The Ariyana Way of Life

So another NYE came and went - overrated is what I feel it has become or as a very good friend of mine described it- amateurish! I wonder if we say such things as we get older or just to console ourselves when we are lacking a really good plan for the evening!

I was just taking a long bath, as I do daily - I don't need a special occasion to spoil and pamper myself (can you tell?) and I was thinking that ten years have passed since we brought in the naughties. Remember the millennium madness? Who would have thought that within a blink of an eye (kinda) we would be 10 years into this new era and be saying goodbye to a decade? Ten years ago I had just won the title Miss India Kenya - wow!! Ten years ago?? That seemed just like the other day.
Ten years ago my in-laws, were grandparents for the first time. Raj's niece was born and today she sits with us at the table and has a conversation like a mini adult. Ten years ago I had just done one year in radio, I was two years into my relationship with Raj and I had travelled to India for the first time after 10 years!

Where does the time go? I sound like a real old fuddy duddy when I speak like this but it is true, how and when did time fly? Ten years ago we were just learning about the world wide web, cell phones were a real luxury in Kenya, Skype was unheard of and Facebook was not even a thought in anyones mind! Ten years ago we spoke properly and sheng was the language of the moment, not sms - who would have thought that OMG, WTF and NKT would be words we understand?

Ten years ago I still had some youth on my side, I had the energy to party the night away and without sleep do the Saturday morning breakfast show - I loved those days! Ten years ago I wondered where I would be ten years from then and here I am ten years on, wrinkle free (phew), not so energetic and a bit blasse when it comes to going out at night but most importantly a wife and a mom!! A mom!! That is what a decade does!

Where were you ten years ago? How has the decisions you made the past decade changed your life? Are you happy with where you are? Not that I am here to judge, but it is nights like New Years Eve that make you sort of reflect on who you are and what you are doing, right? Either NYE, a big birthday, a death or a birth - all these things kind of make you think about your life.

My brother and I decided we are going to live life like Ariyana, my 3 month old baby girl. We watched her on the 31st of December, oblivious to the fact that tomorrow would be a new year; she smiled as she always does, she played as she always does and she fell asleep by 8pm as usual. She didn't act any different, she didn't make a hoopla out of the day, she just was. We decided that we will live life the Ariyana way.

I encourage you to live life the Ariyana way too. Think about it; it need not take a special occasion to wish each other well, we will do that every day, anyway. It need not be the end of a decade, we will celebrate every day, anyway. The year does not have to end and another begin for us to reflect, we will reflect on our words, actions and thoughts every day, anyway. That way, ten years from today,we would have lived every moment to its fullest no matter how aged, sweaty and droopy we get. We will have embraced and enjoyed every invention, new language and bizarre fashion trend and we will not have to ask ourselves where the time has flown, because we know exactly what we have done with it!

Happy Monday! I wish you countless blessings and abundance.