Today, I break my blogging hiatus after five long months. And it feels so good to be back in my virtual home.
While it is true that at the fag end of 2017 that I decided to go slow with my writing and get focused on building a stable career, I did not plan to let go off writing altogether. And the blogging break was not self-imposed.
Suddenly one day, out of the blue, my Mac Air crashed. Once the Apple laptop crashed, I couldn’t get myself to write on any other system or notebook habituated to its ease of use.
Hubby finally got it repaired last week. I’ve lost all the data, and I need to retrieve whatever I can from my emails. But I’m so relieved to have my precious laptop up and alive. I am happy to be back to ‘The Tina Edit”. So yes, I will be regularly writing in this space in 2019.
Okay, I didn’t reveal my theme word for 2018. It was Focus. And precisely it was towards rebuilding my corporate career.
I still remember a few reactions I got when I decided to slow down the writing brakes and get back to the corporate.
” That’s strange. Usually, it’s the other way around. People quit their careers to pursue their passion.”
“Oh! So you’re the non-ambitious types.”
I realized that working from home is not for me and not at this stage when my daughter is grown enough to manage herself independently. I also realized that you could only improve so much working alone. Yes, there’s a variety of projects and freedom, but at the end of the day, I missed the rush of going to a physical office and having that divide between work and home. Besides, I needed that financial stability, career roadmap and learning that comes with structured corporate life and from working with a team.
Having a stable career does not mean that your writing dreams have ended. The beauty of having a writing career is that there is no age bar. You can be a writer at the tender age of 7 or overripe age of seventy. Writing is less about ambition or fame as much as it is about introspection, assimilation, and catharsis. It is idealistic and starkly opposite to the materialistic nature of money, ambition, and fame.
I believe that everyone has a different life journey and purpose. And what has to happen will exactly happen in its own beautiful time.
Even though I decided to go slow on creative writing, I did a fair amount of writing in the first quarter of 2018 since I decided to hold on to the job search towards the end of June. I wrote 26 short stories that culminated in the book “Bhumi.” And, readers have been kind enough to share both their appreciation as well as critical feedback on the same to me.
Something that was not part of my plan was teaching Creative Writing. I started the “The Write Away Program,” a creative writing workshop for children last year which went well with Batch 1 completing successfully. Batch 2 starts in Summer 2019. By God’s grace, this was featured in the WOW Hyderabad Magazine – Aug 2018 edition. Teaching happened by serendipity when I returned from the US in mid-2016. I taught Management to graduate and postgraduate students, and I liked what I did. So, I was happy that teaching came back into my life again in 2018 and it is here to stay in 2019 as well.
In the latter half of the year, I still did a lot of research and writing as part of my job churning out several eBooks, white papers, case studies, and blogs in a short record of time. So, the writing had been pretty satisfactory last year. Plus, the scope of my work has now expanded from content strategy to business strategy, and there’s a lot of learning in store in 2019.
But amidst all this, reading has taken a backseat from reading fiction to peers’ writing. I plan to get my reading back on track this year.
As far as health and fitness goals go, I put on weight and lost some of it. But, the good thing is that I have started exercising regularly and embracing Beauty in my home and personal appearance. It’s a joy to look and feel good. And the effort is always worth it. I plan to continue making that effort in 2019 as well.
I still have a big problem with saying “No” to people. One of my resolutions in 2018 was to cut my workload according to my time and bandwidth. But, I’ve made a lot of promises to people I couldn’t keep owing to lack of time as well as energy. So, I need to learn to chew small portions slowly before I go for the next morsel.
Regarding spiritual growth, I have been more regular with my weekly church goings. I know that going to a place of worship does not necessarily make you a better person but when understood and done right, it most certainly can. And I do intend to grow more rooted in the spiritual realm and be a better human being than I am currently. That’s all matters, and the rest is all fluff.
Also, I have learned to accept people as they are with all their flaws and limitations. Because I come with my own. I have been let down by people last year and vice versa. And it’s okay because we are all human at the end of the day.
On that note, my theme for 2019 is Love. And, I hope this year is filled with lots of it for you and me.
Love is a wonderful word for the year and may your year ahead gives you everything that you aspire for.
Knowing your goals and following your heart is always good. More power to you!
Thank you so much, Sona! More power to you too in 2019. Loved your theme of being open too. Similar to my theme for 2017 which was experimentation.
Hi Tina,
Wishing You a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year full of love!
It’s good to see you back. I was missing your insightful perspectives.
It seems you like challenges and always ready to meet them; otherwise, there’s no reason that you miss the divide between work & home. Luck is nothing but the meeting of preparedness with challenges. All the best!
You’re right that writing is not about ambition but introspection. Reading you always enriches my outlook. There’s a lot to take away from this post. 🙂
Very kind, Ravish! That’s how you always come across in my nteractions with you. Going to a physical office or a place away from home dedicated solely to work and learning is what I missed. And I personally felt that you can only grow so much working alone versus working with a team. It doesn’t have to be like-minded which makes it even more challenging to blend in and work together. I completely agree with your definition of luck. Thank you so much again for the kind words and you know already, Ravish that I love your incisive analysis of everything. You seem to cut through all the fluff and have a unique idealistic outlook that is rare to find in the writings today. Wishing you a very happy and prosperous 2019 as well. 🙂
Welcome back Tina♥️
You were indeed missed.
So glad to hear about your journey which resonates in parts with mine.
I’m currently working as a content writer for an organisation; which essentially means less blogging time but a good professional growth.
I’m in the process of figuring out a schedule where I can balance my professional writing with my personal.
I’ve also taken it easy this year probably because I got a sign in the form of a health challenge. Good wake up call to slow down and flow with life instead of trying to do it all.
We live in the times of FOMO – fear of missing out; which has been triggered by social media largely. I’m working on taking handy breaks and nurturing myself with some me time.
Love reading you. Glad to see you back in the groove. More power to you!❣️❣️
Hi Natasha! So sweet of you to say that and I genuinely missed all of you and this space as well. But, now that we are both sailing in the same boat, you know how difficult it can be to juggle both professional and personal writing. But, what I plan to do this year is to push my personal writing towards the weekends and focus on professional commitments during the weekdays. So, let’s see how that goes 🙂 I know too well about the FOMO and frankly, after a year of active social media writing which came with its highs – awards, fame/recognition et al, I was still looking for something substantial and grounded. The plan was to slow down last year as it was getting too crazy and competitive. I like to savor life slowly and I’m sure there’s room for everyone under the sun and what has to happen will happen in its own sweet time. I love reading you too, Natasha and look forward to your articles this year. Much love and power to you too! 🙂
Good to have you back. You, your work, and your motivational words were missed.
Wish you a rocking year, Tina.
More power to your pen, girl.
Keep writing..keep rocking
Love love😍
Oh Priya! Trust me, I missed you so much too. One of the best things about blogging is meeting brilliant minds like you. And I’ve met so many via this space. Thank God, my husband got my laptop back. I’m thrilled right now and I cannot wait to hop onto your blogs and get back into the writing groove all over again. Your work inspires me too and you already know that. Wishing you a rocking year too and let’s create some magic, I say! Hugs 🙂
Good to see that you are back to blogging Tina. I feel writing is an extension of you. So, you cannot be away from it for long. Have always admired your discipline when it comes to honing your skills. Learn a lot from you. Welcome back 🙂
Thank you so much, Meha! You have always been so supportive of my writings and I am a huge admirer of yours. Looking forward to reading your blogs as well. Hugs
[…] We are just past the middle of January 2020. It’s been a tradition of sorts for me since the last two or three years to reflect on the last year, and set the theme for the current year. You can check out my 2019 reflective post. […]
[…] We are just past the middle of January 2020. It’s been a tradition of sorts for me since the last two or three years to reflect on the last year, and set the theme for the current year. You can check out my 2019 reflective post. […]