A New Beginning and New Year Resolutions

My 101 in 1001 mission hasn't gone as planned. A lot of things happened in the last month and I kind of just forgot about it. And I think it really does deserve more attention than I've been giving it.

So, beginning this new year, I plan on restarting it, right from scratch, might make a few changes, but will start fresh. So, be on the lookout for that.

I've never been much for new year resolutions. For one, they never last. And second, I forget about my so-called resolutions in about a week.

But I do believe in new beginnings, and I believe in leaving some things behind, and taking some good things with you as you move forward. 2010 was a relatively good year. I graduated with Distinction. I got a job offer. I got a much needed break and I finally flushed out some people from my life that I should have done long back.

I don't miss college. College was one of those few compromises in my life. But I still got to do what I wanted to. I don't miss going to college every day, I don't miss the hundred thousand assignments, I don't miss the internals, I don't miss staying up all night trying to cram that last piece of information into my already saturated brain, I don't miss the crappy lecturers, I don't miss the exams postponed at the last minute, I don't miss never being satisfied with my marks, I don't miss the unnecessary gossip (a lot of it about me unfortunately). But I miss the college experience as a whole. I wouldn't want to do it again. But I miss it in the I-have-fond-memories-but-I-don't-want-to-do-it-again kind of way.

I look forward to the next year, when I start working. Everyone says 'you say that now, wait till you start working'. But the thing is I like being busy. I like the challenge. I like having things to do. And I have the ability to get along with anyone, no matter how much I dislike them. So, I look forward to the next phase of my life. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's in store for me. But I'm very optimistic about it.

I promised myself that this year, I'll have a positive outlook to everything. I won't let anything get me down. And I intend to keep this promise.

So, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you have great year ahead of you.

See you next year.

Day 42: Beauty and the Beast (#68)

I think every girl has grown up on a steady diet of fairy tales. The princess meets the prince, some bad stuff happens, and then they live happily ever after. Has anybody else noticed how its only the beautiful princess and the handsome prince who have a happily ever after? What about the less attractive people? Were they doomed to a lonely and unhappy life? Even as a child, I was never a big fan of fairy tales. Apart from the fact that they were extremely vain, I found a lack of personality in most of the characters. There are very few fairy tale characters that appealed to me. One of them was Belle (from Beauty and the Beast).

Belle was one of those rare characters that I could imagine myself becoming some day. She wasn't vain. Her ultimate goal in life wasn't to find a man. She read, she was intelligent, and she didn't fall for the charms of the apparently handsome Gaston. She wasn't afraid to speak up her mind, and she stood up to the Beast, even if he was scary. I admired that quality in her.

And more than anything else, she was able to see past the Beast's tough exterior, and even go as far as to love him. She didn't know about the curse on the Beast's castle. She loved him not knowing he would turn into a prince. She loved him just the way he was. That is the kind of person I want to be.

How many of us are capable of undying, unconditional love? I don't know if i'm capable of that. I want to be and I hope that some day, when I meet my soul mate, I'll able to look into his heart and love him for just that.

I hate that little girls are told stories about the wrong kind of prince charming. The right prince charming might not be handsome, he might not sweep you off your feet. You keep looking for the wrong prince, and the right one escapes from right under your nose. From a young age, children are taught that beauty is the key to happiness. Then they grow up believing that. By the time they realise how wrong they were, its too late. Your real prince charming has moved on.

Day One

So, I think Day 1 went pretty well. I'm off on a good start.

Updates:

• Read the bible. (#31)
• Tried a new recipe (Shepherd's Pie is my all time favourite). Forgot to take pics. So, I'll have to wait till the next time I make it to take photos. (#18)
• Updating my blog, thus fulfilling the once a week quota. (#35)
• Made a list of the Disney movies I'd like to watch and got 3 of them. It's quite shocking that I haven't seen so many of them. (#68)
• Vacuum cleaned the living room, dusted all the decorative pieces and cleaned the giant plastic tree. (#79)
• Identified bad habit #1. I'm a slob. My room is never tidy. Worked on it. Tidied up my room and made my bed the minute I woke up. Did the same on Day 2. (#82)
• Got a Yoga DVD. That was the first step. (#92)

I think that was pretty good for the first day. Now, lets see how enthusiastic I'm about it same time next week.

Beginning

When I first read about this Project, I thought it was quite a long commitment to keep. But when I started reading other people's list, I realized it would be a great motivation to finally get down to doing the things that I've wanted to do and never done, and to put some habits in place.

Some goals are easy, some are not. Some will require my commitment every single day. One of my goals is to update this blog atleast once a week. Lets see how that goes because sometimes life gets in the way. A lot of people have started and failed and started again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

A rule that I made for myself: No goal is complete till I blog about it.

Here's to the next 1001 days!!!