Hello babes!

Right now I’m sitting in the comfiest sweat pants (shoutout to Calvin Klein. Without fail, every Black Friday, I end up buying CK sweats. They’re just so comfy?!) and drinking a midnight coffee. I actually am taking a break from work (yes, I know it’s Saturday) to write this blog post.

A few weeks ago at my firm’s holiday party, we talked about our ideal Saturday mornings. Though people lost interest in the conversation before I could share mine, here I go now: my favorite Saturday mornings are actually the ones where I get coffee/breakfast with a friend and then we go on a nice long walk together! It’s a nice and wholesome way to start the day and I actually feel like I get my steps in. And even though my body refuses to absorb Vit D and I have to supplement on my own, it’s always nice to get fresh air.

But today I met my darling friend E, and it was a much needed meeting! E is one of those lovely friends that you can reconnect after ages and then you pick up right where you left off. Naturally, we ranted about everything: work, life, being in our late-20s, goals, stupid people, and eventually, hobbies.

When we started talking about hobbies, I started wondering. You all know that I so strongly claimed that I would not make my career my entire life. Oh Sandhya, you complete fool. Four months into this job, and it’s literally become your entire personality. Even though I’d like to think I’m fairly well-rounded, AND I made a point in that blog post and podcast to talk about hobbies, if someone actually asks me what I like to do, I don’t know if I have an answer.

Back to my firm’s holiday party a few weeks ago. A partner asked, “So Sandhya tell me about yourself, outside of this job” and I couldn’t really think of anything. Luckily, my two friends went and rapid-fired information about me: “Sandhya has a blog and podcast! It’s GREAT! Sandhya volunteers at Strathmore and sees a lot of cool shows for free! Sandhya loves Maryland! Sandhya also loves legos!! She really loves meditating too! She loves going on walks!!” And they frankly knew more about me than I do. Thank god they were there because they really talked me up.

You know what my problem is? The hobbies and goals I have are too expensive:

• flying: still in the process of getting my pilot license
• race car driving: I’ve missed my chance to be a professional race car driver
• my motorcycle license: I’m still trying to convince my friends and family that my whole personality will peak and thrive when I can finally get my motorcycle… they refuse to agree.
• boating license: look I’m no sailor, and I love my car Evelyn, but driving just isn’t doing it for me anymore. I need to explore different modes of transportation.

So then I resort to just building Legos of these different things — which, though way more affordable, doesn’t really work well with the fact that I have zero space for all my Legos. Yesterday I brought my tuktuk to my office (which btw, I never called it a tuktuk in India, I called it an “auto” so idk, maybe I’m just clueless), and on Monday I’m going to bring the Lego roses and sunflowers in too. Like look, I’m no Lego master, I’m just obsessed with making them, and seriously, can we just?! LOOK AT THIS! (also, while we’re at it.. if anyone needs ideas on what to get me for my birthday, I’m just going to leave these here in no particular order: the titanic, the Hogwarts express, the BMW motorcycle, and of course: the DeLorean!!!)

(this is not a lego sponsored post btw… I’m just independently obsessed with lego. Though if anyone reading this has a connection with Lego, and they want to do a partnership or something, I’m 100% ready)

So I think 2023 is the year that I actually figure out what makes me happy and prioritize that. So I decided, even though I’m against new year’s resolutions, I’m going to:

1. Blog more. Let’s try for once a week. I think that’s doable! 52 posts in 2023, let’s goo… Also one of my close friends literally just said that today he randomly thought “you know, Sandhya is a good writer” like yaaas I’ve made it. Turns out my Sandhya Ramblings™ are semi entertaining and not the worst thing ever to read.
   
2. Finally get my pilot license. Look, it’s time. Enough dilly-dallying. Cue: I aint worried
   
3. Go on more walks! I did 21,000 steps today and I’m so excited about it and quite proud of myself.
   
4. Be unapologetically myself. Lately I’ve really been thinking about how I carry myself. I want to be one of those people that cheers people up after they hang out with me. Like, “I was having a tough day but seeing you really made me happy and turned my mood around.” My biggest struggle right now is that people tend to conflate my composure with ease. I think I’ve lately been worried about being a little too bubbly at work and a little too “I’m skipping down the hallway” but you know what, 2023 is my year. I’m just going to do what makes me happy and own up to it.

This blog post is all over the place but hey, at least I’m writing, and that’s one of the most important things.

Until next time,

xo

Sandhya

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