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Action Replay: 2016

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2016 wasn't a very good year for me. Neither was it a bad year. It was a confusing year that took me to the highest of highs and the lowest lows. Before I go in to the recap of the year, let's see how December fared for me. December did start off in a hectic way with work taking up most of my time. I was busy and barely had time for anything else. This month I focused on writing more than reading. I did manage eleven posts and I think that it is pretty decent. Since I had already finished my reading challenge in October, I stuck to comics in December. I discovered Tintin and fell in love with the story telling. As a child I hadn't read much comics, so it was time to make up for it. I did start 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. After reading the 22 page introduction, I was blown away. I couldn't wait to start the actual story. And then life happened. No matter how hard I tried I did not find time to read. The maximum time that I could spare was 15-30 minutes and reading a novel for that duration everyday was not my cup of tea. So it now lies safe on my TBR list for 2017.

2016 has been a interesting year. Let me start with the highs first. Since work always comes first for me, I'll start with that. I got to work on quite a lot of projects this year and move out of my comfort zone. I managed to stay pretty regular at work and my dedication and hard work was well appreciated. I got a promotion as well! This without a doubt would be the highlight of the year. The second one would be my eye surgery. After fifteen years of wearing contact lenses and spectacles, I finally found freedom after a LASIK eye surgery. I had been planning to get one since quite a few years but somehow wasn't very brave to go about it. Finally, in July I decided to go for it and it went very smoothly. I feel so free and happy. I can travel for long hours and stay away from home for as long as I can without worrying about my eyes drying out or causing pain. I recovered in a couple of days and this surgery turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

Another highlight of the year would be the first international holiday for Cal and I. The vacation to Sri Lanka was so precious to us and we had such a wonderful time. 2016 has been a very good year to us in terms of travel. We did Shimla at the start of the year and saw and experienced snow for the very first time. Next was Sri Lanka and then we got really busy with work and life in general. This was a slightly frustrating period in our lives and we longed for a break. It finally came to us only in November in the form of our most favorite destination, Goa! This was our fifth visit to Goa and undoubtedly the best. We explored nooks and corners of the place and gorged on some wonderful food. Almost immediately Mumbai happened. I also saw the first concert of my life this year and it was Coldplay! That was an experience that I would never forget. I also saw Shahrukh Khan up close and sneaked in a visit to his house. Well, to look at it from outside that is. The trip to Mumbai helped me tick two things off my bucket list. Christmas came and so did an impromptu road trip with the husband and his friends. Coorg was a beauty and it did give us that much needed break after a really long year that somehow managed to swoosh by.

Writing was pretty good this year with some good quality posts. 133 in total. I tried to write about a lot of new topics and did not venture much into creative writing. Most of my posts were very personal and about something that I have been wanting to talk about for a long time. April A to Z was really fun and I'm looking for the next one. I'm not a big fan of writing challenges and this would be the only one I'll be a part of. Feeling the compulsion to write and writing for the sake of it has never worked for me and it never will. I'd rather write what I feel and as and when I like it.

Reading was excellent this year. The initial challenge was for 30 books, but I completed that by October! I ended 2016 with a count of 40 books. I finally started Harry Potter and fell in love with the first three books. I thought the writing was fantastic and the story was well, magical. The fourth book disappointed me though. And this prevented me from going forward with the series. I shall complete it in 2017 for sure. I read a lot of genres in 2016 and most of the books I read has been really good. The Millenium Trilogy was my favorite of the lot though. All the books by Keigo Higashino comes a close second. Harry Potter, comes third. There were a lot of other interesting books that I read. I also managed to do a good number of book reviews in 2016. My reviews have now become more precise and polished. Honest, they always were. I've enjoyed doing book reviews and I hope to continue that in 2017 as well.

I also took up another challenge on Instagram that was supposed to be monthly but I stuck to it for the whole year. Photo A Day challenge is about having a photo prompt per day for a month. You can interpret the prompt the way you want to put up a photo everyday on Instagram or on Facebook. I'm not very happy with Facebook these days so I just stick on to Instagram. This is an interesting challenge and gives a nice boost to your creativity. I'll be doing it in 2017 as well. Yes, every month. I even managed to successfully complete the 100 days of happiness challenge, again on Instagram. So out of 365 days, I've atleast been happy for 100 days. Not such a bad count eh?

At first I couldn't wait to be done with 2016, but now as I look back it doesn't seem like such a bad year. Of course there were a lot of personal and health issues in between, but nothing that I couldn't handle. 2016 showed me the strength that I had. 2016 taught me that it is okay to break down once in a while as long as you pick yourself back up and walk ahead. 2016 taught me to stay focused on work and give it all that I have. 2016 taught me that if I wanted to do anything, I could do it with better planning and focus. Thank you 2016, for being whatever you were. Happy or not, I survived and came out of it stronger. 2017 is going to be kickass. I've got a feeling that it would be.

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Wishing you all a very happy new year from LOL. May you be blessed with love, health and happiness throughout the year.

Comments

  1. I love the positive end to your post. You did have some wonderful highs! For a moment i thought you went inside SRK's house! One can dream of course :-). Congratulations on the promotion and also on getting rid of your glasses. And you managed to read through it all. That's great going. Hope 2017 is an absolutely smashing year.

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    1. Oh yeah one can dream :)

      Thank you so much Tulika. I hope you have a blessed year too.

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  2. You sure had an exciting year... travelling to exotic locales, reading so many books, concerts :D I wish you a year even more exciting and adventurous :D Keep rocking girl.

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  3. That was truly a lot of action through the year! A very productive year work-wise, travel-wise, blogging-wise! Lasik is something I am researching on for my daughter since she finds it too cumbersome switching between glasses and contacts and I have received mixed reviews on the same. But I am glad your procedure went through smoothly! Here's wishing you an even more exciting 2017 filled with all you wish and some more!

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    1. I'd recommend LASIK anyway. Do give it a shot.

      Thank you so much Kala. I hope you have a wonderful year too.

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  4. I loved the positivity and strength with which you've concluded this post. I think it is this spirit of yours that lets you weather great storms. The travel part was quite nice for you. I love to travel as well hence can understand why you wait for those breaks. And that is some fabulous reading you packed in. Great to know that work was so good for you. Congrats on the promotion and the lasik. Hope 2017 is better on the health front. Have a lovely year! Enjoyed this recap.

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    1. Thank you so much Rachna. I hope 2017 is a blessed year for you too.

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  5. I had a good 2016. In fact I did a post about it on my blog after a long time. I am glad that you had a decent year and traveled to so many places. I hope 2017 will be even better for you. I will contact you on FB as I need details about Lasik. Going to a Codplay concert is something I am sure you will cherish for a very long time.

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    1. I hope you have a fab year as well. Do get in touch, I'll be happy to help.

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  6. If this is what a bad year looks like, I wonder how awesome 2017 is going to be :)

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    1. Meeting you more than a couple of times also made 2016 the best :)

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  7. Wow! How did you manage reading so many books doing everything else? Maybe you should write a post about that. I am inspired!

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    1. I worked on my time management skills :)

      Thank you! Happy New Year to you Pooja!

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  8. Happy New Year! Wow...you've had some amazing things during 2016.

    Also, I can't believe you like the Millennium trilogy better than Harry Potter!!! :O :O :O I liked the first Millennium book a lot, the second wasn't bad but the third was crap. HP on the other hand, I've loved all 7...of course, I do have my favourites (3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th) but they're still all amazing!

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    1. I expected someone to point this out :P

      I loved all the three books. With HP while I loved the first three, the fourth one kinda ruined it for me sadly.

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  9. P and I hardly take vacations, though we know it would do us more good. I am happy that you the year ended so well for you and congrats for the achievements at work. I hope you have a beautiful year ahead, Soumya :)

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    1. Thank you dear Shalini. I hope this year you get to Krabi :)

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