The year 2018 is over now and it’s the time to reflect and review the last 365 days of my life.

I mentioned in “My Year 2017; Reviewing and reflecting the year; “2018, bring it on!” and undoubtedly, the year has been one hell of a roller coaster ride. Like any other year, I’d say this year passed like a matchstick sparkle (flashed for a moment with brightness and disappeared within seconds).

My Year 2017 in a nutshell

“The year 2017 was a year of self-reflection! Year full of self-realization but sometimes a bit too much of stagnant thoughts. A year full of commitments; some of them yet to be fulfilled! 2017 was a year of dreams; some of them already into actions and many of them yet to be explored and enacted. Had strong bond with newer people; left away companionship with negative people and many are yet to be filtered.”

What I expected my year 2018 to be

“I am sure 2018 will be more fun, more adventures, better sleep, bigger smiles and laughter, less negativity, less stress, more productivity, more love and after all a great satisfaction. 2018 will be the year of dreams, aspiration and exploration; a strong drive to be a good human being.”

How did the year 2018 go?

In many ways, I was able to fulfill those expectations.  The year has been fun-filled with bigger smiles and laughter, more productivity and more love. A year full of exploration and digging deep into life.

And on the flip side, it certainly has been an adventurous and a challenging journey.

The year 2018 was less of a self-reflection but more of actions and thoughts about how to move on with productivity.

This year, I shot lesser photographs of people than the last year but more of the true images of them.

This year, I focused more on unlearning rather than learning. Unlearning the habit of saying “YES” to everything.

2018 was a year of experimenting different things. Reading more books than ever, trying out different habits and figuring out the ways to enhance my life in the best way possible.

Here are some of the things that I did during the year.

Tried reviewing the book for the first time. It was Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho: Book Review!

After the book review, I did a book summary as well; Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (Book Summary)

The year 2018 has been a year of confessions.

Getting Out of Comfort Zone #1

Sharing my story of quitting Cigarettes!

I publicly shared many things about me which I used to feel insecure even to talk a word or two. I was in a huge dilemma whether or not to share my story of smoking cigarettes. I was fearful of my relatives and friends (who didn’t know earlier) knowing that I used to be a smoker. But that thought lost the battle and I decided to share it. I feel good about sharing it. If not more, I was able to leave smaller traces of impact in the lives of some of my friends through the story of overcoming the habit of smoking. ?

Getting Out of Comfort Zone #2

Sharing the story of my depression!

Before publishing the article, I was having self-doubt and didn’t make it public for a long time. Eventually, I did and I was able to conquer self-doubt and inferiority complex I had for a long time.

This was probably one of the biggest dilemmas I had. Having shared about quitting cigarettes already, I was encouraged to share my story of having depression. I was sure that my story could help people and it did too. Let’s Talk about Depression: Mental Health 2018! Maybe this is what we call, getting positive out of the worst situation possible. And there’s no any better feeling other than helping people. I did my part ?

Getting Out of Comfort Zone #3; Starting Vlogs

The long wait and the procrastination was finally over and it was the year 2018 when I finally started Vlogging. And also I had always wanted to recite poems. I did it through my YouTube channel.

Learned editing as well. Even though I am not a fast editor, I am happy to get started.

I am so pumped up to see what’s waiting in the next 365 days of this wonderful year.

Travel

The one and only trekking we had this year was the trek to Manaslu. And this trekking has been the best one until now in terms of picturesque beauty. Best Trekking in Nepal: Manaslu Circuit (Larke Pass) Trek- 2018

Also to the land in which I dreamt of being there during my schooldays. Meeting the school friend and a close friend, getting to know newer places and traveling was a great time.

Even though we’re well acquainted that the reality is different than what we expect, we can’t resist expectations. The situation and reality of Nepalese students struck me real hard. I couldn’t stop thinking about them even after a month of returning to Nepal. Study in Australia from Nepal: Situation of Nepalese Students. Publishing the blog about it helped me a lot and many people said they could relate to the stories mentioned there as well.

Stay in Sydney was a mixed feeling. IYMS was amazing as always. Amongst many lessons from IYMS, the most important one would be “HARDWORK”. All thanks to exemplary people; Gregor and Mashhour (IYMS Technical Team members) who inspired me to a great extent. Similarly, the road trip to Mungo National Park and a Re-union with my school friend was indeed a great one.

Self- Improvement and Productivity

Self-improvement and productivity became the topics which I prioritized the most. Every now and then, I’d focus on how to improve myself and help people around me be more productive.

As I’ve already mentioned above about developing habits, it’d not be wrong to say that the year 2018 has been a year of developing habits and unbecoming as well. By unbecoming, I mean dropping the bad habits which have harmed my well-being.

Good habits to follow and bad habits to avoid for more productivity

Even though, I have mentioned quite a lot of good habits, I was not able to be consistent in following them on a regular basis. Because of the health reasons, I couldn’t continue for a few days and that prolonged for a long time.

Sorry for the excuses! I won’t be making such excuses this year. I’ll try my best to follow those habits mentioned in the blog which is one of my resolutions for this year as well. ?

Reading Books

I was able to read more than 20 books in the year 2018 and it’s the highest number of books I’ve read in a year so far. “The Subtle Art of Not giving a fuck”, “Phoolko Aankha Ma”, “Eleven Minutes”, “The Power Of Now”, “Khusi” are some of the best ones I read this year and I’d definitely recommend you to go through.

Getting into a flow state

This year was more about getting into flow state rather than contracting myself into “I must do this and not that”. During my stay in IYMS, Sydney Australia, I was writing diary every single and I didn’t force myself to do that.

Later on, I felt like it was too much of pressure and the diaries started becoming like a daily schedule rather than how I felt about the things I did during the day. So these days, I write whenever I feel like writing. Also, I jot down the random thoughts that hover around my mind to keep the reminder of beautiful and sometimes random thoughts.

Similarly, taking a cold shower became a flow and now it has become a habit of mine. (Recently, it has been halted because of my health reasons.) Will fall back to its place when I am healthy again. I need not force myself. ?

Year 2018 was the perfect year to start off challenging myself!

Saying “I Love you” to my sister

This is the first time I did so. Also, I had never written something dedicated to her and any other family members until now. This time, on the occasion of her birthday, wrote an appreciation letter to her. I was hesitant whether or not to give it to her. It was an emotional moment for both of us. Glad that I did it (Finally after many failed attempts).

What didn’t go well in the year 2018

• The year which took to the lowest I’ve ever been in my life.
• Had some issues with trust.
• Unhealthy (during the last 2 months as in 2017)

Resolutions and commitments for the year 2019

What I’ve recently realized is making resolutions based on quantitative figure makes me anxious about completing them instead of focusing on the qualitative aspect. So, in the year 2019, I am going to focus on these few things;

• Staying healthy. Even though I have become more concerned with my health this year, the health status has proven to be insufficient. I need to focus on my health more in days to come. And in the year 2019, I am going to strictly focus more on being healthy.
• Read more books and share the knowledge as much as I can.
• Being Authentic; with myself and people around.
• Have more conversation with family members and develop bonding with them.

Happy New Year 2019 guys! What are your resolutions for this year?