Here is to new beginnings!!

"It was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times", the opening sentence of the Charles Dickens classic 'A Tale of Two Cities' can best summarize the year 2013 for me. With only a few more hours remaining for the year to come to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to indulge in a little retrospection on the year that was.   

The year 2013 has been a very special one for me. It was a year that saw me as a student and as an earning member of the family. It saw me going from being a Graduate to a Post-Graduate. It saw me in three different places, from Coimbatore to Cochin to Thrissur. It was the year that gave me the opportunity to follow two of my greatest passions - music and writing. 

On the personal front, the year was a mixed bag with a lot of highs and an equal number of lows. The best part was my brother's marriage, one of the happiest moments of my life. Then there were not so happy moments too, when people whom you trusted and loved with all your heart abandoned you, leaving you in an abyss of despair. Then there were also instances where total strangers lent a helping hand at times when you had totally lost hope. The year saw many a teary farewell too, friends from college, with whom you had spent two years of your college life were departing and going their ways, colleagues at work were being transferred to different locations. 

On the professional front too, there were reasons to cheer as well as despair; from completing a post-graduate degree with an Eighth Rank in the University, to being stuck in a job that sucks the life blood out of you every single moment of the day, from Monday through Saturday (and occasionally on Sundays too), life on the professional front has been no less than a roller-coaster ride. With irate customers and bosses (goes without saying that they are irate!) breathing down your neck 24/7, and the ever expanding 'To Do' list on my computer, my work-life balance has gone for a toss. To top it all, I am even away from home. 

As I write this blog, all those events in the year that went by start to make sense. There were moments that made me laugh, there were moments that made me cry, there were moments when I felt that God had been very kind to me, and then there were moments that made me question God's ways. Now when I think about them, I realize they all served a purpose in my life. Had it not been for those events, I don't think the year would have been this memorable to me, it would also have gone down as just another year of my life. These events have made me strong, more determined and made me believe in this very powerful word - 'HOPE'. 

Last time, during this time of the year, when I prayed to God to make the year ahead, a very exciting and happening year for all, I had not known that God would make it this exciting for me. This time around, when I make a new year wish, I will have to be more specific in terms of my definition of 'exciting', because you never know how exciting God would make it, he may make it more exciting than you had actually wanted it to be. So here is to letting go of the past, here is to making a brand new start, here is to hoping for a better tomorrow, and here is to new beginnings. Happy New Year! God bless!

Signing off the last blog of the year with one of my favorite quotes: "Past is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, but Today is a Gift, that's why it is called the Present"