My wife asked me sometime in November, “Why do you blog?” I started thinking and in the process missed my last weekend blogging.
I was about to tell her my standard answer , ” I want to share a slice of life” and thus draw inspiration from myself. My go to answer was this one , “I am learning the ABC of writing and GOYA of doing . We will come to that later.”
Anyway, November is drawing to a close and so I thought of how November 2020 panned out. This time around post Puja, Diwali, and Thanksgiving I see a lot of articles in print on looking back at 2020. In fact, to a couple of my friends who wished me for Diwali, I replied back ” Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year”. Two friends responded to me immediately. One said we still have 45 days to go for New Year and others said “Why so early, are you traveling around the new year.” I had a good laugh at my faux pas. It was a rare weekend that I missed blogging in November. My last two blogs in November were one on how a Tribe has changed my outlook on gratitude and the second was microstories.
November 2020 would go down in my memory for a few things in particular. After lockdown, we had our first family trip in the car to get some things for Diwali. We got used to masks, social distancing, and the use of sanitizers. That day we spent a lot on hardcover books. We were visiting our favorite book store and were keenly looking forward to Preetam who recommends books for the family. I picked these three books, ” Unconscious Bias, Pre-suasion and Six secrets of Intelligence “.
This November will also be remembered for the return from the hospital of my beloved friend thanks to all the prayers from the Tribe. He was quick to post his video thanking everyone.
As I mulled over why I blog, I went through all the comments that were shared on my blogs, on my FB page, and the ones I received on WhatsApp.
Sharing the comments from readers on my Gratitude blog:
One TILT member shared, “you have captured the feelings all of the tribe went through so well…overwhelmed to read. Yes, these are times when the collective energies and resources help.” Another TILT member shared, ” Very beautifully articulated… every feeling we all went through…this tribe is our family our strength… On Whatsapp my shared messages from others. which went like these: “a captured a lot of observations in his blog along with the importance of connecting with each other better.” One said, ” Definitely his blog was whole-heartedly written and created the right impact”. Another commented on that moment which made me think of this blog as, ” This is one blog that connects each one of us through different threads, brings joyful tears while reading ‘yayyyy, out of ventilator’ part of it, re-lived those moments with the same tears.” Finally one person thanked me for recommending this tribe and mentioned, ” what we all went through and came together for our dear storyteller has been so aptly put…a lesson to be shared far and wide in the importance of a close-knit tribe”.
Going through all those messages gave me a little insight:
I felt good sharing my feelings through that blog and that in itself was gratifying. I completed 100 days of journalling on Gratitude. I was daily practicing writing 3 things I can be grateful for and it had helped me look at life differently and also be thankful for what I have. As Tony Robbins puts it best, ” Trade your expectation for appreciation.”
I am grateful for all the blogs that I have written so far (167) . A part of it has become a childhood diary for my younger daughter. When we got her a new laptop on Diwali, the first thing she did was to create a shortcut for my blog!
In the beginning, I spoke about ABC which means Apply Butt to Chair which translates to sit down and write and don’t wait for inspiration. It also means don’t worry about how many people read your last blog!
The next term I used was GOYA which means Get Off Your Ass which translates to doing things worth writing about.
So why do I blog?
I blog to get my thoughts out
I blog to convert my thoughts into words
I blog with those words to touch peoples heart
I blog to capture others hearts
Once I capture their hearts with my stories
I feel good that I have enRICHed them with my RICH Blog
