Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Day 0: Starting All Over Again!

It's the New Year and am back to blogging!

After that wonderful experience of chronicling the 1000 days until I turned 30, I had a good break for about 4.5 months.

To be honest, it was tough to write 1000 posts consecutively. There were several occasions when I wanted to give it up and the only reason I probably didn't was because... well, my ego. If I gave up, I would be a quitter. Rather, people who knew about the blog would called me a quitter and that would hurt my delicate ego. So there. I didn't quit and I completed the 1000 days of writing.

So then the question is why am I starting it all over again. But before we get into that, let me lay down how this blog would differ from the previous one.

1) Unlike the previous blog, this one may or may not be written on a daily basis. I have a 2 month baby on hand and given that motherhood is a fascinating journey where one recurring lesson you learn is that time is no longer ever enough, I don't want to put the added pressure of daily blog-writing on myself. But what I do commit to, is a weekly entry at the very minimum and that entry would hold all that's been awesome over the week. So, the daily quest for something to smile about would continue, even though the writing might be a weekly affair.
2) Unlike the previous blog, this is not a countdown to anything. I am not saying that I will write until I turn 31 or 35 or 40 or anything of the sort. This blog will continue for as long as it makes sense for it to continue.

So back to the question - why am I starting it all over again? Several reasons, really.
1) I miss writing!
After I stopped writing the previous blog, I was rather relieved and quite enjoyed the break. But as time passed, I realized that I do miss writing. It did feel good to put all those thoughts out there and I want to do more of it.

2) I don't want to lose the memories.
Given that every post was about finding something beautiful about each day, the previous blog had captured some of the most beautiful moments of my life which I absolutely love going back to and reading. Details of everything from big occasions like the screening of my films to small moments like a conversation I have had with the hubby over a coffee, that blog is a treasure trove of memories I never want to lose! I realized that moving forward too, I want to safeguard such memories including those spent with my little one.

3) I want to do, not just be.
Anybody who has read the previous blog would realize that I am a sucker for to-do lists. I make a list for everything - I had one for "Before I turn 30" and then an annual one for each year from my 26th birthday onwards, which culminated into the "30" list. I have one now for "Before I turn 40" already and one for 2013. It's something I am keen on doing because my biggest fear is that time will pass so fast that I wouldn't be able to do all that I want to in this life. So I make lists, keep constant track of my progress and feel rather good about it. What I realized with the 1000-day blog is that it made me more productive than I ever was. My to-do lists became longer than before. In an effort to find something beautiful every day, I ended up doing far more things than I otherwise would have had - I wrote scripts, made films, travelled extensively, sketched, painted, made cartoon strips, sky dived, picked up cycling, cooked - sometimes with my own recipes (jeez!), ran, swam, did Bikram yoga, trekked, etc. etc. etc. I packed my days and weeks and months with activities and at the end of the day, achieved a lot more than I would have had I not pushed myself on a daily basis. So in the same spirit, I hope that continuing with the blog and making an effort to find something beautiful on an ongoing basis, would help me be productive and not waste time. This is even more crucial now that I have my baby. I want to ensure that I spend a lot of quality time with her and at the same time not become too laid back. For all you know, it might help me do more things than my current "Before 40" to-do list holds!

4) It's a shitty world that we live in.
Yeah. Over the last few months of my pregnancy, when I became increasingly sedentary, I took to reading newspapers. Bad idea. About 85% of the news is about humans who act worse than animals. It's like we have lost any sense of morality, compassion and empathy. Wars, murders, sexual violence, corruption, discrimination... the list is endless. Maybe the world was always this shitty but it is now that I am realizing the full range of it. Maybe because being a parent, I am looking at it more closely given that this is the world my child would be growing in. I am not gonna list the details on all that disturbs me about the world today, but let's just say that I am disturbed. Very, very disturbed. And unfortunately, I don't know what to do about it. I don't know how to make things better when much of this is not caused by a real need but unfathomable, unreasonable desires and greed. But I will try. It takes some figuring out, but I will definitely try. Importantly, I do know one thing - instead of getting disillusioned by the atrocities, while we work to make it a better place to live in in whatever capacity we can, we need to ensure that we still smile. We need to still celebrate what's beautiful about this world, celebrate the people who still care, celebrate the goodness that's still left. Because there is only one life and we gotta live that. Hopefully, consciously working towards it, discovering reasons to smile with my family, friends, strangers and people am yet to meet, and chronicling that journey would help me with all of it.

So there. I guess that pretty much sums it up.

With that am bidding goodbye to 2012 - a rather eventful year personally - and looking forward to 2013.

Here's to new beginnings! Happy New Year!

10 comments:

  1. And let me end 2012, on this happy note (for there is little else the world lets us be happy about, as you say), that I am glad you're blogging again :) All good wishes.
    And I just want to reiterate. You are truly one amazing woman. Amazing person. Period. Keep being that way :) God Bless you and yours :)

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    1. Thank you for your continuous support and encouragement, teacher! :) Feel blessed!

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  2. Welcome back from the break! Looking forward to reading about your future escapes :)

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  3. Whoa! I am the over-ecstatic! Good that you did not make it necessary for me to organize a candlelight procession, demanding you to start blogging again!

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    1. Too much da!

      But thank you for reading! :)

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  4. Oh! Comments need approval? Hehe fantastic! Make sure you add tags to each post. Makes searching & categorizing easier later!

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    1. Too much spam la.

      And thanks for the reminder on the tags. Didn't do that with the last blog and it's a mess!

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