Thanks 2016… It’s been Weird *

To sum up the year gone by would be to bundle together plenty of contradictory things that happened and to make sense of them. 

It would be like trying to decide whether the totally scary things led to any good, in the tradition of whatever -happens-is-for-the-best or trying to understand that the wonderful, out-of-the-world experiences would have lasting benefits. 

I would have to make sense of all the times I looked over my shoulder, in whether that was to gauge my own mortality or to come to terms with others’. I would have to understand the nature of human fragility, the quirks of fate and the indomitable human spirit as I assessed people’s reactions to the adversities that they go through. 

In looking back, I would be grateful for the knowledge that the Guardian Angels have been looking over me, as they have been all this time, only that I never recognized it to be such. I would be thankful for the people in my life for the constant support and encouragement. 

There were failings of the excrutiating kinds, the ones that made me go omg-how-could-I and then there were the jump-in-the-air moments that made me yell eureka. 

Writing wise, I found my feet. I could write more and in different ways and stepped out of the comfort zone. I could write more on the blog and elsewhere and attempted to write a book length manuscript. I could finally get back to doing what I have loved well. 

In many other ways and at different times, I found equanimity. The swings of fate and the ups and the downs of life did make for a roller coaster ride but I was able to bounce back quicker and get on with the business of life. 

There are a range of emotions in every heart and I could be a part of that range with many people and in many ways. It was a year of reaching out, of reconciliation and of creating new bonds. 

At the beginning of the year, I moved to a new place to live. I was most reluctant to do so but it turned out to be the biggest blessing I have had. In retrospect, I could make a difference to someone’s life. It also prepared me for the inevitability of certain things in life. 

It has also been the year when I rediscovered many of the passions that I had let go of over the years because of busyness or because I had convinced myself that I had outgrown those interests. I got to know how wrong I had been. 

It has also been the year of people, the ones I had all along and the ones I pulled out from the cobwebs of the past. It has been good to rekindle the connections and sometimes disconcerting to realize how people who have been together for a long time can also grow apart. 

In all, it has been a mix as life always is and as all years are. But the experience has been good and here is looking forward to the next weird year. 

*The post title is the tagline from Spotify’s new outdoor global ad campaign.