Category: Personal Story

I know what cows feel when they fly

Neera

“Are you sure you aren’t coming?” asked my husband before walking into the briefing session before his first-ever indoor skydiving.

We were on a cruise to New Zealand and just before that, we both stood near the glass dome where an instructor was helping some daring souls to ‘fly’ in a cubicle or tube with high-velocity air blown through the mashed wire floor. Most couldn’t manage to fly. They banged on the glass wall, flipped over, and frantically headed for the door to get out of the gush of wind which was perhaps as forceful as tornadoes that can uproot trees and shoot the cows to the sky.

There was no way I was going to do that.

But then again, it costs hundreds of dollars, for the experience, and here, on the cruise, I was getting it for free. And human psychology is, not to say no to something that is free.

“What the heck. I will come,” I said and followed him.

After asking us whether we have any injuries or pain in our shoulders or limbs, the operators made us sign a waiver, which possibly said if we break anything while chasing the experience it will be of our own free will.

We were then herded into a tiny cabin with eight other people and shown a video to educate us on the dangers of what can go wrong. Then dutifully they told us how to position our bodies to minimize the damage and ‘enjoy’ the experience.

Following that, we were given the gear to wear that resembled a space suit. The final touch was earplugs and protective glasses. Unable to hear anything and walking like astronauts, we entered the dome with our instructor who did a dance in the dome (at 10 times the velocity), to demonstrate how easy the whole thing was.

Then he started picking one person at a time. The first one was a man, perhaps much older than me. He was tall and confident. But he didn’t last long. After several attempts by the instructor to steady him, he panicked and headed for the door. A couple of females followed him, one met the same fate as the man, while the other was a star. She flew so well that we all became hopeful that we can do it too.

Next was my turn. I got to the doorway, remembering to keep my chin up, hands straight, and aligned to my shoulder height. “Don’t forget to loosen your knees,” the instructor reminded me. As I stood in the doorway, and had and looked at the mashed floor for a millisecond, I realized one thing – there is no way I can get hurt unless I try to fight the wind.

I relaxed my body and let go. The next moment I was flying. The wind was so strong that despite all my effort I couldn’t shut my mouth. I also couldn’t hear anything. All I could do was enjoy the feeling of weightlessness. People around me were clapping, my husband was giving me thumbs-up.

And suddenly I knew what cows feel like when a tornado takes them in the sky.

Bloody brilliant!

Skydiving is the most daring physical act I have done in years. It taught me a big lesson. Sometimes we just have to relax. All the participants who didn’t succeed were trying to do too much and in the process knocking against the walls or flipping over.

I am taking that lesson to my writing life as well. For the past four years, I have been trying to do too much. Writing books, daily posting on social media, running courses, writing articles and newsletters. No wonder I am banging against the wall and flipping over.

I made a decision. From now on I will concentrate on writing and publishing books.

The other form of writing will happen in between.

It is more of a strategic decision than an emotional one. Books have a much longer shelf life than social media posts, online articles, and newsletters. Writing books also fits with other commitments in my life. Online writing requires you to write every day and spend time engaging with audiences. That strips me of valuable time which I could spend reading books and going deep into topics.

I am not announcing quitting newsletter or online writing. In fact, I published my cruise story yesterday Cruising Was Not What I Thought It Would Be (Part 1) on Medium. All I am saying is that writing books will be my number 1 priority.

How was your first day of 2024?

Neera

Mine was relaxed and productive.

I meditated first thing in the morning to set the intention for the whole year.

I wrote and published my first Twitter thread.

I had just a banana for breakfast and started two days of fasting routine to follow in 2024.

Then I started a new challenge. To draw a sketch a day and to post it on Instagram.

I drew my friend’s house, who lives in my street.

What ‘one thing’ you did on the first day of 2024?

100 Things that made my year (2022)

Neera

I am taking another leaf out of Austin Kleon, an author I admire a lot, and creating a list of 100 things that made my year. I think it’s a good way of keeping a tab on all that happened in the year.

Here is my list:

  1. Creating my negative manifesto where I listed the things I will NOT do in 2022. I did stick with them, to some extent.
  2. Creating an Author Business Plan for 2022 and setting ‘Growth’ as the theme of the year and “Make sure my creativity injects hope in this world,” as my guiding principle for the year.
  3. Creating an Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal and using it throughout the year to keep a tab on the projects, yearly and monthly goals, and daily To Do list.
  4. Developing the habit of going to the gym in the morning and attending group classes 5 days a week.
  5. Making two trips to Melbourne, the city I call home, to attend our friend’s son’s wedding.
  6. Spending two nights in Yarra Valley with friends.
  7. Attending Zoom meetings with other Substack writers in the pacific region.
  8. Having dinner with my writing group.
  9. Taking part in 30 Days LinkedIn sprint and publishing on LinkedIn for 30 days in a row, making hundreds of friends all over the world.
  10. Picnic in Weston Park to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 40th Anniversary.
  11. Learning that I am a rebel and I will always break rules.
  12. Doing a course on Amazon advertisements.
  13. Hiring an office space for a month to work on my next book, Productive Writer (Still not finished).
  14. Publishing my third book ‘Dare To Create,’ my story of ditching the competitive life to lead a creative life.
  15. Learning to tell stories with dots and lines from Oscar Alonsa of 72kilo and creating a story with 30 sketches.
  16. Starting a newsletter on LinkedIn which grew to 750+ subscribers in a matter of a few weeks.
  17. Devising the leggo block technique of writing 250 words in 25 minutes.
  18. Recording my intro on video and publishing it on LinkedIn.
  19. Joining the rhythm class at my gym and learning basic dance moves.
  20. Upgrading my computer and buying Mac Air.
  21. Developing a file structure based on PARA Method and organizing the digital clutter I have accumulated over two decades.
  22. Using Zero Inbox Strategy to get rid of 7000+ emails from my inbox.
  23. Going to the Blue Mountains, and visiting Eco point, Katoomba Falls, and Dinosaur Valley.
  24. Learning about the Four Zone of Competence.
  25. Announcing a book writing sprint on LinkedIn and had 16 people join in.
  26. Recording the course in two days flat.
  27. Running the three iterations of the ‘Write Your Book In 30 Days,’ course.
  28. Starting a testimonial page.
  29. Opening a Stripe business account.
  30. Watching Season 6 of Crown, and Seasons 1 and 2 of Succession on Netflix.
  31. Writing a cookbook for my daughters, and all those who what to learn north Indian cooking in an easy way.
  32. One week holiday with friends and family at Launceston and Hobart in Tasmania.
  33. Doing an exercise in slowing down and paying attention.
  34. Having all-day-writing days with my writing buddy Fiona.
  35. Making up for not being able to travel for the past two years and traveling to Ireland, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and Spain.
  36. Starting travel diaries on Procreate.
  37. Doing a course on LinkedIn.
  38. Getting ten reviews on my book How To Write and Publish an eBook in One Week.
  39. Starting a new hobby, urban sketching.
  40. Starting using Obsidian as my notes-taking tool and devised a method to link notes.
  41. Writing a mini-guide on How To Create Your First Digital Product (in three hours) and making it available for FREE.
  42. Doing courses on Domestika (Tell Stories Through Recipes, The Art of Sketching, Draw Your Inner Universe, Urban Sketching, and Architectural Sketching with Watercolour and Ink).
  43. Updating my website and turning it into a repository of my published work.
  44. Learning a simple framework for non-fiction storytelling and using it to improve stories in my articles and books.
  45. Attending a wedding in India.
  46. Traveling to Ladakh, Chandigarh, Khajuraho, Sikkim, and Darjeeling and writing stories about them.
  47. Visiting the place of my birth, Amritsar, and meeting my childhood friends.
  48. Heartwarming comments on my articles, newsletters, and books.
  49. Shopping in India.
  50. Working on my novel and taking it to the next level.
  51. My younger daughter and son-in-law’s visit.
  52. My elder son-in-law’s surprise visit from UK.
  53. Doing a course ‘Speak Like A Leader’ and improving my skills to speak to a camera.
  54. Buying a ring light, tripod, and mike for making videos.
  55. Learning and using Notion for planning.
  56. Several catch-ups with friends and family.
  57. Reading Lynda Barry’s books.
  58. Walking in the afternoons and meditating on a bench in the park.
  59. Starting the paid version, Behind The Scenes, of my newsletter and writing 16 issues of it.
  60. Realizing I am a multipotentialite, which means I have many interests and creative pursuits and I want to pursue all of them.
  61. Starting My Commonplace Book, a new publication on Medium.
  62. Growing my subscriber numbers on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn.
  63. Ilona Goanos writing a post about me.
  64. Reading Helen Garner’s diaries.
  65. Sketching with pens.
  66. Publishing my short stories on A Whimsical Writer.
  67. Making an income from my writing.
  68. Getting my ABN number as a writer for tax purposes.
  69. Adding another income stream, Gumroad to my portfolio.
  70. Winning NaNoWriMo and Writing a book in public. Published Adventures of An Online Writer, as I wrote it, one chapter at a time.
  71. Learning Dean Wesley Smith’s single draft and cyclic writing method.
  72. Going to Bateman’s Bay with my writing buddies and writing for the whole weekend.
  73. Writing and publishing the second book of the year, Writer’s Toolkit, and making it available for FREE.
  74. Playing cards till late at night with friends (with money and winning).
  75. Playing with my niece’s daughter.
  76. Designing my own book covers.
  77. Adopting Heinlein’s Six Rules of Writing.
  78. Sharing my friends’ courageous survival story on Women’s day, which also was her 85th Birthday.
  79. Sending food to this friend of mine every Monday (for the past 3 years).
  80. Attending two of my nephew’s daughters’ first birthdays.
  81. Celebrating my birthday in India.
  82. Reading 30+ books.
  83. Drawing 300+ sketches in my diary.
  84. Writing 98 Medium articles and 52 issues of A Whimsical Writer newsletter.
  85. Writing 300+ posts on LinkedIn and categorizing them in a Google Doc.
  86. Buying Tesla, our first EV car.
  87. Teaching. Helping five writers write their books.
  88. Joining Mindvalley and learning the Silva Method to work less and produce more.
  89. Getting rid of sugar addiction for ever using Silva 3 Scenes meditation technique.
  90. Learning Segment Intending exercise to get rid of stress and anxiety from my day.
  91. Starting noticing magic in my days.
  92. Using the 3 Questions technique to set real goals for next year.
  93. Joining Ship30for30.
  94. Finding my niche.
  95. Mending clothes.
  96. Cleaning cupboards and getting rid of junk.
  97. Working with another creator of a project to be launched next year.
  98. BBQ on Christmas day with friends and family.
  99. Writing 100 things that made my year.
  100. Creating the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal for 2023.

It took me a long time to compile this list, but it was well worth it. If forgot everything I didn’t achieve this year and said Goodbye to 2022 with 100 things that put a smile on my face.

To make the exercise easy for next year, I have included them in the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal. It is available for FREE at Gumroad. Download it here.

Want to take your writing to another level? Subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

I Am Planning To End 2022 On A High

Neera

At the start of 2022, I set a goal for myself — I will write two articles a week on Medium.

I thought that was the minimum I should do, as I had several other writing commitments.

That was just 104 articles and in the previous year, I had written and published 100 articles in 100 days, without missing a beat.

I was going fine for the first five months of the year, and then the travel started. Since Medium had taken away the functionality, to write from mobile devices, I lost the continuity.

Instead, I started publishing my travel stories on LinkedIn.

One thing led to another, and I kept missing my goal.

In December, I usually go back to my annual goals and see how I went against them. I was horrified to find out that I was falling behind on many of them.

Here were my goals:

  • 300+ LinkedIn posts
  • 104 Medium articles
  • 52 The Whimsical Writer Newsletter issues
  • 17 Behind The Scenes issues for paid subscribers of the newsletter
  • 3 Books
  • 3 Mini-guides

Now when the time came to report on my end-of-year progress I found although I was on target with the LinkedIn posts and Newsletter issues, I was behind with the Medium articles, books, and Mini-guides.

Here is where I stand:

I had written only 67 articles in the whole year and was short by 27 articles.

I had written two mini-guides and still needed to write one

And although I had finished writing three books, I still needed to edit two of them.

Dilemma

Now, I can be lenient with myself and let go of these goals, promising myself that I will do better next year.

But then I will do the same next year.

But, if I meet my goals this year, it is likely I will meet them next year too.

Decision

So I decided, in the remaining month of December I am going to write

  • 27 articles on Medium
  • Editing two books
  • Write a mini-guide and of course
  • Write 5 newsletter issues for the month.

So here I am, ending the year on a high.

I have found when I set myself unusually high goals, I tend to find ways to meet them.

Yesterday I sat down and drafted five articles. I published one and scheduled the other four.

I learned it takes the same amount of time to write five articles as it takes to write one. In fact, over time, it becomes easier to write 5 articles in a day, because you have trained your brain to do so.

You are more focused, you waste less time on how to say things and your writing flows effortlessly.

Also, if you pick one topic and write 5 articles on it, you write faster and write much better articles than picking five different topics.

For example, if you make a schedule:

  • Monday: 5 articles on productivity
  • Wednesday: 5 articles on writing
  • Friday: 5 articles on travel.

You will have 15 articles done in a week. You also will give yourself breaks and do other things in between and start again next week with different topics.

If I were successful, I would have found a way to overcome one of my biggest challenges of the year — how to write content fast and regularly. This exercise might turn out as the best learning of 2022.

I must add I wouldn’t have dared to set this goal, had I not been practicing Silva Meditation techniques which have enabled me to turn problems into projects.

I will write more about Silva techniques in my future articles. Keep an eye out for them.

How I Become A Teacher After Vowing Never To Become One

Neera

When I was a young girl, I declared to my mother, “I will never become a teacher.”

My mother, with all her wisdom, said to me, “Never say never.”

Both my parents were teachers. Our household had the same routine year after year. Start of the year, mid-term exams, summer vacations, second-term exams, and then final exams.

The most exciting thing to happen in a year was for my parents to receive bundles of final exam papers to mark.

My parents would stay up late at night marking those papers. Then the absolute finale — to seal the bundles with molten wax and take them to the post office.

While other children’s parents talked about their exciting jobs. My parents talked about their students and their achievements.

It never bothered them they were not earning much. And their talent, dedication, and hard work went unrecognized, undervalued, and underpaid.

They were proud their students were doing well, and they played a role in helping them get there.

When I grew up, I wanted to be like the parents of my friends. I wanted to be applauded for the organization I worked for. The kind of work I did, and the amount of money I earned.

So, I did a Master’s in Biochemistry and became a scientist. Then, I studied software engineering and became a computer programmer. I worked in the corporate sector and in public service. I became a manager and then a director.

I became all I ever wanted to be. And received plenty of recognition, praise, and remuneration for my achievements.

But then, in the third act of my life, my mother’s prophecy came true.

I started teaching aspiring writers how to write, first through my articles, then through my courses.

And it was then I had the revelation – there is nothing more satisfying than teaching someone a skill that you have mastered.

Nothing has fulfilled me more than seeing my students doing well, taking part in a writing challenge or building a daily writing habit, or becoming a fluent writer, or writing a book in 30 days.

Now, in the third act of my life, I have become like my parents. A proud teacher, marveling at my students’ achievements.

My Priorities Have Changed

Neera

I am back. After a 49-day trip around India and sleeping in strange beds, I was thankful to sleep in my bed for the last two nights.

Besides meeting family, visiting new places, and attending a wedding and special birthday celebrations, this trip had another significant purpose – to have mental rest.

What we do as writers is quite cerebral.

We need to give ourselves mental breaks in the same way that we need to sleep regularly.

Vacations regenerate our minds.

They help us get out of the rut

Before going on this trip, I was a prisoner of self-created routines.

They were driving me nuts.

I was taking on more and more projects and setting myself deadlines that I knew I couldn’t meet.

The trouble was that I couldn’t get out of the hole I dug for myself.

Everything felt important and urgent.

I was compromising my health and wellness to chase goals that had no ultimate significance.

Eight weeks away from routines, I could see nothing is more important than my health and happiness.

I have come back with a clean slate.

My priorities have changed.

Previously they were:
1. Writing
2. Family
3. Fun
4. Health

Now they are:
1. Health
2. Family
3. Fun
4. Writing

In the next few days, I will re-evaluate everything.

I will consolidate some projects and abandon others.

I will half my writing time and double the time I spend on outdoor activities.

When you give yourself time to just relax, wonderful things can happen.

Some call it serendipity.

Letting go is making space for those magic moments to happen.