Why do I Write?

When I were asked yesterday by a friend of mine, that why I write, surprised me. Of course, writing is not my job, nor it is helping me to earn little extra (at least not at present), neither it appreciates my existing wealth. But then I wonder, why do we always have to measure the benefits of something in monetary terms?

Writing is a therapy for me. It is a way to vent all the pent-up frustrations burdening my mind into a far less volatile form, paper (or screen). I can address my anger, fear, worry and stress without bashing the person who embodies those emotions for me with a paperweight. Writing serves as a form of cathartic stress relief for me where I finally get to say what I can’t say out loud, in real life.

Writing is a perfect way to get away from the constant low-quality input and output systems of day-to-day life, such as meaningless small-talk and weather conversations, text messaging, Facebooking, checking the mailbox, and most email and many websites. You receive and create barrages of useless distractions that don’t help you or the people you know; sitting down to write lets you get away from it all. It’s important to keep the noise to a minimum so you can focus on creating and receiving strong material, things that are really worth doing. And writing helps in doing that.

In this culture, communication is so often hampered because we don’t know how to express ourselves, whether it is verbal or written. Writing regularly hone the skill of self-expression. It further reduces the chances of being misunderstood or misinterpreted.

Writing things down gives me time to think carefully and reflect on what I want to achieve the most, and develop a clearer, achievable image and plan for that result.

The most important reason among all other is “WRITING HELPS ME IN MEETING MYSELF ALL OVER AGAIN”. Letting words flow out of your brain unedited can introduce you to a part of yourself you’d been censoring from yourself to cope with everyday life. The only way to keep a close monitor on your actions and goals is to write about them. The feelings when pen downed at a place, will constantly remind you about the things that happened and how did you react to those things. And that is why I write.

So the real answer to the question of why I write is that telling stories and expressing experience and working things out in words is, for me, the only kind of creative work and where boredom and frustration have never made me want to give up.

“I am grateful to the Lord for granting me just what I needed.”

With the loving weekend that just passed by, I've been thinking a lot about the little things that I am grateful for. Obviously, my husband immediately came to mind and I was overwhelmed with a feeling of sincere gratitude and appreciation towards him. He is the one behind the entire queen like treatment, which I am getting used to now. It is only his company, love, caring attitude and emotional support that give me immense strength to live life with the enthusiasm and positive mind set.

But then I got to thinking, how often do I really tell him how grateful I am?

I think too many times we get caught up in thinking, “Oh well, he knows how I feel about him. He knows I appreciate him.” But does he really?

When is the last time you really thanked your partner for spending time with you? Or listening to you talks about your day? Or helping you around the house or work?

I starting making it a goal to openly thank my husband for all the things he would do for me.

At first, it almost seemed kind of silly and redundant to say thank you over and over again. I mean, he gets it, right? I’m thankful for him? Do I really need to say it a million times?

But towards the end of my challenge, I noticed a big difference in our relationship; my husband and I were way more willing to help one another when we each felt appreciated by the other. We wanted to be there for the other person. And in the end, those feelings of appreciation turned more into deeper feelings of love, love that was frequently expressed through our gratitude.

I don’t share this story to make you think I have the perfect marriage. Or that we are constantly telling the other person how much we appreciate him or her. That doesn’t always work. However, I feel that thanking our spouses, partners, and family members often, makes it easy to pass through when times do get challenging.

And I hope you also remember that “Thank You” often translates into “I Love You.” Which is truly a great feeling, gift, and blessing you can share with one another.

Oh God, I pray that you keep your providence towards me always and give me an appreciating heart so that I will always be thankful to whatever you give me. AMEN!

A Lengthiest Hectic Day.......

Indian democracy is the world’s largest and famous at the same time. This time I happen to be a core part of it, not only because of my voting power and choose the government for the years, but also I played a core role in getting the other people exercising their right to vote.

Since now I am in government setup, so we have an additional job of saying yes to all the works which government wants us to do along with the job for which we are hired. This time it was the election duty i.e. to make the process of election undergo under your supervision and expertise.

The work assigned to me started the previous day only, when I did all the homework with respect to paper work and arranging all the things in systematic manner so that the work will go smooth on the day of election. The Election Day stared at 4AM for me, when I had to do all the preparation in advance and reaching the center around 4:45AM. And then the day was full of experiences and adventures.

On a whole, it was a difficult task because of number of issues like too much of paper work; getting the work done by others (polling officers) and making a complex exercise of voting go smooth and accurate. I had around 1871 voters assigned on my pooling booth. It was a huge number and a very cumbersome task. The whole day, queue of voters, was huge. I had to ask for two more additional members to work with me as the rush in my pooling booth was huge and being the presiding officer, I had to look into all other things including the well-being of my officers too.

I could remember my old banking days when I had no time for me. The day was exactly the similar and we had no time for anything other than getting the voting process done systematically by the people.

The day taught me the true meaning of security, when we were transferred to the place where we had to submit our machines. This is exactly the place where the final counting is to be done. We were accompanied by the police staff, equipped with arms and ammunition for our security. The vehicle was fully guarded by police from all the four sides too. I had a very unique experience.

The day ended with the submission around 11PM and I took a breath of relief. The big task and a responsibility were over.

I would not say, it was a very nice experience and I will look forward to it, but without a shadow of doubt, I would say it was a life time’s experience and I am an experienced one now.

I’ve learned to exercise and exert my authorities and power and now I know how to get the work done by others (even if the other person is not willing to work).

My belief gets stronger that I am God’s favorites to give any new and challenging task to. And whenever it comes to me, it is full of extraordinary things…….And this is the only reason, I am a better version of me every coming day.