Goodbye to an awesome year, memories that will last forever

2018, What an eventful year it has been for me! When I look back today, it gives me ample reasons to smile and cherish. I wish it stayed for long and the awesomeness continued forever and ever and I kept basking in the glory of happy times and the wonderful moments spent but nonetheless, I’m sure 2019 has something great in store for me. Keeping fingers crossed.

Here are a few treasured memories from this year:

My first blogging win:

It was 18th Jan when I woke up with the pleasant surprise of winning the top blogs contest by India’s leading parenting site, Momspresso. I could not believe my eyes as it was just 2 months back I had started writing. I was on cloud 9, it was special as it was my first ever win as a blogger and my entry was my letter to my mother. The happiness was doubled when I grabbed top blogger award by Momspresso twice this year.

Successful collaborations with many National and International brands:

I started working with many reputed brands in the last year and created content for a few websites too.

Speaker Opportunity at Indo-Polish meeting in Poland:

I was invited as a Speaker at the Indo-Polish meet organized by the students of a University here. I shared my experience of staying in Poland along with the learnings, cultural differences and much more. It was an overwhelming and proud feeling to face the stage after 3 years and talking about my country in front of the other countrymen.

Successful International Conference:

I had been working with my company for 9 years as a single woman army for India operations and my favorite part of the profile was organizing an annual international conference. I love working under pressure. This was the last year I worked on this event and like all these years, it was a huge hit. I could not attend it in person, and the next morning my mailbox was flooded with the messages of my Board members, and other delegates congratulating me for doing a good job. The feeling was much more than any monetary reward.

Traveling:

Being a globetrotter, a year without traveling is not complete for me. I explored the beautiful city of Krakow, the canal city of Europe, Amsterdam. The World’s biggest and most mesmerizing Tulip Gardens and the happening Barcelona, Spain. Oh! what an amazing experience it was.

Baking:

After lots and lots of trial and errors, failures and goof-ups, I finally learned the art of baking. Serving healthy and mouthwatering cakes and muffins from my kitchen to my kids makes my heart and soul happy.

A SWEET win:

I participated in my first ever dessert competition and won it too. My recipe will be published in the organizer’s cookery e-book. It indeed was a sweet win.

Consecutive wins at blogging:

I participated in many blogging challenges during this year and to my surprise, grabbed many prizes (12, to be precise) and love from my readers and fellow writers. The most special prize was “Hardworking blogger”, which I won in my first blogging challenge.

Launched “Vartikasdiary”:

On 23rd July, I celebrated my father’s birthday by launching my own digital space, my baby blog, Vartikasdiary. It was my biggest and best decision of 2018.

Started writing for Women’s Web:

Writing a book is nowhere on my cards at the moment but reading a mail stating, “Congratulations, you are an author on Women’s Web”, gave me immense joy. The word author in itself is appealing. I started writing for Women’s Web this year and many of my posts were selected as featured posts.

Orange Flower Awards Finalist:

This came as a huge surprise for me when I made it to the finalist list of Orange Flower Awards by Women’s Web. Out of 1600 participants, reaching till here was a proud feeling for me. I will always be grateful to all my readers for their endless support, encouragement, and love.

Learned to let go:

2018 has taught me the biggest life lesson – to let go of the things and remove toxic people from my life. This year was full of emotional ups and downs. There were many meltdown moments when a friend (who I thought was a friend and with whom, I shared my heart out) backstabbed me. I was in severe depression the week I launched my website but thanks to my husband, who helped me overcome the situation. And finally, I learned to let go of the things. I learned not to trust people so easily. Most of all, I learned honey coated people and talks are always fake and fishy. Extra sugar is always harmful, be it in food or talks.

India trip:

The most loving memory of 2018 is my trip to India. After 2 long years, I met my family, hugged my mother, and spent countless happy moments with all of them. I satiated my taste buds and ate every possible thing I could. I met one of my blogger friends, Prerna Wahi also during this visit and bonded over chai and some great talks. Not to forget, attended 2 blogger meets also which added more to the fun.

New friendships:

I have earned many wonderful friends through blogging. We chat, we laugh, we share our happiness, sorrows, achievements, highs, and lows. They always encourage me and shower their love. And I feel so blessed to have them in all in my life.

Embraced the transition:

My kids started kindergarten this year and it wasn’t easy for me to accept this transition. However, to my surprise, both of them very sportingly adapted themselves in the new atmosphere, with the teachers and other kids, from day one. They helped me embrace this transition very smoothly.

Overall it was such a gratifying year. Full of love, positivity, achievements, accolades and new friends – in the virtual and real world both. Thanks, Mr. 2018 for being so awesome. You will always be remembered and cherished. I really hope Ms. 2019 proves to be even better.

Love,

Yours truly 🙂