Good Bye 2015

2015 was quite a ride. It was challenging for me, both personally and professionally. Last night, i sat down quietly and asked myself “What did I achieve last year and what are my regrets?” as a result i got a long list of regrets over my achievements, which made me regret the whole point of retrospection itself. I’m writing up this story to strike down my first regret, frequent blogging.

Personally, I did usual stuff with my wife including long drives, late night dessert, birthday surprise, frequent movies, Netflix binge, thanksgiving shopping and you know the rest.

From my regrets, i want to focus on few important items from my list.

Spend time with family & friends — It’s a shame to even write this down. I lost my uncle last year, he was 59. His loss devastated me personally and i still don’t believe what happened. It’s just stupid not to spend time with people when they are around and I wish I had spent more time with my family. This year i promise to do that. NO excuses.

Friends are awesome, I moved from scenic suburb to downtown to be near my friends and it’s one of the good things i did last year. This year I want to spend good time with my friends here and more importantly with my friends back home.

Read more books — My wife gifted me with Kindle last year for my birthday to reinforce reading habit in me which failed miserably. I even purchased few books on my own to motivate myself, but didn’t work out. I gave more excuses not to read and spent my free time in browsing, watching TV shows and movies. This year, I will read at least one book every 3–4 weeks starting tomorrow and line up is ready.

Run Run Run — I lost 20 Kgs in less than 5 months and it happened 4 years ago, now that’s a story! Currently i weigh 100 kgs. My friends know about my famous 100 day challenge and it’s spectacular failure. But, this will not happen again and i have already registered to run Brooklyn 15K this year and started with my prep! One important bucket list item is to run Boston Marathon and hoping to strike that down soon.

Travel — Last year, I made trips to many beautiful places in east coast and to California in the west. This year, I would want to visit new countries and new places in the US including cross country trip :).

Build a product — I quit a Startup and came to the US, but not a day that goes by without regretting that decision. I’ve always wanted to build something and last year nothing happened, but this year it will. This is the most painful regret of all.

Develop a hobby — I learnt few “extra curricular activities” along my way from school through college but suddenly I feel like I don’t have any hobby. My Nikon kept me occupied last year but I’ll do more this year.

Finally, my wife is super awesome and helps me in so many ways and I definitely want to surprise her more this year. She deserves more of my time and this year I’d want to spend more time with her.

We easily get lost in our own world surrounded by mobile apps and social media. I stare at my mobile almost every 5 minutes for no reason at all and that’s just disturbing. This retrospection helped me uncover and confront some of my deepest regrets and also highlighted few personal achievements. If you’ve conquered this already in your life, then send me your thoughts, and if you’re in same boat as me, then you have my wishes - “May the force be with you”.