2023 Wrapped

Hello, and welcome back to the Dancing Duck Chronicles. I'm kicking off my first post on substack by talking about my highlights in 2023.

I believe every one of my years has had a plethora of learnings & new experiences, and I’m grateful for each and every one of them. 2023 was a tumultuous year on the personal front, with many unknowns and anxieties. Leaving a job that I felt incredibly comfortable in, navigating an impossibly difficult job market, and dealing with the prospect of higher education for the first time have all been the underlying themes this year.

But if there’s anything I would love to cover on this edition of my newsletter today, it’s the highs of the 2023 rollercoaster. Hold tight, and let’s begin?

Watching my very first Musical, and falling in love.

I remember discovering the Hamilton musical back in 2020, and being enchanted by the theatrical finesse of Lin Manuel Miranda & the whole cast. When the first international broadway came to Mumbai - I wanted to watch my very first musical alone. Boy, was it magical! I loved how Sound of Music & West Side Story were larger than life.

My very last musicals of the year was Mamma mia, and mamma mia was it..slightly underwhelming. This just goes to show that every experience isn’t mind-blowing!

Enjoying a night full of stars - a pretty perfect one.

It was an unexpected winter night of Feb 2023, when my friends & I decided to take a quick day off to Dahanu. It was pretty simple really - but that simplicity was so magical. I felt truly connected & in the moment; like it was me against the world and everything would be okay. Sometimes, the best memories are simple - like the dal chawal your soul craves at the end of a long day. comfort is simple.

Having my ad concept featured in a Times Square Billboard

I always thought that the young, doe-eyed Stuti who was once a writer had sunsetted into retirement. This year on, I saw flashes of my writing flair come through with pitching an idea for the Times Square ad, and publishing newsletter app updates! I remember how my founder loved my pitch for a video ad and it went on to feature on the billboards. I’ll take the precise 30-seconds of fame today. :)

Second Himalayan Trek - Kedarkantha!

Uttarakhand has always had a special place in my heart. I’m very grateful to 2023 for giving me the Kedarkantha trek. I don’'t quite know why, but the memories from Kedarkantha are very haze, almost like it never happened. I think it was my attitude which wasn’t the best in this one, or the conflict I was going through in my personal space. Looking back, I feel very bad that I couldn’t achieve that high of the summit, but I know that the the fact that is was incomplete gives me something to go back to. Will I say it was one of my best moments? Perhaps not. Will I say I always come back to clarity from trekking? Almost always.

To be honest, there is something about the mountains - the journey that makes all the discomfort worth it. Wet bathrooms, trekking in rain, sleeping in the cold, being out of my comfort zone. I have done this twice before. And somehow, I still don’t feel like I have had enough.

Living in a hotel room - all alone! :)

This year had substantially more travelling than I would usually do - I went to Goa, Alibaug, Vapi, Uttarakhand, Nashik, Dahanu, and ofcourse Delhi-Gurgaon! Wow, I appreciate the travel milestone this year. In this process, it just so happened that I lived in a hotel room - alone! for the very first time! The experience by itself wasn't daunting at all, and I absolutely enjoyed the alone time, even though it was very little time actually inside the room. I also travelled my very first premium travel economy with Vistara, which didn't't hurt all that bad. :)

Taking risks & stumbling through it

2023 was a year of BIG risks on the professional front. I had been at Media.net for almost 3 years & I was beginning to feel the discomfort of not growing as I wanted to. I was feeling fidgety & didn’t know what to do in the middle of a crumbling job market scenario. With a paper napkin reminder & plenty of thinking, I decided to take the plunge. Knowing how it all turned out (spoiler alert; it all turned out slightly south), I wouldn't change my decision. I think I have learnt a lot, grown a lot.

Was at all a easy journey? Hell no. I still tear up knowing that I left behind an incredible mentor & an incredibly positive work environment at times. Was leaving inevitable? Yes.

Like an unfinished Disney movie, I know I have a long way to go in terms of finding my purpose and working hard towards it, but I know that I will run my race when I know what my finish goal is. Until then, there’s beauty is running aimlessly and appreciating the trees while I wander off my path.

Being a model for my sister’s photoshoot!

Now this is a win I absolutely didn’t think I needed! I have always been comfortable in my skin and felt beautiful in some periods, and not so much in some. I think body positivity & acceptance is not a linear process. The photoshoot did a great job of making me feel so beautiful. I looked at the pictures after & I felt raw, beautiful & uninhibited. I am so thankful to Mishti for having that part of me show through her pictures.

Running a 10K

And finally, the big finisher! I vaguely remember that is was November of 2022 when I first begin running as a routine. I had been training for Kuari Pass in September of that year, and the prerequisite for the trek (5K, sub 30) really pushed me to get moving. Jogging came to me at a time where I was absolutely disenchanted by the monotony of at-home workouts & dance sessions. Jogging as a movement felt easy & doable. Put on your clothes, tie your laces and go.

2023 was a rollercoaster of getting on & off the fitness bandwagon. But I am so happy to report that I ran my first 10k in October 2023 in the beautiful IIT Bombay campus. I absolutely knew that 100 days of running (good days & bad days) made that one day possible. Running doesn’t come easily or naturally to me. But if there’s anything that trekking & running have taught me - persisting is all a game of mental resilience and telling yourself to take it one step at a time, quite literally in this case. :) There was a separate thrill of getting a medal.

Stay tuned for a full-length blog on starting as a novice runner.

Discovering Work from Cafe!

If there is one thing that remote work taught me, it’s that I am grateful for days at home where I can WFB (work from bed). But every once in a while when I want to shake things up, I have a good cafe to go to, where I can put my earphones on, get overpriced coffee & work - or stare at other people’s orders.

Third Wave Coffee deserves a big shoutout for taking all my money, and giving me a sense of change when I didn’t relate with work from home. This also allowed me to spend good time with my friends while they did their work & I did mine. Here’s to more orders of Iced Indian Filter coffee this year.

I’m sure there’s plenty to look forward to in 2024, and I can’t wait to hop on what comes this year. I’m nervous about turning 25 this year - a big milestone. But I do know that I want to spend my 25th being more in peace with who I am, where I want to go and what I will go on to achieve.

Until next time. And hey? You’re amazing.