2017 review

It is the end of 2017, and I have had a colorful melange of a year. Things went north, south, east west, and some didn’t even move! This was the first year I took a few new year resolutions, and even worked towards them. I traveled far and near, met a lot of people(by my "lofty" standards) and learnt a lot of things. The Ambarish of 2018 will be very different from the 2017 version.

 

Let me review my 2017 resolutions, and where I stand:

1. Get better at piano: Sadly this hasn’t happened. Mostly due to lack of time, I didn’t even touch my keyboard for the past few months. I have a lot of other important stuff on my plate now, and keyboard was the first to be put on the back burner.
2. Write more: Yes! I wrote more, and not only did I write more, I also thought more. I put more effort into each and every blog post. Heck, I even wrote poetry. I have an idea for a detective novel, and I am building the characters in my head. Writing has given me joy, and I am getting addicted to it. Maybe I could have published more stuff on Medium. But I wrote whatever I could, and I am satisfied with this. I'll try to write more, and get more feedback for my content. I found a few other blogs, and a few friends of mine who blog, so I am not short of motivation.
3. Talk more: This is the one I dreaded at the start of last year, and I continue to flinch. I realized the need to talk more, and to more people, but instead I have gone to talk less and to fewer people. A few people around me know my struggles, but the rest of the world is blissfully clueless. I'm disappointed that I didn't even put enough effort. How can I expect anything, when I haven't done enough to warrant a result? Late in this year though, I started to mingle with a few more people, which meant that I cut out the previous ones. This is one resolution that gets copy pasted onto 2018.
4. Get in shape: Done! I am in better shape, than in 2016. People who called me invisible, can no longer call me that. Seriously though, I have corrected my weight, and am in much better health. The effects of going to the gym include not getting sick frequently(touch wood), and a healthy lifestyle.

 

I had a few great days:

February 5th 2017: Marina beach with family, with no care in the world. An evening well spent.

June 25th, 2017: Climbed Patalsu, walked around 20 kilometers that day, without breaking a sweat. Man, I'm incredibly fit!

August 6th, 2017: A long walk, cake, badminton, great dinner, and family over the phone. A great day.

August 31st, 2017: An amazing evening spent with one of my best friends in Hyderabad.

September 9th and 10th 2017: Trek with unknown people, in the rain, on slippery soil, and awesome antakshari. I'll remember it because I generally won't do such a thing, but there you go.

October 28th 2017: I made my parents' 25th wedding anniversary all the more special by celebrating it with some close people, plus my cousin's incredible gift made our day!

 

There were probably a few other days, which were great, but I'll keep them to myself. There were a few days where I didn’t feel like myself. Days where nothing seemed to go right. Days where there was no fault of mine, yet I was blamed. Days where I felt suffocated, stifled, and gasping desperately for breath. The good and the bad days moulded me into the Ambarish for 2018, which is now better equipped to handle such situations. I am reluctantly thankful for those days.

 

I look forward to 2018, and whatever it has in store for me. Great people, places and events, I hope. I hope I do well on my resolutions, to be perfectly honest. I wish a lot of good things happen to some really close people, and hope 2018 is bountiful to them. I hope I become a better human being, first and foremost. I hope 2018 is magnanimous to you, kind reader.

I'll write about my 2018 wishes in a different post. 

Let us end 2017 on a high, and welcome 2k18 with great gusto!