2018, what a crazy year! So many good things happened to me, and incredible opportunities came my way. But there were also things that were well-not-so-good. It’s been a year of self-discovery, growth, comfort, setbacks, mental health struggles, life-changing decisions, and failures of my life. But it’s ok, nobody thrives all year, right?. Being happy doesn’t mean you have a perfect life, it means you are happy with what you have and how you are.
“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day” No matter how many days may be bad, or just not as good as they could have been, there is ALWAYS something good in every single day to be grateful for and to appreciate.
This is why I’m sharing what I am grateful for this year and what I hope to change next year.
The Top 10 Things To Be Grateful For
1. I’m Thankful for Supportive Friends and Family
Thankful to my family for their unconditional love and support. In all the good days and bad days of the year, they supported and guided me. The friends who treat me like family, support me, feed me when I don’t want to cook, listen to me and be with me when I need them. If there is anything I am eternally grateful for after my family is my friends. This year I made a new friend, Sruthi. I was surprised to be able to find a real connection with someone in my late ’20s.
I am also extremely grateful to my friend Akhi and her family who included me in all their family traditions this year. I have so many good memories celebrating festivals like Holi, Diwali. Thank you for always carrying extra food for me and making sure I didn’t skip meals.
2. I’m Grateful for this Blog
I started this blog on a whim 3 years ago. No matter how hard it was to stay consistent and positive, I am glad I never stopped blogging. I am constantly grateful to have an outlet for my creativity, and people who care about what I have to say. This platform has taught me things that my day job would never have. It taught me the value of time, what it means to be yourself, it helped me to dream big and live my dreams in my own terms.
This year, I registered my blog as a corporation. A big check to starting my own business goal in 2018. so far, it’s been the best year for my small business.
On the other hands, blogging has taken away a few things: my social life, my connection with certain people, my priorities have shifted, but it has strengthened my relationship with myself.
3. I’m grateful for Morning Workouts
This is perhaps the best thing this year. I am so happy I tried working out in the morning. It’s seriously a bliss. I don’t have to think about exercise throughout the day, I don’t have to starve and push myself to the gym after work.
I am also grateful that workout has become a part of my lifestyle. I enjoy working out as much as I love eating now. Though I struggle with consistency every now and then I am happy where I am in my fitness journey compared to last year.
4. Grateful for Positive Thinking and Acceptance
I have seen more failures in life than success to understand that life is about balance and that the scale has to tip to Good sooner or later. Even though I have a bad day, I keep reminding myself that it will pass and tomorrow will be better. I cry if I have to or I talk to someone if it makes me feel better or I will watch a movie. No matter what I try to stay from negative vibes taking over my mind.
Once I stop wallowing in pain and self-pity, I sit and reflect on what went wrong, what should I do to not happen again?. Accepting that you were wrong, or that you failed will only help you to better plan your future. There are some things in life you can’t change or control, The best thing you can do at that time is to find acceptance. You can only truly MOVE ON if you accept it.
5. Grateful for my Impromptu Travels
90% of my trips this year were on a whim. Unplanned trips are not always easy, you might not see the “must see” places but when you come back home, you come back with experiences, not just a checked itinerary. I love impromptu trips and I hope I go on many more in 2019.
6. Grateful for Car and my love for driving
I was constantly on the road every weekend for the entire year driving to and fro from Frankfort to Columbus (around 8 hours) to meet Lakki and to take pictures for the blog. This wouldn’t have been possible if there were no car, or I didn’t know or enjoy driving. Thanks to my love for driving my weekends were more productive.
7. Grateful for my new laptop
Oh boy! I can’t believe I survived 3 years without a laptop. I managed to pack and carry my iMac from Frankfort to Columbus every other weekend so that I can edit pictures and work on the blog posts. I finally purchased a laptop over the Black Friday this year. I am thankful for the decision to buy a laptop every day ever since.
8. Grateful for Yoga and Meditation
I’ve rediscovered my love for yoga and meditation this year through Inner engineering. Every time I sat down to meditate, I was distracted by this infinite loop of thoughts. My mind was never at peace and I struggled with extreme stress and anxiety.
After a 4-day Inner engineering session by Isha Foundation, I have realized that meditation and yoga are more about being aware of how your thoughts are transitioning from one to another rather than forcing yourself to shut them off. You can’t ignore your thoughts, better acknowledge them and work on them.
9. Grateful to be spending New Year with my Parents.
Wondered why I wasn’t posting on Instagram lately. It’s because I was in transit to India. Yes! I am in India right now finally! after almost 4 long years. I will be sharing a lot of my trip on IG stories (follow me there, if you haven’t already).
My parents bought a new house and they’ve been waiting for me for almost a year to have a traditional housewarming ceremony. I am glad, I am able to make it this year for the celebrations. I am also here for something BIG, will be sharing about it soon. It’s very hard to keep a secret but I have to for a little longer. so hang in there along with me!
The last time I celebrated the new year with my parents was in 2012. I am glad to be home, eating mom cooked meals with my family, annoying my mom, and sleeping on my bed.
10. Grateful for the Lessons Learned
Time to reflect back on my actions/mistakes in 2018 and be grateful for the lessons I learned from them
Get your priorities right
I am a moody person which means I wait for the right mood to strike to get something done and when the mood strikes, I don’t care if it’s my number one priority or not. I just go with the flow and get it done. It affects my productivity at times as I miss deadlines and end up piling up more work to do in a day.
How I am changing It: Instead of just listing down my tasks one after the other, I am going to write them down in the order of importance. Or only mention the priority tasks in my to-do list first so I can only focus on them. It also makes it less overwhelming to look at my to-do list.
Organize your priorities
I am really messy when it comes to staying on top of my campaign deliverables and editorial calendar. My brand campaigns are all over the place, some are in emails, some are in various influencer networks and some are in DM’s. Also, I don’t have a strict editorial calendar for my blog posts. I plan some posts for the week but I end up posting something else at times.
How I am changing It: I am going to organize all my campaigns on Asana. It’s a FREE and excellent tool to manage projects and tasks. I used the tool briefly and loved it. There is also a mobile app where you can add new tasks to your projects and set deadlines. It sends email reminders for every task. You can also add more people to your projects and can chat with the other project members in the app itself. Coming to the blog posts, I am going to focus on getting the season-appropriate posts done first.
Every year brings its ups and downs. I believe that focusing on the good and practicing gratitude will help us lead a positive life every day. I hope you enjoyed reading my gratitude list.
What are you grateful for in 2018? Leave them in the comments below!
Shop this NYE Outfit
Glitter Dress (under $25; wearing size M) c/o Shein | Metallic boots (last seen here) | Necklace | Earrings | similar Bracelet | Bag | Sunglasses
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