From sweet 16 to spectacular 17- Hailing in the new year!

I might be a little late but cannot let go of the customary welcome to the new year and the usual goodbye as I look over my shoulder at the year gone by and reflect on how it was. It is a habit that refuses to let go and I am somewhat glad that it doesn’t. It is enlightening to look back at the past and realise that what seems disastrous was actually not that awful and the ecstasy over certain things was shortlived as well. It changes perspective regarding many things.

2016 started on a very perplexed note. Professionally and personally, choices were difficult. Many hard decisions were taken and all attempts were made to stick to them but then

”Man proposes, God disposes!”

Circumstances favoured none of the choices or decisions and I was forced to change them, one after the other. My mind was a chaos and the unrest just kept rising. Strangely, through it all, I managed to stick to my passion of writing and buy a domain for my blog. Writing was possibly the only constant throughout the year and also the only thing that kept me sane. I am so glad I never gave it up. Writing proved to be not only cathartic but very enriching as well. When you write, you automatically want to read and when you read, you fill your soul with a calm that results from seeing a larger picture of life.

To add to the pre-existing woes, health dwindled as well and landed me in a hospital room for a week. It was a terrible phase but the rock that always stands by my side unswayed, my husband and the pillars that hold me upright, my parents proved yet again that I can always count on them, no matter what. As I staggered back to health, I remembered the promise I made to myself at the beginning of the year- to take up one new thing every year. I started writing travel articles and blog posts. They were received quite well and that was possibly the end of the year’s spell of hard luck. Things started falling into place at every front and even a long overdue visit overseas materialised (will write a series of posts on my London visit very soon!).

The dream vacation of 3 weeks was a priceless time I spent with my family as moments as these are invaluable for an army family. 2016 saw a pleasant end, after all!

The advent of 2017 brought good news along. To my utmost joy and surprise, womensweb awarded me the second prize for travel writing while I was still on vacation. Acknowledgements mean the world and if you are a fellow blogger, you would really understand what I mean! The award also landed me a couple of substantial travel writing assignments. Back home from the vacation (Alas! All things come to an end!) I was invited by my alma mater and honoured for achievements in my professional life as a doctor. I was beaming with joy as I stepped back into the corridors of the school where it all started!

It may be the high of acknowledgements that makes me feel so positive but I have a feeling that the new year is going to be a pleasant one and I am looking forward to it. This new year too, staying true to my promise, I will indulge in something new. I might complete my long pending book and actually go ahead and get it published, who knows? The year has just begun…