Happy 2020 & 8th Birthday to WUHS!

A big hello to all you peeps. Hope that you are all doing well. Can’t believe it has been 8 years already! Granted, the last couple have been quiet around here but I promise to be more present going forward. Back in 2012 when I started the blog, I mainly wanted to document our DIY projects and decor related discussions in our new home. Soon it became more than that, an all consuming passion that was a heady mix of writing (I never knew how much I enjoyed it) and interior decorating. I became so serious about blogging that I was considering making a career switch from Finance to full time blogging. And as luck would have it I got that chance only to realize that I did not like being a full time blogger, and longed for the professional satisfaction and interaction that a full time corporate job offered at the same time continuing to blog on the side.

If life has taught me anything then it is that you need to be careful of what you wish for. So yeah, I did make the career switch, from Finance to IT. Naturally this brought in a lot of changes as a result of which blogging took a back seat, from which I was not able to recover. Over the past few months a feeling of creative emptiness has been haunting me, but once you fall off the wagon there is so much mental inertia to get back on track.

2019 was the worst year of my life personally. Yet it is also one that was eyeopening in many ways; it taught me to appreciate the small things in life, stop and smell the roses, look at and admire the blue sky a little longer, smile at the mess in the house and appreciate that I have folks around to make it messy, distance myself from negativity, most important of all the realization that I, only me, have the power to change how I feel. Positive Mind, Positive Vibes, Positive life! To that effect, with all the creative frustration I have been harboring it’s time for me to break free of my mental shackles and push forward.

To tell you the truth I did test the waters back in November but the blogging space has changed to almost unrecognizable in the last 2 years. There is so much to worry about Google, EU and CA law updates, I’m not even getting into the technical and social media stuff. I was so overwhelmed with all the new jargon that I ran the other way promising to sweep the whole idea of getting back under the rug. However with all the down time during the winter break, I had the chance for more introspection and I decided that I need to prove to myself that I’m still capable of tackling the tough stuff head on and can persevere till I reach my goal. I have to do something that I was scared of doing, I have to conquer my fears. But which fear do I tackle first :P?

Folks who have been reading the blog long enough will know that I suffer from vertigo, a disease that started to present itself after the birth of my second child. I went from the first one to jump on any ride at an amusement park to someone who wouldn’t dare to look down when riding long escalators at the metro station, someone who refused to walk up the floating stairs with clear risers at work, someone who cried the hell out at the Simpsons ride at Universal (I had got on it as the kids were too small to ride by themselves. B was already motion sick but he too got on it and both of us ended being extremely uncomfortable, long story).

On our recent trip to Punta Cana, we went zip lining at the Scape Park (super duper awesome place). I was ready to chicken out at the last minute but kept telling myself that “I can do it, I will do it.” The zip lining was literally on the side of a tall mountain, a really steep climb to get there. There were 12 zip lines in total with the last one ending in water. And you know what? I survived! In fact I had so much fun.

And to give you an idea of how tall the tallest line was, here is a pic taken while we were waiting on another zip line station, which was sitting right above the tropical forest tree line. Those 2 red arrows are the tallest stations.

No, in case you are wondering my fear of heights hasn’t completely gone (I think the beautiful scenery and the huge swath of green trees below helped with my nerves). Still I consider it a big win.

Having take a major step to overcome my mental block of heights, I’m now ready to push through, start from the scratch on the blog again. Let’s see how this second innings goes. Hope y’all are going to stick around to see what’s in store. Happy New Year!