Year End Musings

I had 5 months of absolutely nothing to do this year. The remaining seven weren't overbearingly busy either despite a new job. And now I've discovered that after all those amazing new year resolutions, I have exactly 3 blog posts, 0 new pages in my book, and I'm fatter than I was all of last year.

On the flip side, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary in the gorgeous Gir forests with aplomb! We saw lionesses, adorable cubs, and went to Somnath and saw the place where Sri Krishna had left his human form! I was able to visit Delhi every 1.5-2 months to hug Maxi boy silly. And I actually cooked for 20 people and the food was delicious for a change! And I baked like a person possessed till I realized that I was getting too fat eating all that gooey chocolate goodness, and stopped cold turkey.

It's been a very interesting year indeed!

As much as the voice in my head is telling me that I'm writing this post simply to bring up my post count for the year, I think a part of me (the non-cynical big part) is still super excited about new year resolutions and the fresh start a brand new year offers. Fresh start from what, you ask? From my own laziness. Yes I said it last year. And the year before. And I did succeed at becoming better to an extent. But the relapse after a couple of months is hard to conquer. No more.

Here's to working out religiously, eating healthy (minimal added sugar, I'm already on a zero fried food diet), writing EVERYDAY (I can't afford excuses here - a few days without it and it all goes out of the window), going back to Bharatanatyam (the return has already been charted), meditating EVERYDAY (dillydallying doesn't get you anywhere), and sleeping lesser. Consistency will be my Mantra for 2016. Along with Zero Negative Thinking. The world of course is losing it more and more everyday. 2016 will also be a year of inner peace. After all, you can only spread what you've got :)

Here's to trying new things, being new things and living it up every single moment. Happy 2016 everyone :)

P.S. Looking forward to our vacation time too -  a year that starts with an exotic holiday can only get better from there :).

Introspection

I had always thought that a world of possibilities lay waiting for me if I ever quit my job. Having quit my job more than 5 months ago and with no new job in sight in the city to which I've relocated has suddenly put a glaring spotlight on that assumption of mine. Suddenly I find myself without any motivation whatsoever. What exactly is stopping me from completing my book or reading a 100 books or starting something new or brushing up my language skills?

Suddenly I find myself devoid of all purpose in life. How was going to work at 8 in the morning, coming back at 8 in the night, being stuck in traffic for 3 hours and working some more purposeful? It did get me my big fat pay check at the end of the month which was awesome (and which I miss), but there are a 100 other options in this world. What's stopping from going after them?

I think I'll have to go back to basics, go meet and interact with children, and learn how to do things just for the sake of doing them and getting pleasure out of that solely. No ulterior motive. No end game planning. 

Time to throw myself into the sea called life and see how well I can navigate it.

PS: 3 month-versary and St. Valentine's Day were happily celebrated :)

Time

It's been two days since I watched The Theory of Everything, and among the various amazing, soul-stirring scenes in the movie, the one that got stuck in my head is when young Stephen Hawking hobbles into his professor's room soon after he discovers that he has 2 years to live, and tells him his Ph.D. thesis would be on 'Time'. It forced me to think about the time I have left.

No, I've not been struck by any fatal illness or anything. But life is probably the most unpredictable thing. And I have so much time on my hands right now that the person I was a year back at this time would have been so jealous of the person I am right now. I have OODLES of time since I'm still looking for a job. And what am I doing with it? Diddly Squats.

I think the problem with too much time and a complete lack of focus is that whenever I set out to study one thing, or meditate or pick up a new activity, I feel like I should be doing something else. That leaves me utterly restless and not at all happy. I tried making a sort of curriculum for myself too - but that didn't work out either.

Is it just me, or are there other people who can't figure out what to do with their time out?

I guess what I really need is mental discipline. I've managed to incorporate it when it comes to working out and living healthy - but my mental and spiritual health desperately needs some working on.

High time I started!

2 months!

I have no idea how I've turned into that specimen of mankind who celebrates every single month of her marriage .. but since I have; Happy 2 months to us! And boy did we unwittingly welcome it in style!

So the 2-month-anniversary eve saw my darling better half struggling with crazy business problems that erupted like a hitherto sleeping angry volcano. The events that followed saw us "borrowing" a neighbour's hammer without telling him, breaking open the lock of a makeshift storage space (first time I saw a lock being smashed open!), and then running to find a new space when the one with the broken lock didn't work out. By the time we got to the location after being tipped off by a trusted employee it was 12 in the night. I wish I could say it was all sinister, but no. Vadodara is in the midst of beautiful, not-very-cold winters right now. So it was actually a gorgeous midnight. The place was a tad shady, and the owner had a tiny dog who was incessantly and suspiciously whining. But that's what adventures are made up of I guess! 

Following that trip, we decided to visit one other potential option for the business which was in a deserted industrial area, and just when we thought we were done, our car ran out of petrol and stalled in the middle of nowhere! It was around one in the night by this time, and we flagged down an auto guy who was super suspicious of a boy dressed up for work and a girl in pyjamas and tshirt with her sleep-in sweater asking him to take them to the nearest petrol pump with two empty water bottles in their hands. 

Anyhow, all's well that ends well. We found petrol and got back home and crashed. In the midst of all this, I managed to prepare custard and jelly for the first time ever! It was super awesome, and dare I say the silver lining on a dark dark day. 2 am: we wished each other and tried to sleep which was hard considering one annoying mosquito made us his musical target.

I'd heard marriage is an adventure - finally experiencing and loving every moment of this journey. *Touch wood*