For a broader mind and a slimmer waist

So here’s a question for you: What is the similarity between writing (as in a blog), and gymming?
Great stress busters, did you say? Very good, that’s correct.
What else?
They make you look good? Yes, of course. To yourself and to the world... right, right.
What else? Think.

Well there is one more. And that is -- how difficult it is to get back to either after a break. No matter how regular you are with one or the other, if you take even a 3 day break from the routine, it’s entirely possible that you will allow lethargy and inertia to take over and go on to little by little extend the break to several months. If you were like me, this would happen to you unfailingly, every time.

Now see, till late last year, i used to blog regularly. I had a crazy job that demanded 24-7 attention and at least 95 hrs per week of work, with high-strung people for subordinates, superiors, clients and vendors. And yet, i used to blog. Regularly.
I had given up all my other interests, and if there was one thing i held on to, it was the blog. I used to write.

In fact, i had (have...) not one, but two blogs.
One was (is?) a happy blog which got all the happy updates (a promotion at work, a good short 8-hr day at work, a sick boss (or client), a fire...or a flood...or anything else disrupting work... you get the drift, right?); and the other was a dark blog... where i vented about all things bugging, infuriating and depressing – i.e. work-related.

And i neglected neither blog. In spite of the crazy work and insane, unrelenting stress, I found something to write about on the happy blog. At times i made up happy stuff just in order to do justice to the Happiness journal. As for the dark blog, there was never a dearth of things to write about. In fact there was an excess, and I had to spend time and prioritize my peeves and then write about the worst of the lot. Not every day, but surely every week, every month. I wrote.

Heck... i was getting married early one morning, and the previous night... i wrote.

And then i quit my job, got married, moved to a new city and started a brand new life. A brand new life; the shackles of employment in that rat-hole were gone. I found my wings, and happy as a lark i sang and danced, drunk in the delight of freedom. Since then, I have travelled, been to exciting new places, had several new experiences, done a spot of acting on stage and a bit of social work with a local NGO. I now spend my days doing all the crazy things i dreamt of doing. i take arty pictures with my fancy camera; i paint, do the crossword, play music, watch movies (oh so many movies!), I read, i cook, i clean... and decorate...and shop, and invite friends over... and sometimes... many times – i just sit and do nothing. Or i sleep.
Oh, and sometimes, i gym.

You would think that with all this new stuff happening in my life, with my mind-expanding new experiences, and plentiful free time, i would be ready to explode with things to write about; that i would fill up page after page with accounts of my adventures. Well, I thought so too; but only the contrary seems to have happened. I do have things i want to write about, and more than once..several times, i have actually made a mental note of putting pen to paper and updating my journal – if only for posterity sake. But all that intention really never translated into action. After slowing down to a trickle, my pace of posting new stuff came to a complete standstill a few months earlier. And the funniest part is that i didn’t even miss it so much, except at times when something stupendous happened.

So today, many months and much guilty procrastination and not a little encouragement (from dear darling hubby) later, i started writing this report, hoping to rekindle an old flame and get my creative juices flowing. Not because i’m an ace writer who, like my friend RV will have publishers knocking at her door after reading her blog, not because i have a 100 readers who have been having withdrawal symptoms with me not writing, not because of any reason that has anything to do with anyone else. Simply because i liked blogging. Like.

And that’s it. That is what i wanted to say, at least for now. So here’s hoping i will be more regular here onwards.

Alright then, next step – get to the gym... it’s been a month since i stepped on that holy ground!

Here’s to getting back!