Note to Self #8 – This Too Shall Pass

Dear T,

A very Happy Belated Birthday and a Happy Belated Diwali and a Prosperous New Year! This year, your birthday coincided with Diwali which made everything everything so special and festive. It was a great day both at the office and at home and you really have so much to be thankful for. So take a moment and thank the Lord for all his kindness and blessings.

I’m sorry for missing out on my daily notes to you this week, T. What can I say? I don’t think I have all the right excuses ready for this one. I want to (wo)man up and say that I wish I had made better use of my time in planning out these posts. However, most of the time I feel like I can express myself in writing best when it’s done impulsively and when I really have something worthwhile to share that comes straight from the heart. There seems to be a mental clash between my spontaneous creativity and my need to manage time effectively. The former is winning of course, as you can see.

Moving on to this note’s purpose, sometimes you feel like all the efforts you are putting into overwriting your old thought patterns are bearing fruit and other days you feel like a big fat failure. I don’t want to go into much detail but you recently felt like you were making headway and then boom, the next day had you backtracking to right where you were even though you hadn’t stopped making the efforts.

This happened on the day of your birthday unfortunately. The day was pretty amazing and you were on top of the world but there was an underlying sense of disappointment that was dragging you down. You felt cheated out of the one day that should have been the happiest day of the year. At one point, you just wanted to give up and sleep it off but luckily as you didn’t want to start your 30th on the wrong note, you chose to learn a lesson instead of falling prey to a temporary setback.

The most important reminder that you received when almost on the verge of giving up was this is all temporary. There will be several good days and maybe an equal number of bad days. There will be trials, failures, disappointments and obstacles but it’s all going to pass eventually.

What came with this reminder was also the realization that you had the power to turn your day around. It’s not always easy and you know it, but you did manage to make the best with what you could and had a bloody good day nonetheless.

What you say to yourself is very important at this point. Your inner dialogue can be your biggest enemy or your strongest ally. This has been the hardest to change but it’s getting easier to talk to yourself as if you were your own personal cheerleader.

Life loves giving out free lemons but remember lemons are actually good for you despite their sourness. It is up to you what you make out of them.

Here’s to being thirty-licious! 🙂

Much love,
Tx

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Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog, I always value your encouragement and support! If you liked this blog post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help spread it by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Thank you!

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Note to Self #6 – Be a Practitioner, Not a Giver-Upper

Dear T,

You always did love to learn. Do you remember those swimming, painting, violin, knitting, crochet and sewing classes you took as a child? While your young mind was excited at the prospect of starting new things, you never managed to learn any of those things because you were quick to give them up after only a handful of classes each.

Note to Self #5 – Take A Little Break

Dear T,

Today hasn’t been a great day. But it’s okay. Things happen. Just let the angry feelings pass by like a passing grey cloud. I know you’re not in the mood for a big pep talk kind of note so here’s a little impromptu poetry which I know I am not very good at but it might just cheer you up. It will remind you that taking a step back is more important than expressing anger at a situation that is out of your control at the time.

Note to Self #4 – ‘Social’ Is Not The New Word For Antisocial

Dear T,

It’s late and you’re tired and sleepy, so let’s try to make this really short. Today while you were waiting for your metro to and fro from work, you looked around the station and realized something. A large number of passengers on the platform were bent over their digital devices as if their lives depended on them. The situation was oddly homogeneous, with passive faces and bent heads showing little signs of movement while thumbs were moving incessantly. Every now and then, a head would look up and gaze around and then shift their attention back to the screen again.

Note to Self #3 – This Is Not The End of the Journey

Dear T,

You’ve only had one calling ever since you remember – to write your way into this world. Living in an imaginative bubble, your best friends growing up were books, paper, a pencil and your sister’s old typewriter. You were always good at languages and the written word in school but did not have a strong affinity toward other subjects. The one dream you had as a young’un was to become a writer/reporter.

Note to Self #2 – Protect Your Little Nest Egg

Dear T,

You’ve never been a financial planner but there are many things that you have picked up from your father who is a very wise man and especially when it comes to wealth management. Take a moment to reflect upon his teachings:

Note to Self #1 – You Ain’t Got Nothing If You Ain’t Got Health

Dearest T,

A very happy 30th in advance! Although it may feel odd right now having to transition from your twenties to your thirties, but believe me the best part of your life has just begun! Your mistakes and experiences have taught you several things and for that you should take a moment and say thanks for all that you have learned over the years.

NaBloPoMo 2015 – Let’s Do This!

I turn 30 this November. WOAH ! HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN? I mean, I still remember turning 21 just as if it was yesterday and that happy feeling of a brand new life ahead. Now suddenly my twenties are almost over and there’s a new decade to look forward to and a slightly new mental adjustment that I have to make (not to mention change my WordPress bio!). 😉

Writing 101 – Day 20 – The Future

Oh my, I don’t know how I feel at the end of Writing 101! I suppose I am feeling exactly how I felt when I was graduating from university. A mixture of “Thank God, I won’t fall back on assignments any more!”, and, “OMG, what now? Does this mean I have to restart thinking about my own topics to write about?” and part, “I can’t believe I won’t be seeing familiar faces anymore! How will we manage to stay in touch when life gets in the way?” as well as, “I learned so much and I can’t wait to join another course again!” Emotions are just running back and forth, jumping up and down, fighting like cats and dogs and giggling together like little children in my mind.

Of course, the real test comes when you don’t have daily prompts and challenges and when you just have to write on your own. That really terrifies me but it excites me as well. Planning and goal setting is key; two skills that I’ve said time and again that I need to work on BIG TIME!

So what does the remainder of 2015 look like for me?

Starting this month till the end of December, I plan to:

1. Do lots of blogging and scheduling for most of the posts that have been in my mind and in my notebook since forever, which I did not want to tackle. This includes scheduling posts for the NaBloPoMo which I intend to take part in this November.
2. Get some fall-cleaning done in preparation for Diwali which coincidentally falls on my birthday this year! So that means lots of de-cluttering (my new best friend!), cleaning and organizing! Looking forward to it at the same time procrastinating on it!
3. Tackle some little tasks, errands and some shopping which I’ve been putting off for weeks! (Yeah, procrastination seems to love me!)
4. Go back to my old freelance full-time job from mid-October. I wasn’t planning on doing this but it’s a great opportunity and it also means everything is going to get super busy although I will be working mostly from home till mid-November and then work from the office till end of December.
5. Keep my fitness routine going but change the timing to first thing in the mornings so I don’t have to worry about it at the end of the day (mostly because my will-power and stamina are the weakest in the evenings after work).
6. Start thinking about my new pet project which will give me a lot of creative satisfaction and allow me to learn so many new skills. I won’t be able to get it off the ground yet (I need to read and learn a lot!) but to plan it, I need to ponder over it seriously.
7. Ease back into the 2015 Reading Challenge. I am ashamed to say I have been ignoring this challenge which ironically was the reason why I started blogging seriously in January! Realistically, I know I won’t be able to finish the challenge but I want to try and finish as many books as I comfortably can by the end of this year.
8. Make my very own planner for the first time! I’ve never used a planner properly before (to-do lists are as far as I reluctantly go!) but I’ve been so inspired to make one of my own and get it printed and spiral bound! Hope this goes well !
9. Make plans to visit a mountainous region in India next year! Any suggestions? 🙂
10. Review my 2015 goals and see where I succeeded and where I went wrong and make a better plan for 2016 with revised goals.

Coincidentally, halfway through drafting this post and while taking a lunch break, I picked up the weekend magazine that comes with our newspaper every Friday and checked my weekly horoscope (I don’t know if I always believe in it, but sometimes it uncannily senses my thoughts!) and this is what was written:

You may wish to learn more and could consider returning to an educational course that interests you. Planning personal matters takes priority this week. You will feel happy and a little impulsive, believing nothing can go wrong. A balance between detail and positive thinking will make you a winner.

Is that eerily correct or what? Anyway, all signs are leading to planning, so that’s what I shall do !

What are some of your goals for the remainder of this year? Leave me a comment below and let me know your planning technique. Would love to hear from you!

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If you enjoyed this blog post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help spread it by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!

If you’d like to contact me for enquiries or just to say hello, you can email me at thistlesandwhistles@hotmail.com or even connect with me on Facebook , Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads and BlogLovin’