I wondered why I write these gratitude journals every week! Though it is only the second week of January and my second entry, the drab mood for 2 days made me think so much. That was enough to pull me into this melancholic mood. When I decided to maintain a bullet journal this year, I wasn’t sure of many plans for the year, still I wanted to work on one. A place where I plan the month, the weeks and my days in it. My journal became my blessing in disguise that I live in it nowadays. I am tracking some of my habits too.
January 2019
My journal is one of the reasons I am writing this post here and will do it for the next 50 weeks too! I dedicated a page on the journal for my blog posts and had these entries written on the ideas page. A book in any form is a best friend to a warrior, a lonely heart, a busy parent and serves as a motivation to me when I really want to spend my time well.
My little creative outlet where I scribble any little designs I can on my pages. My second week started with a bit of cleaning too. Though I couldn’t clean the entire house this Pongal, I did my share of cleaning whenever the baby girl was asleep. I enjoyed the cleaning process because there is something very lovely about having less things around. Truly, Less is More.
I planned Ilakkiya’s meals this week, I managed to give her varieties. I prepared a couple of new snack recipes – Bread Pakora and Besan Cutlets. She tasted both and ate whatever I gave her. I think that’s a sign she loved it!
I finished my first book this year, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I wrote my review for the same on Good Reads. You can follow my reading journey there.
When Love is in the air, one doesn’t really think of logic. This is true for love at first sight and I enjoyed how the author has spun it beautifully with a touch of humor(in conversations) even in this sad tale. Teenage love put very well,
Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.
I took this up knowing they die, but I wanted to know how they died! Well, that’s one reason I read this classic. Though reading it at 30 makes me feel this one is a silly tale, I cannot deny that life way back in time was more of love and death than living. Most love stories of the past trailed towards death. So I don’t find this uncommon.
Though it’s a sad tale, I enjoyed reading this one. This is only my second of Shakespeare’s work. The first one is “The Merchant of Venice” and I had to play it at school. Took me back to those times Some day, I will watch these plays at the theatre!
Work was good this week. I had a chance to work on a lovely piece of writing. I am delighted for the opportunities I get and the what I learn when I work with others. Though I have self-doubts, I am glad I am open to learning and working on myself and my writing skills.
Ilakkiya and I had a lot of fruits this week. So thankful for getting fresh fruits near home. When my basket was almost over, my parents refilled it as a Pongal gift. Thankful for abundance. Though we don’t look so lovely together, but children look adorable even in a mess.
I don’t know what to update about Ilakkiya this week. This week I learnt to let things be. I learnt that she is going to be okay and she will call out to me when she really needs me. Still, I need to keep my eyes on her without scaring her.
I woke up before 7AM on 4 days this week. I did Yoga on all 4 days. My first menstrual cycle after Ilakkiya’s birth arrived only when she was 1. Right from then, I suffer from a severe headache or stomach pain a day or two before periods. I am glad regular Yoga helped me deal with this problem. I am sticking to my yoga routine for three main reasons:
1. To calm my nerves
2. To calm my thoughts
3. To tone my body
See, more than actually toning my body, I need to CALM myself. Yoga helps a lot now! I slept much better than my previous week. When Ilakkiya follows my poses, I am a proud mother!
I wish to do all of this consistently. I hoped to keep my word of the year as “Consistent” because I lack it. However, something more important than that was calmness. So I chose Calm. I have a small black board in my room in which I have decorated the word and I look into it everyday. It is more of a reminder of what I must focus on even if I couldn’t finish the tasks in hand.
My yelling and cursing has reduced from 5 to 4 times. Maybe, from 50 to 49 times. Still, I see it is important. I track the days where I yell, get angry at the drop of a hat. I also want to track why I get angry. There are smallest triggers that pushes me to the edge. I really want to work on them. For now, I am glad I am down by 1.
For almost three to four months now, I am disappointed with many things around me. This week, I felt the need to detach myself from everything. There is slight improvement on my mood and “Let it Go” keeps repeating itself on my mind. I am happy that I have a song to sing all day!
I am glad this week ended on a bright note! I am enjoying the haiku challenge on Instagram. Follow me there.
