Happy New Year, everyone.

It’s been exactly 3 weeks since we ushered in 2025 and yet here I am, penning down the clichéd “New Year, New Me” on 21st January rather than 1st. Talk about a promising start!

To the 5 people who actually read this newsletter, I owe you guys an explanation.

Side note: This newsletter continues to be more about the ramblings of my inner thoughts rather than actual marketing thought pieces, but one can only hope that I find my way back to the initial purposes of this newsletter. Until then, I keep telling myself that the process of making it work as a regular weekly newsletter is also a part of what makes a marketer, so maybe it’s not too far off from its intent? Okay enough digressing…

So, here’s what’s been happening (in reverse chronological order, for some reason):

• Delayed New Year

Let’s start with why my “Happy New Years” are coming in so late. I have not been keeping well for the past couple of weeks. It’s nothing major, but like most things in life, it’s not the major events that cause maximum impact, rather minor things that keep occurring on a regular basis can truly elevate or drown you.

• Vacation Time

2024 has been a year of traveling for me, with most of the travel being concentrated in the second half of the year. When you’re off having a gala time in real life, your digital life takes a backseat, and that’s exactly what happened with me. That, in addition to the fact that when you take a few days off to travel, you come back to a huge pile of work waiting for you which eats into your personal time as well. Which brings us to…

• Work Pressure

Now I’m not the first person in this world who has had a pile of work dumped on her table with unreasonable timelines, nor will I be the last. Having too much work to do is often a better problem to have than having no work to do. But sometimes, too much work can translate into a sea of deliverables that can drown you deeper than you ever thought possible. And that’s what the past few months had been for me. Things are starting to look up now in the new year, so I am hoping for more sanity in 2025 and beyond!

• Wedding Season

In India, winters bring with them a confluence of wedding season with the festive season. That means you end up running around in heavily embellished ethnic wear from one function to another, from one ritual to another. Leaving you barely any time to breathe. So the entirety of October and November went by in a quick snap!

In a nutshell, August and December went by in traveling, October and November went by in wedding and festivals, and to top it all off, September to December were too heavy for me on the professional side, making it next to impossible for me to take time for myself, or for this newsletter.

The Importance of Time Management Cannot be Overstated Enough

All in all, everything that’s been going on for the past couple of months has reiterated the importance of time management for me. Having a routine can help, but we don’t live cookie-cutter lives that can perfectly fit into a calendar, now, do we?

But we have to make do somehow. I am aware of the “what.” I continue struggling with the “how.”

Maybe I’ll find my answer someday. I’m just not there yet.

Why? Well because…

Mental Health Matters

I never realized how truly debilitating poor mental health can be until a giant wave of professional depression hit me. Is that even a term, “professional depression”? If not, it really should be.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m an overly optimistic person and am genuinely happy in my life. But the past couple of months did see my mental health take a nosedive as soon as I opened my laptop. The fault lies within my approach to my work; I was not giving myself enough breather to operate in an efficient manner. The red flags were there right in front of me, but I refused to acknowledge the signs of burnout and kept soldering on. The result? Nothing to write home about!

So, mental health matters. It is said a thousand times before; it will be said a thousand times after. Because somehow in the hustle bustle of life, we end up leaving our own sanity behind.

To Sum Up

Okay, now that I have gotten all this out of the way, it’s time for a fresh start. Can’t really have a new year without making some promises to myself, right?

So, here’s looking forward to being regular with these newsletters, taking breaks for my own mental health, and keeping a forward momentum going.

Happy 2025!