As the year comes to a close, it is a time for reflection – a time to release old thoughts and beliefs and forgive old hurts.

Peggy Toney Horton

2022 started with a happy note, sending me the good news that I have won The Orange Flower Awards by Women’s Web. I was delighted to receive the news and cried in joy when the trophy reached home.

I thought everything was going to be perfect in 2022. But little did I know, I was going to suffer from a lot of things altogether, both physically and professionally.

However, when I look back, I see myself smiling all along the year despite having so much pain in my body and stress in my mind. You might be thinking about how I kept my calm amidst all the chaos I met in 2022.

Here is the answer.

Image Courtesy: Pixabay

I learned a lot:

From the personal front to the professional one, I learned a lot in 2022.

Especially, I learned some useful ways to embrace inner calm despite having a chaotic phase in life. And thus, I realized all that I want to be is a lifelong researcher.

I focused on my health:

Due to hypothyroidism, I developed several health complications from June 2022. I underwent a prolonged state of illness for four months.

In these four months, I suffered a lot, having pain for the entire day, and some other hormonal problems in my body.

However, this was a wake-up call for me as I realized how much indifferent I was to my health.

I started making conscious choices:

While researching for a blog post on sustainable living with mindfulness, I realized the importance of making conscious choices.

Not that I was utterly unconscious about my choices in the past, but I never made a conscious choice about my food intake.

While writing that blog post, I made a decision to make conscious choices in my everyday life. From my food habits to shopping intentions, now I am more into practicing conscious living.

Thus, I took one step closer to conscious living in 2022.

I changed my food habit:

When I am talking about conscious living, I can’t start it without acknowledging that I have started making conscious choices with the changes in my food habits.

In these past years, I ignored healthy eating and kept eating whatever my heart wished for.

But now my plate is always full of fruits, salads, vegetables, soups, and other nutritious foods. Besides this, I have cut down my intake of carbohydrates as well as lowered my consumption of processed foods, cakes, chocolates, and cold drinks.

I achieved my weight loss goal, partially:

In June 2022, I realized that I had put on extra weight for hypothyroidism and hormonal issues. My gynecologist (who was scared seeing the weight machine reading) suggested me to consult with a dietician and do exercises to lose that extra weight.

I met a dietician and followed her instructions carefully. Though I had some cheat days due to the festive season and my trips, I managed to lose 11 kgs in a span of three months.

It feels like quite an achievement for me, as I am feeling lighter and more flexible now.

And guess what! For this weight loss, I am bringing back the old clothes from my wardrobe, and wearing them feels so blissful.

I curated more peace stories:

Here is another thing that I count as my achievement this year, as I am working towards my dream of building a storytellers’ community.

I collected and curated more inspiring stories on my initiative The Peace Stories. I can’t express how blissful it feels to read these stories.

I realized, making a meaningful connection with my storytellers contributes a vital role in shaping me as a better human.

I sent more messages of hope, love, and peace:

My storytellers shared inspiring messages of hope, resilience, gratitude, kindness, perseverance, kindness, peace, prayer, and a lot more through my initiative.

I shared them with the world as I dreamt of someday, and sending these messages brings me a sense of accomplishment as I feel I am working towards my purpose in life.

The good thing is, I learned a lot from my storytellers and their journey in life. From their experiences and knowledge, I rediscovered the beauty of little things that make our life better and brighter.

Image Courtesy: Canva

I developed the habit of evening walk:

One of the best things that happened in 2022 is I am back to my evening walk habit. Before growing the habit of evening walk, I was not regular in my walking ritual.

But now, every day I go for an evening walk from 5:45 PM to 6:45 PM. This one hour is a vital part of my daily routine as I contemplate various things while walking, and this one hour makes me realize how liberating it feels when I walk alone.

I rediscovered my abilities:

During a challenging time, the best thing happens when you rediscover your abilities, and it was not exceptional for me.

I found some areas of expertise where I can learn and explore my passion more profoundly. This is another self-realization that helped me rethink my capabilities.

I came to know some wonderful concepts of finding calm:

In April 2022, I participated in the international A to Z blogging challenge. This year, my theme was Art of Life.

I collected 26 concepts of finding inner calm that could be found in your everyday life when you cherish the joy of little things.

Especially, I liked this theme of my series and I learned so much while researching the concepts.

I am happy that I came across these wonderful concepts of finding inner peace as I realized we need some moments of calm to take care of our mental wellness.

I prioritized my health over everything else:

I lacked physical activities in the past years. After graduating from college, gradually I became lazy about my body movement. One of the big reasons behind that was the ligament and tendon injury in my right ankle.

Anyway, due to the lack of physical activities, I put on a lot of weight in the past years. More precisely, I was not conscious of my health choices.

But the health complications made me realize why I should focus on living a healthy lifestyle. Now, I prioritize my health over everything else and started healthy living in September 2022.

I rejuvenated my inner child:

I introduced a new series named Ellee Speaks on my initiative. Ellee is a cute baby elephant who shares her wisdom on self-love and spreads mental health awareness about social issues like body shaming, social judgments, social anxiety, etc.

Meet my self-love baby Ellee

While choosing the ambassador for my series and designing the baby elephant, I rejuvenated my inner child as I unshackled the child in me through the process.

And I realized:

No matter how much you grow up, you will always have your inner child alive within.

Swarnali Nath

I started believing in simple living:

One of the best things that happened in 2022 is I started rethinking simple living. Though I was familiar with the concept of simple living, I was not serious about incorporating the thoughts into my life before I read an excerpt from the book A Book of Simple Living, authored by Ruskin Bond.

I realized the beauty of simple living, and I am happy that I am on my way to embracing simple living, slowly with small steps.

I started applying mindfulness in daily life, once again:

Mindfulness has always been an important part of my lifestyle as I love to make a deeper connection with my inner self through meditation and mindful activities.

But this year, I am also practicing mindfulness in my daily life, and this made me realize how it’s important to find inner calm to control your restless mind.

I embraced the joy of writing:

I can’t dedicate enough time to creative writing, the thing that brought me to the world of writing. That’s why sometimes I miss my free writing spirit.

But as I started writing this blog post, words started flowing. This is pure bliss to open my heart here and revisit the good things that happened to me in 2022.

Thus, I embraced the joy of writing and I realized how blissful it feels when I begin writing a piece.

Sometimes, the beginning is more difficult than the entire journey.

Swarnali Nath

I allowed myself for giving space to my sister:

Since my sister relocated to another city for her job, I was missing her badly as we two were companions for anything and everything. This is why I was sad when she couldn’t give me enough time. She was busy with her new world and I was left all alone here in the home.

But when I discussed this matter with one of my close friends, he made me realize the importance of giving space to our younger siblings. As they are growing up, they are young, they want to explore life more than us.

Thus, I realized we should respect their privacies, admire their freedom, and allow us to give them space. This is exactly what I did.

Now, I am happy with my small world as I am the best friend of mine.

I learned to control my mind to prevent anxiety:

Now I am far away from being anxious over my life’s stressful situations.

I believe this might be the positive impact of working with mental wellness and researching ways to calm down my anxious mind. Whatever may be the reason, I am happy that now I can control my mind and prevent anxiety.

I realized my mind is still despite the chaos outside, and this is one of the best things that happened in 2022.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

I overcame burnout:

Due to my remote work, I became exhausted in the months of May and June. But I researched effective ways to avoid burnout in remote work and applied them to my daily routine.

I overcame remote work burnout soon. Along with this, I realized the importance to balance your priorities.

I connected with some amazing people:

This year, I connected with some amazing people on my work front. I worked with them on different projects and it was such fun to work with them.

I realized the beauty of friendship once again when I befriended them, and I hope to continue our friendship forever.

I received doses of motivation from my blogger friends:

When I feel low, I talk to my blogger friends. Some of them have a special connection with me and I look up to them whenever I need a hand to hold.

This feels great when I receive their kind words and good vibes that keep me going. Also, they made me realize the power of dreaming, gratitude, and faith.

I believed in humanity:

I have a special micro story segment in my peace story. The part is called Strangers Connect. When reading these stories of strangers, my heart is filled with divine happiness, and it makes me realize that humanity is not dead yet.

It’s still alive in the form of goodness on earth.

I believed in myself:

I lack self-belief very often. Honestly speaking, my self-confidence dwindles between zero to infinity always. At times I feel confident about my life choices, but at times, thousands of doubts arise and I suffer from low self-esteem.

However, 2022 taught me one vital lesson:

Whatever may be the situation or life’s crisis strikes your self-confidence, it is the most important how you stick to your self-belief. Because what you believe that you become.

Swarnali Nath

This is why ‘Belief’ is the word I choose for 2023. As I believe in having a better future ahead, I am all prepared to welcome the new year with hope in my heart, love in my soul, and peace in my prayer.

Wishing everyone a very happy new year!

(This blog post is part of the Let’s Say Hello 2023 Blogging Activity hosted by me.)