2018 was a year of near misses for me. A calm sea can hide turbulence within—volcanoes and earthquakes, shark attacks and plastic carnage. So my life appeared to be this last year—a smooth ride but with a more than fair share of invisible upheavals.
I survived, and on the last night of the ill gone year I realised that time has passed and every next day is a new day.
I survived because I thrived on my small wins. Not that the losses didn’t bring me down—I lost confidence, I lost faith, but what I am glad I lost was the fear of losing.
I met people from different countries, faiths, and walks of life, each one leaving an impressionable footprint on mine, irrespective of their years of experience or age.
A plus to this year’s adventure was also, as always, book recommendations! I got one towards the end, Emperor of the Mughals, which made me realise how small my worries were and how insignificant sometimes were my failures. Babur, the undisputedly strongest of all Mughal emperors was once a throneless king. His resilience, his persistence helped him reclaim his kingdom, and his humility, his faith helped him sail through the testing times.
With renewed hope and new found courage I am facing 2019 head on. I am literally stepping out of the lap of luxury and running towards experiences, challenges, and stories.
Lastly, ironically, I am planning to make 2019 a year of spontaneity. And right now I am thriving on this rigidly flexible list of to dos:
1. Find a problem to solve every day (it’s not tough to find).
2. For the first two hours of the day stick to your routine, come what may (you’ll have an ensemble in your routine by next December, you’d have created the perfect one).
3. Read something out of your area of interest everyday (something eccentric, something unbelievable—you’ll become fun and no, I’m not talking about politics here).
4. Finally, just be nice and give the benefit of doubt to people around you.
You and I shall thrive, in our own worldly (or not) ways!