How good was 2018 for me

How 2018 was different from other year for me

In January, I brought a dormant induction stove from my home to hostel and began to experiment with different non veggies and spices, teaching myself how to cook. By the end of that month, I had begun to cook some great stuff. Back then I was cooking something new at least 4 days a week. Gradually, as I have mastered the basic art of cooking, I have brought down my frequency to maybe once a month or so. In fact, over the past two months, I have cooked nothing. But I now know that if the need arises, I can do it now. I widened my skill set. I am now lesser dependent and more independent as a result.

That was how I earned my first major highlight of the year.

Thereafter came February and it was IIIT Sports Meet and i, with 23 others athletes and sportsperson were representing my college at IIIT Allahabad. Well! It was for the first time i have experienced such pressure, boo, physical abuse,slang in a match. Our college rose to final and we won Gold Medal in Squash. I was awarded the best player Trophy. Winning was not important , most important thing was proving myself in the condition where everyone doubted you and questioned you.
That was an another big thing happened to me.
Mid February after rejoicing hell lot about my victory in the recently concluded Squash tournament to performing in a ramp show in my college to winning BIT quiz 2018 amongst  200 different participants was something worth mentioning.

I worked for three different companies as an intern in this one month period as a "Content Writer" and all my articles which i have written is touching new heights everyday. Writting 10 blogs , 20 articles a day was really torturous but i got help from some of the best man in this planet which really helped me shape both personally and professionally. Chiranshu Monga Sir , Utkarsh Srivastava Sir , Mahima Ma'am. You really nurtured me from novice to something now, which i am very proud of now.

Then came the romantic March , with Daffodil and Jonquil blooming new seeds of hope , gave birth to a new genre of me which was subdued for a long time.

I was selected onboard on Unacademy on 21st Feb ( though i have mentioned it in March section). This was one of the best day of my life. I have always loved teaching and nurturing peeps. I was offered a good salary and various perks which really was the need of the hour..

I got featured myself as the best educator in Pre-Medical section which was very satisfactory indeed!!

That's, therefore, my second major highlight of the year. Another step towards being more independent and lesser dependent an individual.

Then came up a phase when I started to better my speech and stage skills.

I was a good speaker and debater and had won plenty of competitions over the past 2 years of college. But I had had a very bad experience when hosting some event or managing an informal event solo on stage.

You know, in those times people can heckle at you, boo you, dislike you, flashlight on you, and so much of other stuff can go wrong, while you yourself could end up going mum without a clue about what to speak, your mic could end up not working, maybe the spotlight would go dark, or you could even trip on the mic's wire and fall down on your nose, leaving everyone laughing and organizers and yourself embarrassed.

Thus, when on stage, how to manage it all, and rock it all while navigating through each of those circumstances was the challenge I started to focus on. The outcome was that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and hosted TEDx ABVIIITM, did my first standup comedy act at Gwalior's biggest open mic event so far, and went up on the stage to participate at sundry other opportunities to speak in front of 200+ audience strength at times, doing better at each instance than the previous time.

The result has been beautifully satisfying.

My speech and stage management skills have never been better. I have never held the mic more confidently. Also, I know where the mic should be, not too close to the mouth and not too far either. It's a sweet spot, you know. Furthermore, I have never been as robust and commanding on stage than I am now. I wonder at times why I didn't have this scale of aplomb in my blood all these years! I no more care about people heckling at me because I know that whenever that happens, I would end up laughing first than feeling embarrassed about it. I am no more unnerved when I make a fool of myself on stage. Because I now understand better that every time I make a fool of myself, my audience laughs at me. And, when I too end up laughing and making a joke out of it, I then always end up winning hearts and giving my audience a refreshing time. Also, my people to people interaction, eye contact with the audience, those have all gotten so polished over this course.