What winters bring to you?

Why winter returns? I sometimes ask myself. The season that makes everything cold and dry. And, most importantly I am allergic to cold weather so I just hate it.  Well, not really. I like summers. And, rains. I like the rains very much and winter is there just in between. Anyway! So, the winter is going to be here very soon. In fact, it seems to have arrived in my city and I am not liking it. I am carrying a hoodie with me, especially while going to work and it has added a significant weight to my backpack. My motorbike doesn’t start in a single button press now. Sometimes, I happen to spend 4-5 minutes on kick-starting my bike which makes me question my bike’s health. But, she is okay, I guess. She turned five a few days ago and I was like, how quick the days fly! I have many reasons for not liking winter but I choose to like it, for what it does to me.

Actually, winters aren’t that bad. I feel the positive vibes during winters. They bring the hope and new energy. They bring the comfy sleeps and long nights. They bring the cool breeze and the clear skies. They bring the festivals and lights. They bring the trips and get-togethers. They bring the birthdays of my favourite people including mine. They bring the endings as well as beginnings. I believe that the seasons do affect the way one feels and I feel much energized during winters. They motivate me to the great extent. Maybe, this is the reason I don’t miss to write in winters.

I make no plans for the winter but I see it as an opportunity to look back into the past 8 – 10 months. I look back to count my gains and losses, cherish the moments of  victories, accept my failures in the past, learn from my mistakes and remind myself that I can survive. I will write a separate look back post in coming days of the winter. In this post, I would like to share with you all the list of changes I have made / will be making into my thought process, vision and daily life routine for the next year based on my last year experiences. I will mention what triggered me to make these changes wherever possible. I have divided the list of changes into four categories as below for my convenience.

More than before

Blogging / writing: I have been away from writing since long time but I have always wanted to write. I get the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when I finish a piece of writing. I was missing on this beautiful feeling for long. I knew the causes behind my less writing but I no longer want to make any excuses. So yeah, no more excuses and more writing pieces coming your way soon.

Evening walks & street food: I enjoy taking the evening walks with my friend and eating the street food, however I feel I can be more consistent with the walks. I feel relaxed taking the evening walks and I am thinking of taking them solo in my friend’s  absence. The only reason I miss on them is that my friend and I work in shifts and sometimes our schedules don’t match and we don’t get to meet as often as we want to.

Reading books: I can be very slow when it comes to reading a book. It takes several days for me to finish a book. There is no particular reason but this is the case with me. I am planning to set a goal of number of books to be read. Books become best friends when you spend the time reading them. They greatly inspire and motivates me too. No reason why I shouldn’t be reading more of them, right?

Listening to motivational speeches: Listening is a very good habit one can develop. I started listening to motivational speeches a couple of years ago and I must say, they were quite helpful. Some call themselves self-motivated but I believe we all seek motivation from the external sources in equal amount. I seek it from external sources and have found them beneficial to me. I watch Ted Talks, listen to speeches from motivational speakers like Simon Sinek and much more. I am even thinking of going beyond videos and looking for motivating songs / movies. Any suggestions?

Being optimistic: The year 2018 has been a measure setback for me. I had lost my beliefs. I was seeing no hope for tomorrow. I was becoming pessimistic. But, I knew I can’t let it happen anymore. I somehow have managed to keep myself away from the negativity. I am seeing a little hope for tomorrow now. I want to be more optimistic and I am working in that direction.

Bring discipline: When I look back to see how I was facing my day-to-day routine, I feel concerned about my future. I have developed a careless attitude which is something I don’t want to keep with me for a long time. I have to be more disciplined in my life so here I am making the change.

Household chores: It is not that I don’t do the chores at all. I will be doing just more of them.

Instagram posts: I had covered a couple of series on Instagram wherein I had written some quotes keeping the theme intact. I had gotten a decent response from my friends and readers. I think I should do such series posting more often.

Taking pictures: I don’t even remember when the last time I had taken the selfie. It is no wonder that I did not click much photos this year. I know I click very less often but going forward I will make sure to capture the best moments in the photos. More photos, more memories!

Less than before

Procrastination: I am blessed with the skill of procrastination. Does it come naturally? Not at all, dude. I am making myself ready to face the challenge. No more procrastination going forward.

Sleep: My favourite thing to do is sleeping. I am not sleepy all the time but I am taking an extra hour of sleep and it is causing me big trouble. Time is precious so will cut down that extra hour of sleep.

Putting an end

I am doing this since last three years. At the end of every year, I give up on something that I can’t change. It could be anything, from a phone contact to a person. I remove the contacts that I no longer get calls from, I give up on a person who find it hard to say hello. I give up on a thought that troubles me or an idea that I no longer find interesting. I just do it for my own good. Sometimes, putting an end becomes as important as making a new beginning. So, like always, this year I am putting an end to

Email interactions: I like to stay connected with my loved ones who are away from me. I use different platforms to do the same. Emails was one of my favourite platforms to interact with people at long distance. I used to find it convenient and an easy way to stay connected. However, my past few months of experience tells me another story. I have now realized that I was putting too much energy and time on this emailing stuff. Over the last couple of years, I have transformed into a different person. I find it hard to stay connected if the proper communication doesn’t happen for long time. I was also getting tired of waiting for the replies that I never got from the people I used to send emails to. The increase in number of such an experiences lead me to this thought of putting an end to email conversations. I respect their priorities and have no complaints. However, it was important for me to not lose my energy on something that wasn’t working out great. I will be making sure that I take part in a proper communication with people where both parties are equally interested. I will be talking with such people only who would stay involved until the communication ends.

Making excuses: I make excuses to myself which leads me to the dissatisfaction and sadness later on. I don’t like making excuses at my work or elsewhere but I don’t know what happens to me when it comes to my stuff. So, this is again something that I am going to find challenging. Let’s see how I go about this.

Starting afresh

Writing in Marathi: I had started my writing journey with Marathi poems seven years ago. I have written a few poems but no articles in Marathi. The thought of writing in Marathi have crossed my mind for several times in the last few months. I will be giving it a try very soon. I will publish my Marathi posts on my other site, nishabd.com.

Taking care of plants: There was a time when we had over a dozen of beautiful flower plants on the terrace. I used to like watering plants in the evening. The time changed and due to our negligence, we lost the plants we had. It requires great dedication in growing the plants. You need to make time, take care of them on regular basis. We have brought a few plants recently and I have made my mind to take care of them. It is something that would test my dedication and love. I am already excited.

Freelancing: I am quite serious about freelancing. I had done it a few months ago which was an exciting experience. The world is full of possibilities. Though it is not on the priority as of now but I am definitely going for it in the near future.

This is it. The winter has brought me some amazing changes. What about you? Do you like winter? How does it affect you? Do you make changes in the way you live your life based on your experiences? Let me know your views in the comment section below.