When I look back at 2018, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude. Strange as had anyone asked me during the year how things were going, gratitude was not the word that would have come to mind. You’re so bogged down by day-today chores, that you lose the ability to truly comprehend things in a larger perspective.

My life has two distinct parts: my work at Project Why and my home and family and for both, 2018 was a watershed year.

It was the year where I had to come to terms with accepting to give up the house I had built with my parents almost half a century ago.  After their demise, it had become almost my only anchor. It was the house I came to as a dreamy teenager, the one I was married in, where I became a mother and even a grandmother. Over the years the house had aged and become a liability and it made sense to bring it down. 2018 was that year. It was heart wrenching and left me rudderless for a while till I found my moorings again and realised that memories are not cast in brick and stone but live safely in your heart.Today I feel  deeply grateful for having understood this as it freed me of invisible chains I carried for far too long. I made peace with my past and was ready to move on.

On the work front, the year augured well as we were financially stable and engaged in a host of activities aimed at enhancing the quality of our work. But the sense of security was short-lived as somewhere in the middle of the year we were informed that one of our main funders would stop their commitment in March 2019. They looked after 50% of our needs.

It was a huge shock and for a while I was at a complete loss. We set out to find new avenues but things looked bleak or so they seemed.

It is only now that I realise how the universe was at work and how many people came into our lives creating a new network that would weave its magic and bring us out of the woods. We are nowhere near the end of the tunnel but I can see the light and for that I am again deeply grateful.

I realise how many miracles came my way in 2018 and feel immensely blessed.

There is one such miracle I would like to share with you.

2018 was the year that saw my darling Utpal come full circle.The little scalded child that I had brought home way back in 2005 and nursed back to health was now a confident and happy teenager, who was now back at Project Why as a volunteer teacher. Again I felt deeply grateful and realised that no matter what happened in life, it was always for the better.

So my word for 2019 is SURRENDER.

I have been blessed with so many miracles in my life that I feel that the Universe is always on my side and works in my favour. I simply need to surrender and watch more miracles unfold.

What is your word of the year? Why did you choose it?

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