The next step

 

This is a good time as any to publish my first blog post. I have thought about this for years but have never felt confident of publishing what was on my mind. I have always put it off because I was never in a frame of mind to see it through. Today I find myself in one of those moods where I want to do something and not just sit around so I thought I would pen down a few words. Will this be another one of those attempts where I give up after a few paragraphs or can I actually manage to do this for a few months?, Or more?

As a communications professional () one of the various activities that we engage in the months of November and December is to identify ‘year enders’. These are story opportunities where clients look look back at the year gone by and sum up what it meant for their organisation or industry. And as a part of this process we also attempt to understand what the next year has in store.

Well here is my ‘year ender’. What exactly did 2011 mean for me considering that one moment I was wishing everyone Happy New Year - 2011 and suddenly its already time to swear allegiance to 2012.

2011 was like any other year; welcoming new people, new experiences and saying good bye to a few old ones. It feels special though. A year I will not want to forget in a hurry. Maybe it was a year that had ‘Family’ written all over it; I somehow definitely feel closer to mine.

It has been a pretty eventful year and some of the things which stand out are:

• The last of my grandmother’s siblings passed away leaving behind so many memories that keep that entire generation very much alive in all our hearts (more on this later)
• My first trip to the US – spent three wonderful weeks with family and did not want to return (Gialina’s Pizza in San Francisco definitely had something to do with it)
• My wife and I bought our first car and it felt great to finally own something that we paid for completely (still paying for it actually)
• We decided to invest in a house to be closer to the rest of our extended family
• Professionally I took a gamble; turned down a very well paying offer to go after something I believed in (I am a Digital Strategist now and I am praying that I will find that truck load of money in the near future)
• Metallica finally made it to Bangalore – the concert was definitely worth it despite the rain, muck, standing for 7 hours and the endless pushing and shoving

2012 seems to hold a lot of promise. A few days ago a dear friend told me that saying Happy New Year this time around means more than any other year before. A chance to leave behind all the stuff that does not matter and start afresh. I have been thinking about that and I feel the same.

I want 2012 to be a year of self expression and introspection. It definitely has to be a year where I get to do all that I have wanted to do for years and never did, a year that will be a significant for me personally and professionally. I will turn 30 next year and for a moment feel like Joey in Friends; “I thought we had a deal God!”. Honestly, I am looking forward to crossing that milestone, feels like its the birth of a new Me.

I cannot predict or foresee what’s in store for me in 2012 but I know that I am going to enjoy it.

Here is looking forward to 2012. Happy New Year to all in advance and to hell with the Mayan calendar.