2019 Round up!

I love this time of the year! Because, it's time for a round up!

Yay!

I don't know about you, but I had a happening year. Between Graduation, Sherlock's knee surgery, living alone in Singapore, Sherlock moving to Singapore, me trying to find my footing at work and tonnes of resolutions to keep up, I had my hands full. I can look back at the year and say, I am glad we went through what we did, because believe it or not, as cliches go, we came out stronger.

But, what made me the happiest this year was how hard I worked at my non-work related resolutions.

• I wanted to read 50 books and I completed my 50th book yesterday. It was hard, but I cannot put it in words, how much it was worth the effort. One of my complaints to myself was always that I didn't read enough non-fiction. This year, I read 15. I just cannot get over that. Here are the 50 books I read:

• I wanted to write a lot this year. I did it in spurts, but I did write. I did a blogathon that I am very proud of. I wrote a total of 39 posts, which honestly and embarrassingly, is more than the sum total of all posts of the 2 previous years. But more importantly, I am now a formal staff writer for The Decision Lab. When I write on the blog, I write for myself, but I realise now, how hard it is to write for an audience. I guess a new challenge is never too bad, huh? Let's see how that gamble goes.
• Sherlock's going to laugh if and when he reads this, but I really really wanted to be more physically fit this year. There were months when I was serious and there were months when I didn't as much as look at my sports shoes in case they miraculously bind themselves to my feet. I am not proud of this, but it feels better to just accept it rather than to keep rationalising. This carries forward to 2020. I have plans. Big plans.
• I also wanted to learn more songs on the piano. I did learn a few songs, mostly songs that made me happy. Hoping to continue the streak in 2020!

But most importantly, whether it was the reading or the writing, by biggest learning of 2019 was the importance of consistently doing something. If I write 5 posts, 1 might be good. If I write 30 posts, there will be 6-10 posts I would be proud of. That's still a lot more than 5. 

It was the same thing with books as well. If I read 10 books, I might really like 4 of them. If I read 50 books, I would end up with 20 books I loved! And that's what happened this year. I am in love with so many books, new genres and new authors, that I can't imagine writing a list of best books. I guess that's what you get out of doing a lot of something. You get a lot of good results.

Anyway, that's my gyan for 2019. 

Hope you had a fabulous 2019. And hope you have an even more fabulous year ahead with loads of good memories, fulfilled wishes, time spent with loved ones and relentless pursuit of whatever makes your heart leap with joy!

Cheers and best wishes,

Preeks