{"id":1616,"date":"2025-01-01T19:49:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T14:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/?p=1616"},"modified":"2025-01-01T19:49:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T14:19:44","slug":"2024-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/?p=1616","title":{"rendered":"2024 in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2024\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I need to take a few deep breaths just to recall all that happened this year. When I try to think back, it feels like I went through 3 years in 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting from rekindling my old hobby with anime and manga to finding a bunch of people through it who put in effort to be in my life. It was and still is weird that people will go out of their way to be nice to me, a person they met merely months ago. I do have other long time friends but I have known them for years. And well, they know me inside out at this point. Then having a nicer bond with my course mates, even hyping each other up. Finally finding that one peer group you can be yourself with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now for a recap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a year of many many books. Not that I read many of them, i bought way too many and my friends have all deciphered that books are the best gift for me. So I was showered with books left, right and centre. No complains whatsoever. Except now I have to figure out a better way to arrange them on my bookshelf. <\/p>\n\n\n

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I also went to my first ever comic con that happened in my city. Did a very lazy cosplay and was shocked when people recognised the character and asked to take pictures with me. (It was Kiki from kiki\u2019s delivery service, I wore a big red bow on my head and a blue dress) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led me to find people who also share my hobby aka obsession over Japanese anime. I found a series that I absolutely love and relate to. To the extent that now I even own manga volumes of it. (Yes it is windbreaker) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have been reading more fan-fictions than actual books. But the fact that I can read more stories about these characters I adore is good enough for me. I did manage to read a decent amount of books (16 according to Goodreads) half of which is actually a series of 8 books that I breezed through in a week. It truly has been a very long time since I binge read books like that. It was nice revisiting that part of my youth. I am hoping this year I can find it in myself to read more books, use my kindle more. Let\u2019s see\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also a year of some big family changes. My mother went through a big surgery (she is fine now), my brother got married (sister in law is actually nice) and I now have what one can call extended family members. It\u2019s funny. For a change I didn\u2019t move from my current apartment. Usually that would be the big change every year. I\u2019ll be doing that this January. It\u2019s not me if I don\u2019t move every year or two! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made some friends at my training centre. People I would try and keep in touch with. And these are people who hype me up all the time. So I got that going for me. <\/p>\n\n\n

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I did a big thing of going to Japan solo. Crazy right? Everyone has this one bucket list thing and I managed to scratch that off. Roamed the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto happily wondering if this is how it feels to have a well functioning public transport. I wanted to write a separate blog on Japan trip but I honestly don\u2019t remember most of it now. I do have it on highlights in my Instagram profile. A picture is worth a thousand words and I posted about 300 of them in a span of two weeks. Truly an experience that I will never forget in my life. Was so smitten with the place that when I came back I even briefly tried to get a job there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s get into these new friends I made both online and in real life. All of them watch anime, read manga and love talking about it. They all let me go crazy with my rants and theories on various series and I\u2019m glad I now have people who would entertain this hobby of mine. I can even talk about me reading fan-fictions and I\u2019m not scorned upon anymore. There used to be a time I was shamed for it. And now these people actively ask me how these stories are going for me. I got so inspired I even managed to write and publish a couple of them. Also wrote out some ideas which I can expand and write at a later time maybe? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And they all find so much joy in bullying me (\/j) The major topic of them pulling my leg is whether I have a type in anime men or not. Spoiler alert: I do have a type but if you asked me directly I will vehemently deny it and I am willing to die on this hill. <\/p>\n\n\n

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One of my favourite memories of this year has been when professional artists, who make a living out of it complimented me for my drawing skills. Felt so validated that people who actually know what goes into these drawings point out what I have done right and how good it is. Let\u2019s see if I can manage to put out a few more drawings this year..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For once on the professional front I am in a decent position. I\u2019m almost finishing my training and even managed to secure a job. It still hasn\u2019t sunk in though. That I do have a job now after being jobless for years now and going through hard times. Maybe this is the light at the end of the tunnel? Or maybe it\u2019s another train, who knows? For once I feel good about myself over a big decision that I took and it actually worked out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year I restarted therapy. I couldn\u2019t stay in denial that I don\u2019t need help. I need loads and loads of it. The process with therapy usually is that it gets very bad and ugly before it gets better. It\u2019s been a few months now and it\u2019s still bad and ugly and I am still working on myself with how much ever energy I can expend. I don\u2019t know if I will say I\u2019m proud of myself yet. But I am glad I am doing things that will benefit me in the long run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can truly say that I\u2019m trying to put one foot in front of another and move forward as much as I can. I take one day at a time and that\u2019s more than enough for me. I did come to a lot of realisations about myself. I have people around me who envelope me in warmth in spite of all these difficulties I come with. They remind me time and again that they do want me to live a life filled with joy. It\u2019s still hard to accept and believe it though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t do new year resolutions or prayers. But here\u2019s to hoping that 2025 will bring some peace and stability not just for me but for all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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2024\u2026 I need to take a few deep breaths just to recall all that happened this year. When I try to think back, it feels like I went through 3 years in 1.  Starting from rekindling my old hobby with anime and manga to finding a bunch of people through it who put in effort…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1059,56,1060,1061,773,941,1058],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inner-musings","tag-1059","tag-anime","tag-japan","tag-life-updates","tag-recap","tag-travel","tag-year"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":139,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1619,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions\/1619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aratrikaspeaks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}