A Chance Encounter

And I literally met her randomly in the street in Bhagsu Nag, a little village in the Himalayas! The other day, I simply noticed a blonde lady talking on the phone in Polish, and so I poked her… only to learn that she was talking to our common acquaintance.

What are the odds?? And so we went out together, had a chai latte together, got a great banter. And Magic started happening.

So, was it luck, or was it God’s intervention? I have no clue.

But We vibe so well together that we might actually organize some bigger events in the future — with Joasia’s business as the provider to my business. I have such a good feeling about this.

However, apart from meeting Joasia, I also experienced some other minor manifestations of God’s will. I was thrown into all the right places at all the right times. The other day, I walked into a random bar in another corner of the village at a random time, only to realize something about someone that freed me from a lot of trouble (I’m skipping the details here but trust me, that serendipity made my life way easier).

Another day, I almost lost a phone at the airport. But I realized at the last moment it fell on the floor during customs control.

And so on and so forth. I was always *almost* in trouble.

Overall, I felt I was taken proper care of. I was safe.

2. Myself.

Ultimately, this March, I performed a dopamine detox and a general spring cleaning in my head. It felt like restarting a processor. Afterwards, I felt much more cognitive flexibility and less resistance to taking up new tasks.

And, managing my mind is not an easy job in general. I have an antisystematic, nihilistic, lustful, sarcastic mind which starts speaking loudly whenever I have too much free time. Perhaps, I should not have free time at all. 

Even if my plan is to go to the sauna and meditate, or read classical literature, or rewatch “The Dead Poets Society,” or go on a walk in the park, there MUST be a plan. Or otherwise, I spiral down the rabbit hole very quickly.

I have a lot of horsepower and energy, but it’s a rather dark energy. This is why I always have to have more points on my to-do list than I can possibly manage to go through.

Instead, anyways, I felt I got a bit more control over myself. Which is a huge success.

But that was not my main success when it comes to a relationship with myself. For the past twenty years, I was working hard on myself and on my projects.

But I was mostly flying under the radar for all this time. And I clearly have the fear of success, not the fear of failure.

Well, you see, to make others notice you, you have to first notice yourself. That trip made me finally focus fully on myself and realize that I am awesome amd have an awesome life. 

The Asset of Freedom

After all, I have one asset that everybody wants, which is freedom. I’m a bootstrapping solopreneur with a decent passport and with no mental dependence on anyone.

I’ve taken care of my financial independence and frozen eggs. So I don’t have to worry about anything — I can just keep creating vision boards and enjoy the journey.

I have sex with my favorite person every day (oh, wait, I am my favorite person). And,  have so many friends that each individual one of them is disposable.

I know that sounds rough, but that’s the reality; if something goes wrong in any of my relations, we just go our separate ways and all good. 

Also, to sum up, I am the precious one here. No need to chase after other people’s attention. And I don’t have to care about who’s on my side.

Because I am on my side. And that’s a hell of a good support.

Lastly, I finally managed to bring some order to my head and start observing my thoughts from a distance. A brain is nothing more than a squeaky, imperfect machine (especially at some age and with some usage on the counter), and it makes all the unwanted sounds of complaining, whining, and sighing every time you try to put it to work.

The thing is to put your spirit over your brain, put your foot on the pedal. And Press regardless. 

And so I finally went full psycho mode and started pressing with full power… and even getting some pleasure from listening to the helpless cries for a break coming from my can of neurons. This was the first time I could spend a day going through all the unwanted, boring chores without procrastinating.

3. Time.

That said, the locals have a different perception of time. Life is just slower here, and people don’t rush anywhere… which is often referred to as “the Indian time.” Can they afford this?

Yes. Can I afford this? No. 

Of course, fully adopting this lifestyle for a Westerner is not feasible. BUT what one can do at least, is to learn how to switch roles between a Western professional and a local resident, and how to separate the time when you need to be scheduled from the time when you don’t.

During this trip, I also tested a few working schemes and decided that in my case, Sunday should be the first day of the working week, not Monday. Friday, on the other hand, should be a slow decompression day, and Saturday should be (ideally) free. It’s a purely psychological effect; starting on Sunday means starting ahead of everyone and in complete silence.

Undisturbed by emails, calls, and other people’s expectations. Works for me. 

Plus, start your working day at 2-3 AM in the night, and then, you have two silent working days in practice: Sunday and Monday.

Sounds like a crazy schedule. But I figured that it’s enough for me to oversleep until midnight and I’m fine.

In particular, i also made peace with myself concerning the stage of life I’m in. There is no point in racing against others; I’ve got an incredibly long youth. So I should be happy about it.

4. Money.

My relationship with money also improved, mostly because this was the first time in years that I didn’t need to count every penny before spending it. Even more, I could spend and spend, trusting that no matter how hard I try, the ATM will still pour more cash. It was almost like having unlimited money!

They always preach to you about abundance and how to generate the state of abundance in your head. Well… It’s easier said than done when you have never had experience with having the actual money in the first place. 

I come from modest beginnings. My family was lower middle class. And My Mum got promoted at the right time and just enough to be able to send me and my sister to study in Warsaw, the capital of Poland (and that only because there is no tuition fee for studying in Poland). 

Then, I spent a few years as a poor student, only to move on to grad school and be underpaid for the next few years. Ever since that time, I have been bootstrapping my company, often undereating, walking around in broken shoes, ditching entertainment to save cash. And Staying in underdog, shady hostels when on travel (in San Francisco, I even lived in a place with moss and cockroaches in my room, no kidding). 

What a Month Really Cost

But I just spent over a month in a place where I could afford virtually anything. I could walk into a restaurant and order the whole card if I wanted to. Any gadget that caught my eye, I could just buy.

I could walk into a spa and rent the whole place just for myself. I could donate money to strangers. At some point, I stopped even looking at the prices.

Granted, for the first time in my life, I felt wealthy. And that was a damn good feeling. I came back more relaxed and healthier in my body and mind.

I think I finally got the concept of why people even care about money in the first place: the mental freedom it gives is just unmatched. Now I finally know how it feels, and it’s truly liberating. According to Kahneman and Deaton (2010), income lifts day-to-day emotional well-being only up to a fairly modest threshold.

I felt like a ton of stress went off my shoulders, and I could see day by day how my body was healing too, with fewer scratches, allergies, and digestive problems every day.

And now, the best part about money: the trip to serene, spiritual India was exactly what I needed to… get to enjoy capitalism and release the killer instinct.

How Did My Business Priorities Change?

For the first time, I started optimizing operations for revenue instead of just for the sheer social impact and for my own creativity. I stopped being “the kind one” who always helps everyone for free just because they need me. I no longer believe that others are entitled to my time.

Putting myself first became the new normal. And for the first time, I started making real money.

Even so, to sum this up, I left for India as a stray cat. And I came back as a Bengali tiger. Who would anticipate that outcome?

5. Nature.

Nature heals me and is important to me — only now do I know how much. According to Bratman et al. (2015), even a 90-minute walk in nature measurably reduces rumination.

Unfortunately, we live in times when spending time around nature often requires spending time among other people first. We all play the reputation game, where professional development is closely tied to our personal network in real life.

But I figured that if I play this game well, I can reach the state where I only need 20-30% of my time to nourish my network, while I can spend the rest of my time out in the green.

The Real World Consequences of My Indian Trip.

As it turned out, indian is HUGE. With a population three times larger than that of the European Union and a vast territory, it feels almost like a continent of its own.

Its diamond-like shape stretches so widely that, living in the north, I have little sense of the cultures in the other corners. It’s said that traveling there can feel like stepping into a completely different land, even a different country.

Sure enough, that’s why I wouldn’t yet consider myself fully familiar with Indian culture. There’s simply too much to see and discover.

Still, even this single month spent in northern India has already brought me countless benefits: for my health, my well-being. And My life as a whole.

1. The Domino Effect. 

You know, the brain thinks fast and slow at a time. Some reactions to a given action are immediate, while others take a long time. And so I digested this journey for a long time. 

But here is what happened over the past few months: 

I worked hard for twenty years, building numerous projects with a large team. Frankly, especially since I started coming to Silicon Valley, the content of my laptop started resembling mission boards in the CIA headquarters. 

And yet, I felt I was doing something wrong. To some extent, I liked my life, but I also felt like I was underperforming — despite doing a lot of good work, I still couldn’t break through and start to properly monetize what I do.

The thing is: I had many good figures on the chessboard, but they were standing in all the wrong places and blocking each other. It felt more like playing Sokoban than chess.

Or, in other words, I had a great engine at hand, and yet, I couldn’t take off. I was trying to put it up, I heard the roar, I felt the smoke, and it just couldn’t work.

Indeed, now, for some reason, I felt that the figures on the chessboard finally started slowly moving. I got a critical mass of skills and contacts to open an increasing number of doors.

And It worked like a domino effect. The “playability” of the game has finally increased.

2. Happier.

I feel way better in general, which is counterintuitive, as I dropped conventional sleeping patterns, dieting, sports, and many other habits commonly viewed as constructive. I also started exhibiting physical symptoms of affection, sometimes laughing like an idiot for hours or even for the whole day for no apparent reason. 

And it’s a vicious circle in a way — when I attend meetups and parties, people often look at this unapologetic joy and start putting on their plates whatever I eat… which makes me think “ugh, you’d better just hit yourself on the head…” and I laugh even harder.

Naturally, my Mum got concerned about the situation. And She even asked me at some point this summer: “Aren’t you in love by any chance?” Cause she couldn’t believe one could produce so much swag out of thin air.

3. Relations with People.

Notably, this is a funny one. What I finally realized is that, if you want to win people’s hearts, you need to let people go first. Everyone (perhaps except for your parents) is disposable in a way.

The world is abundant in great people. So If a given person does not pay attention to you, there will be dozens of others, perhaps even more interesting people on your way.

Overall, now, I treat every meeting like a farewell. I don’t even assume that I will meet that person ever again and I’m fine with it.

So, I just make my best to shoot all the valuable information I have at hand and wrap up with no unfinished topics. And to add some positive, constructive words at the end so that they leave the meeting motvated (or sometmes even inspired). And immediately erase that person from my working memory,

A 180-Degree Shift

And I feel that the vector has inverted by 180 degrees: while I used to knock at other people’s doors for my whole life, now, all of a sudden, people started leaning toward me. I constantly get invites to conferences, meetups, communities, private meetings, and whatnot. Some serious people finally started recognizing my existence.

Random strangers in the street approach me daily, saying nice things to me. People come to me with money in their hands, saying, “Just work with me! On whatever you wish.” 

Meanwhile, which is a paradox, since in India, I worked on everything BUT relations with people. But perhaps, that’s exactly why all this is happening. Perhaps that’s the secret master key to fixing all relationships.

Likewise, even more so, the right people started revealing themselves in my life. After coming back from India, I bumped into a few humans who brought some great value to my life. Just like that.

Perhaps when you clear your mind, your intuition starts working better. Or, your little antenna syncs with the right frequency to get a call from the right hivemind. 

I also notice and appreciate certain types of people more, as I better see their full character in an instance. I’ve always seen potential in people, but now it happens even faster than before.

I’m not sure if this is the result of the Indian trip and brain concussion, or just a fact that happier people see more opportunities (according to Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, and Schkade (2005), intentional activity explains a large share of happiness), but many of those people whom I already knew before, now seem to be prettier, smarter, and overly more interesting than before.

4. Relationship with the World.

Still, i enjoy this world the way it is. Yes, there is beauty in it, and there is hatred and dirt.

I just decided to ignore the latter. The world is a bit unhinged but also full of opportunities worth taking the effort. 

After all, friends often ask me: What are your plans? What are you about to do in six months from now? Or twelve months?

Frankly speaking, I have no idea. I will follow wherever my mission leads me next.

And, I develop myself too fast to tell. I don’t know a person I will become in 6 months.

Just as now I’m very different from what I was six months ago. But whatever I do, it will be amazing.

5. A Note on Celiac Disease.

In fact, with hindsight, there was yet another benefit of going to India—one I hadn’t expected at all. I’m Polish, and Polish cuisine relies heavily on bread and pastries, especially traditional bread.

Fresh bread from the bakery has always been a staple of my diet, something I genuinely love, and until recently I never saw it as a problem.

When I returned from India, however, I noticed something striking: I suddenly felt great in my body. That’s when I realized that during the entire month in India I hadn’t eaten any bread at all—simply because bread isn’t really part of the local diet. Instead, I was eating mostly rice-based and meat-based meals.

A Shocking Realization

Of course, this was a shocking realization. It made me reflect on the fact that in 2024 I had spent nearly three months confined to bed, getting sick very easily, struggling with digestion. And Feeling chronically low on energy—as if everything I ate passed through my system without actually nourishing me.

At the time, I couldn’t identify a clear cause. I had genetic tests done, which showed an increased genetic predisposition to celiac disease.

But I never received a formal diagnosis—only an indication that I might be more prone to it than most people. I didn’t pay much attention to it then.

Besides, after the India trip, it suddenly became obvious that bread might be the missing piece. I eliminated it from my diet entirely, and the results were remarkable. For the rest of the year, my digestion improved dramatically, I felt much better in my body, my energy stabilized, I stopped gaining weight.

And Issues with energy circulation disappeared. Most strikingly, I didn’t get sick even once—not for a single day.

It eventually dawned on me that, as much as I love bread, it had likely been a major source of my long-term health struggles. I’ve now removed it from my diet for good.

I just stopped reaching out for traditional Polish sandwiches as quick bites. Now, whenever I need a quick snack, I mix an egg with a banana and microwave it for two minutes which is probably faster and cheaper than making a sandwich anyway.

In hindsight, this was one of the best health decisions I’ve made in years—and a perfect example of how travel can make you smarter and more self-aware, sometimes purely by accident.

Happy People of Type Two.

I’d say that there are two types of happy people. And, I think I’ve just become a happy person of type two.

The happy people of type one are those who were born privileged in some way. For instance, they were born dumb and don’t realize the problems this world has and how imperfect and flawed they are. 

These people usually play the game of life on easy mode (e.g., were born in a rich family, are exceptionally pretty, were born with crazy levels of happy hormones, etc.) and don’t even realize that. They don’t understand themselves, don’t understand the world, have a puppy dog energy to them. And Irritate rather than inspire other people.

But, there is yet another type of happy person: “the happy people of type two.” It is those people who noticed all the dirt and irony in the world, processed it. And Made a comeback from this misery: they actively decided to be happy no matter what.

And we tend to condition our happiness on whatever comes next. “I’m almost happy; I just need a visa and I will be set.” Or “I’m almost happy, I just need a partner.”

“I’m almost happy, I just need to double my income.” And so on an so forth.

There are no “justs.” You either are happy or you are not.

You can easily recognize that type of person. While walking down the street, they will ignore the traffic, skip trash in the streets, noise, and mess. And Focus on that one flower in the window, a dog frisking at them, or an interesting caleidoscope of clouds in the sky.

They just learned that you can’t change the world, and there is only one way to be happy: focus on the positives and ignore all the rest. 

Are The Results Sustainable?

Some of my Californian friends have asked me: How do you know if these beneficial effects of your Indian trip are here to stay? Most self-development practices bring about temporary improvements, and then you inevitably revert to homeostasis.

Well, I like to believe the effects indeed are here to stay. Peace of mind is a great asset that most people don’t properly appreciate, simply because it’s intangible.

Well, I do appreciate it. And Now I know I have access to it anytime I want.

So, while in Dharamshala, I made a priceless realization: there is at least one place in the world where I am safe and sound. I can always come back here, and I have it all: I’m wealthy, healthy, peaceful. And Have a lot of friends.

In this place, people have values, guys are cool, nature is beautiful, food is great, and music is just amazing. I’m perfectly covered whenever I’m here.

New Resolutions.

In short, as mentioned before, I already see many benefits of the Indian adventure on my life. But also took action to further amplify this impact. And so I decided to:

1. Simplify my business. 

Instead of delegating, I de-populated my team and took more responsibility myself. I got inspired by my new Indian friend Hasan Toor, who can scale an online business to a large scale with no contractors on board.

2. Be more strategic and proactive.

For instance, turn down more small tasks and projects in the name of big shots. In sales, the “happy go lucky” (pol. “Miej wy*ane, a będzie Ci dane”) approach just doesn’t work, and so be more picky and proactive at sales.

3. Have more courage to do what’s difficult.

By contrast, time to stop procrastinating on the important projects; the Universal Basic Income won’t implement itself. And Humanity will not transition to a post-labor economy without conflicts. And so I made a resolution to be more outgoing with public talk appearances and always say ”yes” no matter what (well, actually, my first TEDx appearance happened just a few weeks after coming back from Dharamshala).

4. A year of self-love.

Consequently, after visiting Dharamshala, I decided that 2025 would be my year of self-love.

I think culture puts an immense pressure on us to “figure out our lives” in our thirties, namely fit the box served by the society. We are supposed to bend under expectations: settle on one property, one job, one person, one or two hobbies….

And this is supposed to be the life success. Except, most of the time, it leads to rotting on the inside.

I thought to myself: why do I have to try to fit into any box (or perhaps, a coffin?) now? I can always fit later. For now, I just want to live a good life, whatever this turns out to be.

And I won’t be waiting until someone else creates me a good life. I’ll do it myself. 

Nevertheless, if I want to start the day having four beers for breakfast, so be it. And in all honesty, there are levels to sobriety. Most people will never get sober, even if they have not had a sip of alcohol in a lifetime, just because they don’t see things for what they are.

My goal is to have the level of sobriety at which I call things by their names, and it doesn’t necessarily need to mean that I don’t touch drinks or psychoactive substances.

Doing What I Want

And if I want to go to a furry party, I do it. If I want to buy myself a DeLorean, I will buy myself a DeLorean.

I will continue to bring myself to dates in the most beautiful places. I will stop caring whether this is attractive or even accptable to others.

In other words, since then, I did become a furry. And I did the whole bunch of other moves, testing how far I can go before I start pissing people off. It turns out: very far.

I even gave a public speech (slash a spontaneous standup) on the importance of drinking alcohol for the world’s innovation at one of the events I organized in San Francisco. People were shocked at first… and then found my speech amusing (they probably thought I was joking, but still).

I think a mistake we often make is: once we are on our own, we focus on work 100% (well, at least I tend to do that). We tend to excuse ourselves: “It’s an investment, or rather, a sacrifice.

I work hard now. So That I have more time later once I’m not on my own anymore.” 

But the rest of the world does not appreciate your hard work at all. People look at you and think, “That person is a workaholic with a miserable life.

Better not approach.” And so they start approaching you only when you start enjoying yourself in the first place.

Therefore, I want my life to be a musical. I want music, laughter, nonsense, and absurdity. 

5. Solve for cringe.

And the most important rule from now on: If there are two solutions to a given problem and equally effective, always choose the more cringy one.

6. No more drugs.

Just two weeks after India, I dropped therapy as my dear therapist (or rather, a life coach) got herself retired.

But next to that, I dropped all medicine too, on my own wish. I used to take residual amounts of SSRIs (anxiety attacks as a side effect of the COVID vaccine), systematically decreasing the doses since the pandemic.

Now I dropped it all, despite my psychiatrist protesting. She will need to find another interesting interlocutor to talk to.

7. Retreat to my strengths. No matter what people say.

I also decided to go back to analyzing and utilizing my strengths, no matter what the media and other people tell me. For instance, there is a lot of public debate these days on whether it is even worth writing anymore. After thorough consideration, the key is to write with audacity and authenticity.

As a matter of fact, I’ve been an essayist for the past 20 years. And I don’t see any reason to stop in times of AI.

Rather, the opposite: I started prioritizing this kind of content over others. And I placed my essays above my company newsletters. 

And surprise, surprise, the retention among users went much higher than before! No one wants to receive dry educational material anymore; people want to hear from someone who just speaks the truth.

8. Exercise my independence.

As I learned in India, I am a lone wolf. It can be a weakness or a superpower, depending on what you do with it.

As I no longer fear being alone in the crowd, I decided to go to Burning Man 2025 (mostly, to further improve the playability in my career game), camp-free, as it frees my hands from scheduled chores and camp duties and leaves me with more time for my favorite thing: a freestyle hustle.

To sum it all up, I decided to live for real instead of just pretending.

Last Words.

For more visual materials from India, visit my Instagram.

Want to meet on the way? Here are my estimated travel plans for the next few months.

The Words of Gratitude.

Lastly, cordial thanks to the organizers of the whole trip, Atal and Prasann. This trip would have never happened without them and their Colive Planet project.

I did experience all this for no additional cost. And I’m especially grateful for all the kind gestures, such as showing me the Taj Mahal or even Atal’s own family (I met his brother and father on the way).

I would also like to thank the crew of VOID, Bhagsu Nag, where we stayed. They made us feel like a family (for real!) and they took care of me when I had the accident.

They took me to the hospital and made sure I was fine. If I ever come back there, I’ll choose the exact same place.