2021 is here. A whole new year. And people on the internet can’t seem to keep calm about the fact. Mainly because 2020 has been the worst. But also because, New year means new year’s resolutions, extensive planning lists for all the geeks, one of them being me. Honestly, I love planning. I love stationery and thankfully I am at such a stage in life where I have no shame in accepting that. I have zero shame in saying that I prefer a night with my planners and BUJO than going out.
Seriously. Zero shame. None. Nada. Zilch.
Some one might say that I am 60 year old woman. And I’d happily say, yes maybe I am. A 60 year old soul trapped in an almost 31 year old woman. Yes, woman. No shame in that as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good party. It’s just that my definition of a party is completely different from most people my age. My idea of a party is where there are not more than 6-8 people and music is not so loud that you can not have any conversations. And most of all, these said parties end at a reasonable hour.
Does that make me a 60 year old soul? Who cares! I mean, I don’t.
Anyway, back to my love for stationary. Yes. I have about 20 diaries, journals and notebooks right now and I’d say I am using 3 of them currently. But did that stop me from ordering a new one for the new year? Nope!
Because I love pretty notebooks and journals and I love planning.
I also love making new year resolutions.
Do I always keep them? No, I am human.
But it is still a good idea to make some as it kind of makes you more intentional about how you want your year to be.
But we are not talking about New year resolutions, are we?
Nope that’s old school and boring even.
Everyone knows the deal with resolutions, if you want to make some, please do and if you don’t want to make some, please don’t feel pressured to because everyone else is.
Whatever floats your boat, okay? Okay.
But we are talking about all this because one of my new year resolutions this year is to let go of negative people from my life.
You know that one aunty who keeps telling you to lose weight or a couple on social media who keeps insulting India in their stories and makes my blood boil. I mean I am aware that India must be like a cultural shock to these people coming from developed countries, but if you are staying at a 200 rupee per night hut in Goa during the monsoons and the roof leaks by chance, I’d say it’s your fault.
Or if you went for skiing and there wasn’t enough snow, it’s your fault that you didn’t go at the right time or to the right place. Don’t say things like people in India ski on wet concrete roads. That just shows your lack of proper knowledge.
This actually happened, I am not kidding or exaggerating.
I didn’t mean to digress, you see why I want to let go of such people. I know people would say that you shouldn’t take everything that you read or see on social media to your heart, but I can’t help it. I am a sensitive person. And even though I am learning to deal with it better, I thought that the best and the easiest way is to let go of these people all together. And I am happy to say it has been working out quite well for me.
Another thing that I have noticed that helps is taking time off social media. And I have doing a lot of these digital detoxes as well. And they help as well.
Now am I not strong enough to stay active on social media and not let these stupid people affect me? Maybe I am not.
But as I have grown up, I have realised that there is nothing wrong in accepting that sometimes you just need a break.
And while taking a 1 month vacation somewhere in the mountains, away from the hustle bustle of the city and our mundane lives might be the perfect idea of a break, it’s not always possible. And these little digital detoxes help when you can’t go on a real break because you are an adult, supposedly.
Remember how much fun it used to be back in college when you could escape to the mountains and the only thing you had to worry about was whether your friend was able to put in your proxy attendance or not. Nope? Was that just me?
ANYWAY. Back to adulting and back to planning and bullet journals. I probably discovered bullet journalling some 3 years back I think. I had just quit my job and was trying the whole freelance thing only to realise that I was completely swamped with work. It was then that I was looking for ways to be more productive with my time and discovered BUJO.
And while I LOOOVE planning and starting a new journal or a notebook and new beginnings I am still not convinced that just because it’s a new year I will be a completely different person.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of starting fresh and I love the possibilities that a new year brings, I however do not believe that the new year will somehow turn me into a new person. That I’d wake up on 1st January, look at myself in the mirror and go “Oh new year, who dis?”
I guess what I am trying to say is, new year doesn’t really change anything. And nothing really changes unless something changes. And over the last couple of years I have been trying to be more intentional about the habits that I adopt and the ones I quit. Intentional about the people I keep in my life and the ones I let go. And while all these things may not look like they make a difference in our day to day life, in the long run, they always do.
In fact, all the biggest achievements and the milestones are reached only by accomplishing smaller goals in the right direction. So yes, I will again be spending my new year’s eye having a chill time with the family and also with my bullet journal. Because I am a girl with big plans. And I like to believe that the little (read: Excessive to the point of making someone nauseous) planning that I do, helps.
And this year I think it’s more important than ever. At least for me. I have a few big projects in the works and I would love to be as prepared as possible for when they launch. And even though the launch may not be before March/April, there is still a lot of work that goes into it. And I am pretty sure when it’s all done, I will be thankful for the planning and all the lists that seem like a pain right now.
So the new year will have the same old me, with my same old BUJO, but working on big exciting new projects! EEEKKKK!! Super excited.
What are your plans for the year? Do you have anything in the works?Let me know in the comments down below! 🙂
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