11 Years and Counting

It’s a day of celebration as our blog turns 11 years old [ sorry for not being able to post it yesterday as it was on 30^th Mar 2013, when I started publishing my write-ups on this blog]. A lot has changed over these years, from acquiring my first university degree to moving and living in different countries, from losing family members to creating memories of acquaintance in foreign lands, Life has its peculiar ways of unfolding mysteries that it has been holding onto for ages. I’ve entered another decade of my life unsure about what it stores for me, but I must admit that I’ve no regret for the chances that I took in the past, even though they didn’t turn out to be the way I wanted them to. So, I am excited to go through other experiences of life, whatever it has to offer, I am open to receiving it as blessings.

With increased responsibilities of life and career, Writing, for me, sometimes seems to have taken a backseat. I am amazed to find my write-ups from the past when I scroll through them. I wonder about those ideas that I poured into my writing that came purely from observing my surroundings. As a student, I tried to keep myself productive and away from all sorts of distractions. Writing helped me beat the boredom and provided me with the freedom to traverse anywhere in my imaginary realm to bring those events to this mortal world. It was the time when smartphones weren’t part of our lives, let alone AI technology. With the emergence of AI technology and the advent of writing tools like ChatGPT, everyone, who’s a user of such writing or editing tools, is a writer. What a human mind can achieve, technology can never achieve. After all, AI is a product of the human mind, maybe its greatest invention.

Creation of any form requires an Isolated Environment and peace of mind. Achieving an isolated environment not only implies omitting human interference from the physical environment but also removing all sorts of distractions. What it took me a few minutes to compose a poem, and now it takes me hours and hours to select a topic to write on.  Yes, I am distracted by technology like smartphone, social media, laptop, iPad, and easy dopamine rises like watching reels etc. and I am trying to control such distractions to be more productive. Meditation has helped me conquer the chain of unrelated/irrelevant thoughts, so I just have to work on my level of distraction or procrastination.

Blogging is a way to reflect on my day-to-day life to not miss its learnings. Life provides learning opportunities every day and its lessons are hidden intricately between different events. I am grateful to all readers for sparing their time to go through our writeups and provide valuable feedback. I will keep them coming.

Swati Sarangi

30.03.2024