Skanda Bhat: Life of abundance

September 14, 2024

For the longest time, I believed that for me to succeed, someone else had to lose. Although I was familiar with the rat race, I thought I wasn't participating in it. Treating life as a zero-sum game led to issues with trust, self-esteem, and an all-consuming stress about my future.

I met Skanda in June 2016 through a series of coincidences. Simply being around him opened me up to a new life philosophy—one that was warm, bright, positive, and absolutely motivating. He showed me that we could all progress together. Unconditional kindness is not a form of weakness. The concept of "people taking advantage of you" is meaningless when you are truly acting in alignment with your core beliefs, without any expectations in return. This, in fact, is what winning at life looks like.

Embracing this mindset doesn't mean sacrificing traditional measures of success. On the contrary, Skanda has proven to me that this is the only way to be genuinely happy and successful—achieving everything you want collaboratively, instead of competitively.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have found a partner in growth, someone with whom I can be completely authentic. I admire Skanda's integrity, which stems from his self-awareness and willingness to be vulnerable. I'm striving to cultivate these same qualities in myself.

I'm not saying Skanda is perfect. In truth, his rough edges are part of what makes him exceptional. He has made peace with his imperfections, and I'm learning to accept mine as well. That's the only way forward. Embracing vulnerability, kindness, authenticity, integrity, and honesty—these are the true predictors of happiness and success.

This is what I've come to believe, and I wouldn't have arrived at this understanding without Skanda's influence. So, when I think of him, my heart swells with eternal gratitude.

Thank you, Skanda. I am always by your side, unconditionally.