To old habits and hopeful beginnings

On this day you are likely to be in either of these categories.

A) 2016 hit a rock bottom that you just couldn't wait for this day.

B) You did so great last year that you can't wait for what 2017 will hold.

C) You actually don't care, but have just been looking forward to festivities. 

Either way we have all been eagerly waiting, sunset after sunset for the calendar to flip as I have been eagerly procrastinating waiting to write a blogpost. Alright, I can try to rid myself of guilt explain. I have been busy 2016-ing for lack of a better word. 

I hope we all agree that at the macro level 2016 was the year to remember for all the wrong reasons. Its the year that gave us Brexit, Trump, brutal student protests in South Africa, deaths of beautiful souls like Princess Leia and George Michael.

At the micro level I also got a taste of it. What started out as a hopeful year ended up being as chaotic as the universe itself. To start with I lost my phone, not once, but twice, missed two flights,  suffered through a major depression-loosing a ton of friends in the process, got a taste of loneliness(trust me it's not tasty at all) , made a plethora of not-to-be-spoken-of mistakes... well you get the point, 2016 hit me hard. I will also be wrong to paint such a one sided picture. Amidst all the pain and failures...some good happened. I read lots of books, graduated, got job offers at two prestigious international companies, traveled to Japan and across Europe, wrote academic papers which have been accepted to not one but three conferences, brought my family to Cape Town and now am just appreciating the guilty pleasure therapeutic value of ice cubes, blame it on the African sun. So 2016 did the things too!

Athena and all its beauty

Hello from Roma!

Its easy to look back and only see the flops, feel bad and punish ourselves for it and return to the vicious cycle. I have learnt a lot this year but one lesson keeps popping up, it is the importance of self care. Self care means a lot of things depending on the context. Self care doesn't mean selfish, its actually the opposite. You can't take care of others if you are not well yourself. 

“In case of emergency, air masks will drop the ceiling. If you are traveling with a minor, please put on your own mask before helping the minor.” - Every plane safety demo.

It also doesn't mean shutting out the world, we need it sometimes. Self care is not just limited to physical health, but also financial and most importantly mental health. Self care is deeply ingrained in human instinct but we tend not to practice it since no one rewards you for it. Here's the catch, the world always finds a way to punish those who don't take care of themselves. Over-schedule yourself and you will definitely burn out, under-prepare and you will definitely loose out on opportunities. I know you have resolutions and have probably already started working towards them.I won't advice you to do anything else today rather take care of yourself. Plan the things, do the things, celebrate the things and if 2016 hits, feel the pain then make jokes about it. Its a very short life we live.

Today is not just special because of the numbers, but its perhaps the only day when introspection is the trend. As uncomfortable as it can be, take a moment to look back. Whether 2016 has been a bumpy, smooth or fun ride I wish you a happy 2017!

PS: I will be writing about my Eurotour in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for some boring exciting stories.