Reflections on A to Z Challenge 2016

A to Z challenge 2016

I participated in the April A to Z challenge 2016 and I am very pleased that I completed it successfully. When I signed up for the challenge, I did it on a whim and had no clue how I was going to continue, for I had no particular theme in mind and also April was going to be another busy month (just like every other month) with very little or no time for blogging. However, now that I survived the challenge it is time to reflect on the challenge.

The Good part:

• I had no particular theme in mind. My first post was about the current ‘big’ thing in my life – our plans to relocate to India after living in the UK for over a decade. From then on every single post was about whatever was going on in my mind just as I start to type my post. That way it was easier and less stressful to churn out posts each day.

• My blog had been silent until the challenge. During the last two years I always wanted to blog but never really got around to doing it. With A to Z challenge I experienced the power of determination. I was determined to complete the challenge because I started it and so I was motivated to write each day no matter how busy I was.

• The main purpose of starting this blog was to document the good, bad and ugly aspects of my parenting journey but I hardly documented anything up until the challenge started.  With A to Z challenge I was able to recollect and document a lot of those precious memories which otherwise would have been locked only in my memory.

• The comeback! A to Z challenge has enabled me to come back to blogging. In the past I wondered many times how to get back to blogging. What better chance than the challenge to make a new start or comeback!

• Towards the challenge together! I just loved how the challenge connected all fellow participant bloggers. I met a whole bunch of new blogger friends. A big thank you to all you bloggers who read and commented on my posts. Without your support and encouragement it would not have been possible for me to continue with the challenge.

The Not So Good Part:

• I did not have any post scheduled. So, one some days I had to lose sleep to post in time.

• I did not engage with my readers as much as I would have liked to. I did not respond to the comments my readers left for me thinking I would come back to them at a later point only to realize I have left it too late. Still, I am very grateful to all my readers who commented despite lack of response from my side.

• I read so many blogs but left comments for only few of them. Perhaps I should have left my footprints in all those blogs that I visited even if it was only a little sentence.

The Great Part:

• With A to Z challenge I have been able to overcome my fears and reservations about my use of English language. The challenge has enabled me to unleash my inner voice. I feel confident, comfortable and happy with my writing (in English) than ever before.

• The challenge has reminded me that ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. Where I believed I had absolutely no time for blogging, by signing up to the challenge and subsequently staying focused and determined to complete the challenge, I have proved myself wrong and learned that it is possible to achieve everything if you put your heart and mind into it.

• Through the challenge I met a whole bunch of lovely bloggers and their awesome blogs:  CLAO WUE, UPWARD SPIRAL , OLDUVAI READS , STORYBOUND  to name a few.  It is through their posts that I have discovered new passion namely – Travel and Reading.

• I stumbled upon Nuttie’s lovely blog during the challenge and I found her posts very delightful. It is through her posts that I am beginning to realize that I will not be bored or lost if I decide to take a sabbatical or career break when my family and I relocate to India.

• Parenting articles and blogs are generally of keen interest to me and so My Era’s parenting blog posts were something that I looked forward to reading on each day of the challenge. ME’s posts have helped me to put my parenting style into perspective and they have also provided valuable information about parenting.

Overall, I am so glad I participated in the A to Z challenge and it has been an amazing journey. I feel I have grown as a person and a blogger during the challenge and I look forward to participating in the next year’s challenge.