Life Lately
As I sat in traffic on my way back from work today, my phone buzzed with a notification.
I read the notification from the notification bar, smiling but slightly puzzled.
As with most texts, I decided to reply when I could give it more attention and continued on my way home, wondering what could have prompted this friend to say this.
My brain rapidly started scanning all aspects of my life to decipher this, and while doing so, I realized something incredible. Life has truly been kind to me this year.
I've been fairly regular in doing some sort of physical activity for most of the last few months (which I'm most proud of, so it goes on top). Work has been consistently as good as work could be, and while it has shifted to a four-day in-office work week, I have convinced myself this is the new normal. I've been playing badminton, the occasional pickleball, and sometimes even running. I've been getting much better at putting in effort and maintaining my relationships with friends, those in Bangalore and outside, and yet have also managed to create new friendships (like from the message above). I have been spending time with my parents and talking to them about so much more. I also infrequently remember to send the odd funny face picture to the other organism my parents birthed.
Recently, I've watched the occasional movie, discovered a lot of new music, rediscovered a lot of old music, watched a play, listened to podcasts, played video games with some really good friends, made travel plans (that are soon coming to fruition), and got around to consistently not putting away chores. I've celebrated festivals with family and friends, visited new restaurants, consciously worked on my conversation skills, and even spent some time getting back into reading.
There are also things I wanted to do but never did, or things I didn't get much better at, but right now, I don't want to let that take away from things I did manage to do.
I remember somewhere a while ago I had written down how there is so much joy in getting around to doing the things we want to do, and I think there's a snowball effect, where doing one thing and getting better at it encourages you to try other things and get better at them.
I don't know, this life thing is sometimes fun. There are days I feel totally out of control, where it doesn't feel like a lot is going on or that I'm not doing enough, and there are days (like today) when I realize it's okay, not to have everything in control every day. It's not easy to do a million things and be consistent or good at them all the time.
Looking back, even today doesn't feel very special or memorable. It's likely another day I would have forgotten about a few days, and yet that feels okay.
A couple of years ago, on New Year's Eve, as my family (some extended family as well) sprawled across the living room, my sister sprung the idea of recapping our year and talking about the highs and lows of the year that had been. We talked about our favorite moments, our least favorite moments, and things we wanted to see ourselves doing the following year. I realized it would be nice to hear about this from my friends as well, so I created a Google Form to fill in with the recap of your year. You can use it as a personal check-in if you don't want to share it with me.