled.
  3. Never forget that at one point, you wanted to be exactly where you are now. Don’t waste your current age and life chapter by wishing you were in another one already.   
  4. “The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s not about the circumstance, but rather what you are made of.” – Unknown
  5. You cannot miss an opportunity because the Universe has unlimited opportunities to present to you! You will seize the right one.

Love + Relationships

  1. Feelings are not facts, you can change your feelings by changing your thinking. 
  2. You don’t have to be afraid of friction, it’s how people polish each other. The best kinds of friends challenge each other to be better.
  3. Saying no doesn’t make you a bad person. It just makes you the wrong person for that assignment.
  4. You won’t be able to help others solve their problems if you don’t have problems of your own to solve. Personal adversity makes you a greater asset. Your pain and your struggles are your gifts to the world. They produce insights that can help others with their pain and struggles.

Mindset + Self-Improvement

  1. The fact that we have time to complain, argue, and be negative means that we have time to be positive and productive instead.
  2. Instead of, “Shoot I have to clean” think “I deserve to work and live in a clean space.” Instead of “Darn, I have to work out” tell yourself “I deserve to live a healthy life with the people I love.” There are so many things you can accomplish by reframing your mindset.
  3. Zero is not just a number, it’s a space. So when you feel like you have nothing, you really have a space to create whatever you want.
  4. “ To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.” – Jill Bolte Taylor
  5.  Incredible art comes from creating with clarity and distance from your situation, rather than being consumed by it.
  6.  There are people out there right now who are less qualified than you but are living out your dreams, simply because they believed in themselves and decided to use the present time. Don’t be so focused on perfectionism that you forget to even start.

Through the Dark Times

  1.  You don’t need to always find a lesson in your trauma. Life happens haphazardly. We just have to hold on to the hope that something brighter is on the horizon.
  2. There is no reason to be jealous of people in their winning season because we have no idea what they lost in their losing season. And if you always compare your progress with someone else’s ruler, you will never feel adequate.
  3.  “Your grandmother’s prayers are still protecting you.” – Lalah Delia. 
  4.  If you choose not to find joy in the winter seasons of your life, you will have less joy throughout the year but still the same amount of snow.
  5. No matter what has happened in your past, keep in mind that those experiences should provide lessons, not serve as a life sentence. The past only matters in how you redeem it. Learn to move on and life will be more hopeful. 

New Learnings

  1. The best way to completely break a bad habit is to love something greater than that habit. In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear explains that to break a bad habit you have to: make it invisible, make it unattractive, make it difficult, and make it unsatisfying.
  2.  Create more than you consume. Just take a look at your behavior over a period of one week. How often are you consuming social media, TV, or endlessly scrolling, instead of creating art, literature, dance choreography, music, or anything else that interests you? The legacy of what you leave behind after your time on Earth lies in what you created, not consumed.
  3.  “There are always flowers for those that want to see them.” – Matisse
  4.  Know the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.

What’s been an impactful life lesson you’ve learned recently? Feel free to message me, I would love to hear!

XO,

Isha Jog

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How I Navigate Through S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

January 15, 2018

For the past five years I have battled severe Seasonal Affective Disorder. When I first heard about this type of depression, I couldn’t help but think it was just a made-up diagnosis for people who felt lazy, unmotivated, and sad in the wintertime. In fact, I so badly wanted to discount it that I used to laugh when former roommates or family members would bring it up to me as a concern, telling them that “everybody gets sad in the winter, c’mon we live in such a cold city”.

But the fact of the matter is, seasonal affective disorder is a very real diagnosis that affects about three million people every year in the U.S.

If you have low energy, feel depressed nearly every day, have problems sleeping, and have difficulty concentrating during a particular season of the year, I would urge you to look into it, it’s the first step in combatting the situation and feeling better.

Here are some of the steps I have taken to treat these symptoms over the past few years:

1. YEARLY DOCTOR’S CHECK-UP/PHYSICAL

One of the first things that I did during my lowest point was get a physical examination done, the blood work results showed that I was extremely deficient in Vitamin D. While a normal level should be between 30 and 100, my results showed that I was at a 7. There is a proven correlation between low levels of Vitamin D and depression, so this made sense. I immediately started taking the vitamin supplements and am already feeling the positive effects.

2. DELETING (NOT DEACTIVATING) INSTAGRAM

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to spend less time on social media, but I do this for many other reasons than just decreasing screen time. When you are in bed feeling lousy, it is almost hurtful to your self-esteem and mind to be scrolling through photos of people with their curated lifestyles of perfect bodies, relationships, careers, vacations, and friends. Nobody has the perfect life but when you are feeling low and constantly viewing other people’s edited, always fascinating highlight moments, it is hard to  remember that. I deleted the app off of my phone and have already decreased the number of times I felt the temptation to check in.

3. GET A FABULOUS PLANNER

Some of the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder include feeling anxiety, general discontent, and loneliness. Staying organized keeps me busy and keeps my mind from pondering upon anxious situations from the past. I find it soothing to label in my workout of the day, meal prep, important deadlines from work, and other obligations into my planner. It also reminds me that even on the bad days, there is something really exciting or fun to look forward to in the near future.

4. MINDLESS CRAFTING + POSITIVITY

Sometimes during these harsh winter months I feel like I just end up hibernating at home and keep cancelling social obligations. Then with that new free time I just acquired, I sit there feeling sad, lonely, and unmotivated. One way I combat this is through mindless crafting. I’m not really an artist, so what I count as being “crafty” is literally just collecting screenshots of wonderful and powerful quotes I see through the day from different social media channels, emails, and books, and I write them into my book of quotes. I always feel a sense of peace and calmness when I reach into my purse to read through this book or to add a new quote.

5. GYM TIME: GROUP CLASSES

There is so much research that says that working out immensely improves your mood when you are feeling down and helps you release endorphins, the body’s own natural anti-depressant. In my particular situation, although I understood that exercise was important, the idea of going there alone and having to manage my hour there by deciding my workouts didn’t motivate me enough to leave my bed. This is when I discovered the beauty of workout group classes. Through apps like ClassPass you can do anything from strength training to cycling to Zumba, all with someone guiding you in a social atmosphere. I have become way better at actually completing a workout by attending classes instead of chilling on my bed just counting down the reasons why I could skip that night’s solo guided sweat session.

6. TAKE THAT MENTAL HEALTH DAY

At my work, we have very limited sick days. Many of us try to brush off days when we feel under the weather and still stumble through that day of work or of classes and studying. After way too many years of doing this, I finally learned that it is perfectly okay to take that mental health sick day once in a while when you need it, it can immensely help the situation right then and there instead of prolonging it for weeks on end. We have our bodies and our minds for a lifetime, it is important to treat ourselves with respect and love.

7. VIDEO CHAT OLD FRIENDS

Being social doesn’t have to involve getting dressed up, stepping into the cold weather, and making that effort to meet people at a bar or coffee shop. During these cold winter months I have f0und it rather comforting to make a hot cup of tea, snuggle up in a warm blanket, and FaceTime or Skype some of my long-distance friends.

8. REFLECT

Some days are definitely worse than others, and in those moments I have thought, “I am seriously never going to get through this.” As many of my close friends know, my last semester of college was particularly rough, for non-academic related reasons. I truly did not think I would I would survive that whole situation with my sanity intact. Thankfully, I am here one year later feeling happier, healthier, and stronger than I have ever been. Thinking back on difficult past situations that we pushed through reminds us of our inner strength and how much we really can handle.

9. ADD SIMPLE TASKS TO THE TO-DO LIST

My seasonal depression tends to hit the hardest around January, right when everyone is making their New Year’s resolutions. I added unnecessary stress to myself by creating lists that have giant goals like “start my own company” or “train to run a marathon”. While it is fantastic to have big ambitions and slowly chip away until you reach them, it is unhealthy to just see those big goals all the time and beat yourself up for not reaching them in an unrealistically short amount of time. This is why I started making every day simplified to-do lists that contained the most basic every day parts of my routine like taking a shower, meditating, and shoveling snow. I started going to bed every night feeling accomplished for getting many minor yet significant items accomplished, rather than feeling frustrated for totally failing every day.

10. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH

While researching seasonal affective disorder and its treatments, I found a lot of unique information. Like I mentioned at the beginning, I really did not think this even existed. Watch this video to learn more about the science behind the disorder.

There are many other treatments I haven’t mentioned in this post, because I wanted to focus on the ones that I have had direct experience with. Other treatments include light therapy, medications, psychotherapy, and stress management. Thank you taking the time to read this post! If you or anyone that you know may be feeling the effects of seasonal affective disorder, feel free to send me a message so we can chat more about it. Remember, life is too short to spend at war with yourself! With the right tools and resources we can take steps towards living a more positive and fulfilling life.

 

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My Favorite Dance Video Projects

November 20, 2017

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with many talented and creative individuals in the entertainment industry, working on very exciting collaborative videos. Here are 2 of my favorite dance video projects from the past.

1. LA Love Remix

Sai Aditya, a friend I met in college, is simply a creative genius. Everything from his drone technology to his filming execution to his mastering of video editing is far beyond his years and I am always excited to see his newest work. Check out this video we filmed together on the LA Love Remix song.

2. Hari Tum Haro

Vidita Kanniks has the voice of an angel and a heart of pure gold. Our parents worked together on dance performances when we were younger, and last year we got a chance to finally collaborate with each other. Her friend Taylor Fleshman added the beautiful accompaniment on the harp.

I look forward to what the next few months will bring through dance and creative partnership!

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Miss Northern Suburbs 2017 Farewell

November 20, 2017

Last month, I completed my reign as Miss Northern Suburbs 2017. It was an exciting year full of growth, opportunities, adventures, friendships, and more. Here’s the farewell that was printed in the pageant program book.

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

My journey with the Miss America Organization started at the age of 12, when I watched in awe as talented, beautiful, and accomplished women walked across my TV screen as one was eventually crowned Miss America. The next step in my journey was at age 16, when I was lucky enough to be chosen as Miss Northern Suburbs Outstanding Teen and was given the opportunity to connect with youth from all across the state, encouraging them to volunteer in their communities and make healthy choices every day. It was the beginning of my motivation to live out all four points of the crown – scholarship, style, success, and service – to the best of my abilities from then on. Last summer I was incredibly honored to continue my journey in the system by becoming Miss Northern Suburbs 2017. And wow, what an adventure it’s been! From visiting veterans hospitals to emceeing fashion shows to fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network to getting a chance to perform my talent on the Miss Illinois stage to volunteering with Feed My Starving Children and other organizations that I hold close to my heart to meeting the most amazing, selfless, and inspiring people, this year has been nothing short of incredible.

Thank you first and foremost to my hard-working and dedicated directors, Robin & Kristen, and their entire family. The work you put in to this program is mind-blowing and I am forever blessed to be a part of the Northern Suburbs family for the rest of my life. Thank you to my Outstanding Teen Bailee and her family for the support and friendship. Big thank you to the countless volunteers, mock pageant judges, sponsors, photographers, and individuals who have made this past year an absolute dream. Thank you to the entire Miss Illinois sisterhood, each of you have made a huge impact in my life and I cannot thank you enough for the love, laughs, and memories. Thank you to my father for always encouraging me, to my brother Ishan for being my number one fan (hope you’re loving your time living in Barcelona, I miss you!), and to my mother for being my biggest inspiration. A special shout out to my lovely grandma for flying in from India to watch me compete last year, she turns 80 the day of this year’s pageant!
To all the girls competing this weekend: it’s been a pleasure getting to know you all and I am so excited to watch you all shine on stage! Each of you have such unique talents, skills, and ambitions that I cannot wait to see you share with the world. To the new Miss Northern Suburbs 2018 – don’t blink, this year sure flies by! Count your blessings, live your best life on and on stage, and welcome to the sisterhood! I cannot wait to follow your journey. ❤️

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Hi! I'm Isha - a twenty-something blogger living in the beautiful city of Chicago. I love to read, swim, and cross things off my never-ending bucket list. Thanks for visiting!

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How I Navigate Through S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

How I Navigate Through S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Miss Northern Suburbs 2017 Farewell

Miss Northern Suburbs 2017 Farewell

My Favorite Dance Video Projects

My Favorite Dance Video Projects

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