Happy Birthday to Me

I am turning 32 tomorrow. It’s my birthday. After 32 years, one would assume you get over the birthday fever. Alas, not me.  The other awesome thing about my birthday is, it is the last day of the month and I practically get to celebrate the whole birthday month.

I have been like that from times I can remember.

So like we welcome New Year, it’s time to say good-bye to my 32^nd year and embrace stepping into 33^rd year of my life.

What a year it has been!!! The awesome 32 things from the 32^nd year of my life.

1. Best hair days
2. An awesome year at work, making new friends
3. I have been  my stylish best this past year
4. Participated in my first 5k. Been running regularly for the last month and hope to keep it up
5. Read crazy amount of books
6. Best LOA year so far
7. Picked a liking for hula-hooping
8. Major vibrational shift from doubting and confusion to being happy in my own place
9. Started my own LOA blog
10. Kept up my writing on this one
11. Started listening to music which I never have
12. Had some amazing conversations
13. My first international vacation – new Zealand north island road trip
14. Professionally learnt heaps of new stuff
15. Made a rocker amount of money
16. I got over some things I needed to; finally!!!
17. Went dancing once (going again for my birthday)...loved it
18. Started wearing lipstick
19. Have never gone out of the house without liner
20. Tried my hand at jewellery. It’s not for me.
21. Wrote short story for Kiyara which she refused to read
22. Understood my bandwidth for relations
23. Spotted those few annoying habits that I have
24. Aimed to keep my bedroom well made. Managed to do it for most of the time.
25. Learnt driving
26. Started reading out loud to Kiyara every night and she loves it
27. Had the best relation with Nishit : emotionally and physically
28. We both tried out travel and loved it and have already booked tickets for our next Tasmania trip
29. Realized where my mum comes from and her emotions
30. Rocked the heels like nobody’s business
31. Have found my motivation. Which is me being in my zone.
32. Something’s cannot go on the blog ;)

 Yay to the year that went by; Cheers to the next year of rock and roll.

Today is oldest you have ever been and the youngest you will ever be again .

Running

Well, I finished my first 5k run. I feel thrilled. Yes I do. 

More than the running, I am kicked about my new found will to get up and go and run or do a workout. It’s been 4 weeks for me now and it’s the longest I have stuck to waking up and moving my body. Of course, the moving body comes with benefits. My take away from this is the change. I am not clear what caused it or what motivated it. Standing where I am I believe I am in for the long haul.

Always been the kind of person, who decides to do something about fitness (like 3/4^th of the world) and never does anything about it. I am not saying we should do something it. I am saying I wanted to and never did. 

I used to decide to run then never wake up. I used to keep debating about the form of exercise I should be doing. I have done everything from Yoga to run to fitness videos, every once in a blue moon and given up. Given up, being the key here.

This time I did not, I registered for a 5k, trained for it and ran it. Yes. I did it. It could have been anything from keeping the house clean to fitness to anything, the key here being I did it.

That is what I am proud of. 

I did yoga and strength and run based on what I felt like. I didn’t do it 5 days a week. I rested after a long run and promptly woke up a day after. That in itself is an achievement for me.

This has given me a high. 

So I had this theory, as a kid I was always on a high being the kid who scores in class. The exams were goals and the marks an achievement. After the end of exams I have not really come close to an achievement like this. Yes, I made it to a good company, a rocking husband and a kid and a house and the works.  And I am extremely grateful about my life.

This presented a personal goal for me like my exams and I cleared it. I feel like an achiever.

That’s me. That’s how silly I probably can be. But that’s me. 

Running is like an aid in my spiritual journey. Yes, however corny it sounds, it is like meditation to me. It helps me connect with myself.  My posts and how I feel and how I am being is a clear indication of what this run has done for me.

Maybe it is all inter connected. Either ways this is all working out to be a perfect outcome.

I have signed up for my first 10k.

Yay for that!!!

Running teaches me that I am capable of so much more than I imagined.

Melbourne for me

It was exactly how it happened for Amber in Salaam Namaste “Wo Melbourne aai aur use Melbourne se pyaar hogaya”.

I came I saw and it conquered me. I love this city. I love how I feel in this city. 

It’s a gorgeous city with the Victorian facades framing the buildings, adorned with gardens and parks after every street probably second only to the cafes which are by the dozen on every street.

Silly as it may sound; not having to worry about the coverage of my body based on where I am going is a huge relief in itself. I probably have an old life connection with the city. That’s how one I feel with it in only two years that I have spent here.

It’s beautifully multicultural with people from all over the world walking the streets. Even with the obvious differences of how everyone from a different origin looks, it is still such a polite and well-mannered city. “How aa ya” is the norm here. No conversation ever begins without it.  If you cross a stranger on the road, more often than not they smile.

The city has the quintessential buzz without making me feel lost. The suburbs have this quite, eerire Kerala village feel to it at night. That doesn’t make me feel scared.

It’s a city without being a city. Its streets are filled with the warmest of strangers. The coffee culture here is absolutely amusing. The guys so cute ;) The running and cycling crowd on all streets has finally motivated me to run too and buy cool running gear as well. 

I am biased, but I feel awesome here. Its brimming with positivity all over.

I feel free; I have a sense of freedom here. I feel extremely positive and fresh here.  From the buzzing cities to the quiet suburbs, I can’t seem to find a fault. Yes, I don’t have the enormous family and friends I have back home. I miss them. But I would miss them no matter where I am. But, at least I love the place that I am in now.

What to do, I love it.

Keep calm and love Melbourne.

From scary to easy

Scary to easy should be the tag line for “Learning”. Or maybe “I can’t to  I can”. Or anything on those lines.

Everyone knows about this, but most of times I fail to remember when I am dragging myself through the “Scary” phase. It struck me very lately, while trying my waist at hula hoop that, yes, you go from the hard to easy without realizing.

Learning a new trick/ code/ language:

1.       It is going to feel daunting and you will find it hard to imagine winging it like a pro.

2.       Keep at it. Nothing beats it than keeping at it. Nothing. Keep at it.

3.       Get a mentor. Youtube, google, read or if you find a real life mentor. Yes, you need action, but you need theory.

4.       Keep at it.

5.       Track it if you can. Nothing motivates more than seeing progress. Record yourself, graph your activity, do a trick, see the output even if garbled.

6.       Keep at it.

Am I person who always keeps at it. Yes and no. Depends on what I am doing, how much fun I am having.

Things I have been trying lately:

Hula-hooping. I am still at the novice stage of hooping it at my waist, looking constipated. But I can’t get over the moment, when I could keep it at my waist.

Driving. It still almost feels like a nightmare. But the hula hooping, has taught me forever, keep at it. I don’t have a choice to not drive. I might as well be good at it. I drag my husband out driving every single day.

Running. Well, I know how to run. I stumbled upon a post I had written long back (2 years back), where I listed wanting to run a half marathon. I wasn’t even close to running regularly. I took the first action. I googled up running events, and registered for a 5k which was close enough for me to not overlook it and far enough for me to train. My training is on; I can run a 5k.

Supporting my batches at work:  I had no clue how to start or stop them, I used to be terrified when they were stuck, I had no clue how to debug them. Today, new team members call me when they are terrified. I am winging it like a pro.

I have few things in my list:

Swim: Basic skills I need to know like driving. Need to enrol into swimming and buy a swimwear (motivation ppl)

Write a short story: I have always claimed it will be cool to write a book. It seems like an impossible task. The sheer magnanimity of the task stops me in my tracks. I thought, well I can write a one page post, I have written essays as a kid. I am just going to extend myself to write a short story good enough to read to my daughter. Doesn’t seem daunting anymore.

Improvise vocabulary: I have a fairly good grip on my grammar. Thanks to my schooling, reading, my mum. Plus, it helps me with the wish to write a book as well. So, I am going to pick a word and go nuts making sentences with it.

Be an SQL geek: Why? It’s a basic skill needed as a developer. I like the idea. I think I should know it, being a software developer. I  have the resources, SQL installed on my work machines. How? Read a book. Yes that’s what I am going to do.

 I am going to keep at it. Keep at it.

“Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information”

To have fun

Since years I have been reading about “Purpose of life”: “How to find purpose of life”: “Is your job in alignment with “Purpose of life”: so on and so forth

I have also claimed stuff like “I am lazy”, how does that align?

I hit a home run today.

I am here for a vacation. I found my life’s purpose: I am here to have fun, relax.

So, apparently, everyone incarnates with an intention. (I believe in this. You can choose to ignore this whole post).  I incarnated with an intention of a brilliant, fun and relaxing vacation.

Why am I so sure? I am kicked with that idea. I am having goose bumps. 

The best part about being incarnated for vacation, I could try heaps of stuff without any intention at all.

I be like: “This is so cool, I will try”: then I be like “Now this one please”: then I go have fun, sleep, relax.

Perfect!!!    

                                           

And when I go back and “God” asks me: “Did you have fun?”. I be like: “What a vacation. I am planning another one soon”

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy”