The past week has been about embracing a brand New Year. Plans were made to ring in 2021 in style, resolutions were made hoping to keep at those for longer, and a collective sigh of relief was inhaled and exhaled (b’bye 2020).

As if all our troubles were to magically disappear at the stroke of midnight hour just like Cinderella’s ball gown. Alright, there have been some bright players in the vaccine race offering to turn back ‘new normal’ to normal, I’ll give you that.

Anyway, I am sure you have solid resolutions, and with your unflinching resolve, you’ll follow through. As for me, I upgraded my resolution as I was writing this newsletter (talk of making good on a resolution).
From ‘eat healthier, exercise and sleep on time’, the year 2021 now will be a year about reclaiming my time! Click To Tweet

Reclaiming My Time((https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/08/01/reclaiming-my-time-is-bigger-than-maxine-waters/)) as a catchphrase went viral in 2017 when American Democrat Maxine Waters used the procedural phrase to stall digression. The phrase became a metaphor for many things, including to have one’s time respected. And it is now my New Year’s resolution. I hope to take on only as much as I can chew, to save myself all the time spent agonizing over various tasks. I waste more time thinking about doing than actually doing. I won’t let the stress of looming deadlines consume me. For time is all that we have… “Reclaiming my time,” I hear some of you say.

Yes, I’ll stop digressing. I am just saying, I hope to save my time from myself. Backed by the wisdom of Om Swamiji’s Making New Year Resolutions Work, I am sure I will.

It’s now time to take stock of things. Look at how far we have reached in such a short span. Do you remember the day when our founder opened up os.me for us to share our truth, fears, love, creativity, art, thoughts, and wisdom? The Big Decision was announced just two days shy of June. By Dec, we had 1335 posts!

A Few Genial Avenues was the very first post published by a member. Aditya Chatterjee displayed his command over storytelling with purpose and gave us ample food for thought. The next day was quite an eventful day of publishing. Many posts came up. Rohinee Karmarkar-Sharma gave us a glimpse of the trove of treasure that she contains within through Treasure Hunt, which was the second article published here.

The third article on the platform was Yellow, written by Payoja Verma. It remains one of my favorites, because how is it possible to pack so much genius in such a young person! Can you touch, smell, and taste a color? She can, read Yellow. And tell her to write more! The first month (barely three days), we had 61 thought-provoking articles published.

Talking of firsts, Niranjan Seshadri gets the top spot for being the most prolific writer. He has 54 posts under his name, all very well-written.

And Komal R’s mindful posts come to the runner’s up spot, 31 articles at the last count. She also received the maximum number of comments in our history (until Dec 31st), closely followed by Sushree Diya Om. Komal also made it to the list of ‘people generous with praise’ list. She and Amruta made the maximum number of comments after Meera. Meera and Niren Patel are also the top upvoters.

To put my two cents in, the posts which are woven by a thread of our own heart’s fabric are remembered the most. And I have stats to back this up. The top five posts of all time are: My Childhood Trauma, Healing and a Request (Kirtee, always very relatable posts),  Will This Depression Kill Me (it won’t, now cheer up!), The Eternal Giver and My Pledge (your surrender to him is epic, Mohit), The Thing That Nobody Talks About (always sharing the motivational stuff, Sushree Diya), and Our Beloved Swamiji (Vidit, the champ, write more often please).

Why I feel all of us should write more and spread the word about our unique publishing platform. Because good karma pays and so does our Karma Program (ka-ching!).

Barely six months, and we have earned half-a-million Karma points. I am very tempted to ask Sushree Diya, Komal, and Kirtee to sponsor our party because you three have the highest Karma points. Click To Tweet
Men, we ought to galvanize our game. Mohit and Love, looking at you to redeem the ‘mankind’, for you are the only male members in the top 10 Karma earners.

I hope to work harder too, to ensure I offer you something worth your precious time. I’d probably start by practicing writing to my inner child, an effective healing technique suggested by Sorabh Aggarwal. Because I really don’t know if it is Grace or Coincidence that we found each other, you and I. Now I am no yogi, but I must tell you that I do have some of the Side Effects of Meditation even without meditating! …Lol… Who am I kidding, we both know not stepping out of the duvet in winters is not exactly ‘craving solitude’.

But I do meditate on the popular existential question: What’s the Meaning of Life. Well, as the author puts it: It is finding meaning in what we do. And sometimes it is just about realizing that having Gratitude and The Art of Happiness aren’t very different, and that alone can bring about a shift of energies, illustrates the author. Another easier way to bring about a change in our worlds is to change our words.

Yes, it is possible to change our own little universe-s. Whatever you think is possible. Like this magical meeting that Amruta had. Until you get to meet your god, I leave you with A Poem for God, by god!

A heartfelt thank you to each one of you for being here and sharing your gift. For making os.me your home. Here’s to reclaiming our time, and staying true to our resolutions. If you need help, here’s How to Keep New Year’s Resolutions by someone whose will is legendary.

Come to think of it, what changes between Dec 31st and Jan 1st, other than the calendar? If anything must change, it is us. Click To Tweet

Until next…