Hello my lovely friends? How are you? How was your Christmas? I hope you had a fun time with your family. I wish you all a very happy holiday season. I am here today with yet another episode of Morning Cup of Sunshine podcast. I am so happy that you are spending a little time of your day with me today. I am incredibly grateful for that. Today, when I started planning this episode, my thoughts started running like a bullet train. I want to think of one happy moment of the week but instead I was able to recall so many joyous moments from the last week. Now, I know why this season is called the season of joy. The joy, happiness is in the air. To simply put, it is magical. So, now I have to do the hard task of picking a happy moment of the week. So, let me try. Okay, maybe I will go with this one.
Happy Moment of the Week
The other day, we had a snowstorm and we had quite a few inches of precipitation. Kids were so excited. They were continuously talking about building snowmen, playing in the snow, snowball fight and what not. They were literally waiting for this snow storm. Frankly, I like snow but not as much as the rain. I like to watch snow from inside of my home. It is just way too cold for my liking. What happened on snow day, kids along with Rushi started getting ready to go downstairs to play in the snow. I had tons of work so I had a great excuse. Just before leaving, Mihir started asking me if I want to come. I told him I have a lot of work to finish. He insisted that I should come, even for a few minutes. I tried to get out of it but he was not in a mood to listen. He kept asking me to come and join them. Reluctantly, I dressed the part and went downstairs with them. The moment I stepped on the snow, it felt magical. It was so beautiful. I could see my kids happy faces. We played snow fights, made snow angels, and built the gentleman snowman. Why gentleman snowman? It is a long story for some other time. But, let me tell you, this was the first time I really fell in love with the snow. I forgot how cold it was. It was extremely relaxing and fun at the same time. I was so grateful to Mihir that he made me come otherwise, I would have missed this magical experience. This was definitely one of the happy moments that I would love to cherish forever. What about you, my friend? How was your week? Did you do anything fun, that you would like to share with us. I would love to hear from you. Every Sunday, I have a post for Happy Moment of the week in my Facebook group, Morning Cup of sunshine community. Do join this amazing community and help me spread some joy, positivity and happiness around.
Alright, let’s get into today’s episode, shall we? We are almost to the end of the year. There are only a few days left. I know, lot of us are gearing up to plan the new year, set new goals. But I would like you to pause for a second. I would like you to look at the past year, reflect on this year. This year taught us so many things. Let’s just be grateful for what we already have and learnt over this year. In today’s episode, I would like to reflect on my 2020 and see what it taught me. I sincerely hope that you do the same. So, without wasting any further time, let's get into the first things that 2020 taught me.
Passion
This is the biggest learning for me in 2020. I always loved writing and I am extremely passionate about public speaking. But with the life’s responsibilities, job, kids, family, it went on a back burner for years. I was so busy running around things that just filled my day without making any impact. I was busy, always busy but it never made me fulfilled. I was struggling for years to feel good about myself. I started losing hope and confidence. I knew what I love but I struggled to see the way to achieve it. There were too many obstacles. I did not have time, I did not have courage, I did not know what to do. It was like a pitch dark all around. But then 2020 happened. I still remember the morning when I had this idea about podcasting. I was cooking and listening to an audio book. Suddenly I thought of putting my voice over there, creating something that I am passionate about and putting it out in the world. To be very honest, it was a scary thought at first. I did not know anything about it. Per usual, I sat on this thought for days, never even spoke about it to anyone. Then one fine day in February, when I was driving my car to my work, I started thinking about it again. That one hour of driving was like an aha moment for me. The moment I parked my car and went to my desk, I pulled a notebook. Do you know what I write immediately? It was the name of the podcast. Morning Cup of Sunshine. Then, I started writing all the topic ideas that I could talk about. Within the next 10 minutes, I wrote down almost 50 topic ideas. But let me tell you this was the easy part, The most difficult part was yet to come. I was still unsure if I could follow my passion ? I was still unsure if I could do it by juggling my full time job. The biggest fear was, if I am any good at it? Will anybody listen to a newbie like me? But what 2020 taught me is that we have a limited time on this beautiful earth and it is a good idea to make the most of it by following your passion. Passion is a very simple word and sometimes we use it very casually. But for me, it is something that you lose your sleep over, it is something that you can not stop thinking about. It is something that makes you leap out of your bed in the morning. It is something that makes you excited to work on even when you are dead tired. The moment I realized how passionate I am about this podcasting, all my problems started looking really small and insignificant. I started getting answers. Will I be able to take time to work on? Yes you can, if you wake up an hour early consistently. Will anybody listen to a newbie like me? Yes, why not, everyone has to start somewhere, this is your beginning. What if I don’t know all the technicalities of podcasting? Find out, google is your best friend. What if I am not even good at it? You at least tried, and you will get better at it. All the answers seemed to be laid out in front of me. I just had to take the leap of faith. 2020 helped me take that leap of faith. It helped me find my passion and follow it. 2020 helped me understand how much joy it can bring you if you work on what you love. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the passion and have the courage to find it, work on it. I sincerely want to help each one of you who is struggling to find their passion. Life is much more beautiful and fulfilled when you spend time on something that you absolutely love. I am incredibly grateful to have that in my life. I really wish I can help you find your passion too.
Patience
This is the biggest learning of 2020. Patience. Remember those good old days, when you order anything on Amazon and it was by your doorstep by the next day. On the contrary, try to remember the month of March, when we had to wait for the slot to be available on Instacart so that we can order the groceries. I remember waking up at the middle of the night just to check if the Instacart slots are available as someone told us that the new slots open at 3.00 am in the morning. It was a whole other ball game. I learnt so many new recipes because I have to use what I already have. We all learned how to use things that we have without wasting any of it. Just remember those empty isles of Toilet paper rolls, bath towel rolls. 2020 really taught me to be patient with the situation. It taught me to be patient with everything that was happening around. We all were stuck at home. It was no joke. Most of us were juggling jobs, kids, virtual learning, taking care of babies all by themselves. 2020 taught me to be patient with my kids. I can not thank them enough to understand the gravity of the situation and agree to stay at home, I know how much kids love to play outside and have playdates. I learned to be patient with myself. I learnt that it is okay to not have everything done in one day. It is okay to have a messy home sometimes. It is okay to feel overwhelmed with everything happening around. I learned how to give myself grace. I learned how to give grace to the people around me. It was not an easy year, not for anyone. Everyone had their own share of struggle. I totally respect that. 2020 has taught me to be mindful of my thoughts, my actions and my emotions and respect other’s feelings too. I sincerely feel that I became more patient and more aware of my surroundings in 2020.
Priority
This was a hard learned lesson for me in 2020. I talked about one of my many flaws and that’s my inability to say no to the things. It is extremely hard for me. I can see that it is going to make me overwhelmed, tired and drained out, but still it is hard for me to say no. It applies to both my professional and personal world. But 2020 taught me what is really important in life. I lost my very favorite uncle in 2020. I loved him so dearly. It was like a huge shock and from that day onward, I started reflecting on what’s really important in life. Right now, I am dying to see my sister and all our immediate and extended family back in India. It was like a ritual for us to visit India in the month of December. It is not happening this year. It is extremely disappointing and painful. This missed trip and the way I am feeling because of it, really taught me how important those people are in my life. Each one of them holds an extremely special place in my heart. I miss them so much. I really learned the hard way that your loved ones, your family comes before anything else in the world. It becomes much more evident when you want to see them, give them a hug but you can’t even travel. I know a lot of us have endured this in 2020. Lot if us celebrated Christmas, Thanks giving, Diwali without their family and friends around. It was hard for everyone. 2020 taught me not to take anything for granted. I used to hate air travel. I could not sit idle for 16 hours in a plane, but now I will give anything to travel and see my family. 2020 set my priorities straight. I am going to savor each and every moment that I will get with my loved ones, whenever that happens. 2020 really taught me to focus on what I have and to be grateful for what I have. It is hard for us to manage work with Maitreyi as she does not have much to do apart from playing and entertaining herself. But 2020 taught me to be grateful that I can keep her home safely. I can work from home and be around my kids. I am still learning but focusing on what you have and prioritizing your family over anything else is the biggest learning of this year. We all have 24 hours in a day and we have to choose how to spend those 24 hours. I am going to choose to spend those 24 hours as mindfully as I can. As I was telling you, I am still learning but I am going to be more mindful, present in the moment, going into a new year.
Persistence
The last thing that I learned this year is Persistence. Nothing is better than something everyday. I am a perfectionist by nature and I see things like all or nothing. I am trying my level best to let go of that thinking. But to be very honest with you, it is extremely hard. But again, that’s what life is, right? You constantly learn new things, adapt to new situations, you evolve every day. 2020 really taught me to be more persistent than a perfectionist. My mom always used to say that pick one small chore, any small chore and do it every single day if you want to get better at it rather than picking a whole bunch of tasks , doing it for a day and then forgetting all about it the next day. 2020 taught me to pick my priorities and work on them persistently. I love working on my podcast, I really wish I can get more time for writing. I have so many new ideas and so many new avenues that I can think of. But in this season of my life, it is really not possible for me to work on every new idea that I get. I have decided my priority. The priority right now is my family, my job and my podcast. So, instead of working on 100 different things at one time, I have decided to focus on writing. I wake up every day at 5.00 and I write at least 1- 2 pages every single day. I wish I can get more time, I wish I can write more. But instead of waiting for a perfect timing to do those things, I have decided to do it persistently, consistently every single day. I might not have perfect cover art for every single episode, I may not have a perfect Instagram story every single time. But what I have is my ability to put up an episode every single week. I am not losing hope. I am not letting go of my big dreams, I won’t stop chasing them but as I said earlier I am more mindful of them. I am not in a hurry anymore. 2020 taught me to be in sync with myself. It taught me to enjoy the process. 2020 opened up so many new avenues for me and I am incredibly grateful for that. I am determined to give my sincere efforts to things on my plate. I am going to be as real, as raw and as authentic as I am. 2020 gave me so many virtual friends like you. I can not believe we came till episode 35. It seemed like a dream to me but you are the biggest blessing in that dream. I sincerely hope to have you in the upcoming year too. I am so grateful to head into this new year with you beside me. You love, your support brought so much light and happiness into my life. Thank you so much for all the kind words and support. This was a hard year for everyone and I wish the coming year will bring a lot of joy, happiness and most important health to all of you. I will see you next year with some motivating, positive and joyful topics.
Wish you a very very happy new year, Happy new dreams, new days, new desires, new ways.