Transit Dialog has published my essay, Looking Back with Joy, yesterday. Allow me to share it with you all:
โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.โ
๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ๐
๐๐บ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ด
I was watching a video on YouTube about gratitude. The vlogger was a published author who shared her achievements in 2021. She said that she was surprised with all that she has achieved during an otherwise challenging year.
Time can fly so fast, especially for a busy author and vlogger. Her joy was palpable in her video, and she simply chose to celebrate herself and her wins.
This video has inspired me to look back on the previous year by flipping through my journal. I saw how the manuscript for my first book was coming together, and the notes that I had for it. I read the entries that I wrote as I launched my first book, as well as my plans for the second one. I was hooked! I did not realize that all of these happened in the span of a few months.
I reached for my second journal for 2021 and looked back on my second bookโs manuscript and outline. I read my thorough notes on my manuscriptโs chapters, and how I still wanted my second book to feel like a self-help book. Sure, it was about self-publishing, but I wanted to motivate my reader by sharing my own experiences as well.
My second book was launched to so many feels on my journal, and I felt my own joy through its pages.
It warmed my heart to read about genuine happiness and personal fulfillment. I did not realize how far I have come because 2021 seemed like a very long and difficult year. Looking back, I wrote and published my two books because it was my creative outlet and career move. I took a risk, and it all worked out in the end.
I recently started writing a new journal for 2022 and I reread my entries for January. I was also caught in a wave of surprise and gratitude. I was able to release a short story for a Canadian publisher, and I was able to enjoy my writing assignments and media partnerships. My first month was busy and fun. It makes me happy to read about my progress so far.
I know that not everyone journals everyday, but if you are going through some tough times, try to list down your wins last year. You might be surprised by all your achievements and how far you have come. You can also look at how your 2022 is going so far, and you will see that you are doing a good job after all.
Celebrate your wins, no matter how small! If you want to start a new hobby this year, I suggest that you take up journaling. You can just use it as a gratitude journal and it will become your tracker for all the good things that have gone well in your life. Being thankful can make your soul feel lighter and your heart a lot warmer. Even if life gets challenging, remember that there is always something to be grateful for.
If you still do not know where to start, then just think of how you are reading this. You are looking at a screen right now and you are fortunate to have the means to afford that gadget. You can read and make sense out of this essay. You are lucky to be literate and capable of understanding concepts. You have friends on this social media platform. Sure, they are not all your real friends, but still, some of them are the real deal.
You can read, you have a gadget in front of you, and you have friends. Now, those are three good things to be thankful for!
Let us learn to look back on our wins and celebrate them. Let us be grateful. And let us look forward to a better 2022 that is filled with hope and more wins.
๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐. ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ข๐ฎ.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐บ 2017. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐&๐.
Source: Transit Dialog