Its been a year!
Hello,
As I sit here, reflecting on the year that was, there is a rush of memories that come to me. What all I planned for the year and how much of it I was able to execute. 2021 was a great teacher for me. Maybe it was 2020 that did the teaching and 2021 allowed me to bring into action those learnings. And this space, my UNSTIRRED WORDS, is a product of one such learning. It has been an incredibly important part of my life this year. It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I started my newsletter (time flies indeed!). And I am dancing with glee. It has been elating to write here. A real joy to have something that demanded my creativity. Something to motivate me to think of ideas and concepts I had always wanted to write about but never knew how to put them into words. Creating this space also prompted me to think of fresh and innovative ways of putting my points across.
The year 2020 was a unique one in many senses and even though I found myself with more time, I hardly used much of it productively. Apart from work, all I did for myself was mostly binging. When 2021 arrived, with hardly much improvement in the covid situation, I asseverated not to spend this year like the last. The blog was one of the ways I nudged myself to do that. The initial intention was to make myself read and write more. And I am happy to say that it worked. This was not another failed new year's resolution. I did read more, a lot more, and I wrote a lot too.
When I started this space, I did not have any fixed audience in my mind. I was free to experiment with just about anything. A bunch of people, both friends and family, were constant readers, supporters and critics of my writing and it helped me improve a lot. People I hadn't talked to much telling me they related with what I wrote or that they had a similar idea but couldn't express it and were glad I did, were small encouragements that made me continue with it despite my workload.
I realise it is not much of an achievement, but it is a big deal for me. Big enough to make me want to share it with you guys. I have always been great at self-doubt. Even when I had a literal certificate claiming I was the best, I have been quick to dismiss it by telling myself I wasn't the best, others were just not good enough this time around. Which is why I like it when I am uncomfortable. Rather I start to get an existential crisis when I am not uncomfortable. But writing here has calmed me. It was only when I started writing here that I gained confidence in my writing skills and felt assured enough to send my writings out to various other outlets. That in itself was an incredible experience as it not only provided my writings with a bigger readership but also got me in touch with people who could not be more different from me but shared a passion and love for something I had written about. I was reminded of how unifying words could be. How writing can bring people together. And I am ever so grateful for it.
So thank you to everyone who bestowed on me the honour of reading what I wrote and a very warm welcome to others. I wish you all a great year ahead.
Cheers!
Image courtesy: Anastasiia Rozumna via Unsplash
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