“Stock taking is a bi-annual thing I do. So, when December ended it was time for me to look at a few things I’d like to do differently, this year”, says Shiela – a Banker with a long history of dishing out on-the-go meals. 

Our question to a cross section of the society was, just how much they would like to do things differently in 2017? 

We have a bag full of ideas. Lets’ serve them up to you, just a few at a time.
 

Concentrate on better eating habits

“I definitely will want to change the way I feed my family”, Shiela continued. 

A banker that works the late hours, Shiela manages the meals herself for her family of two children and a very patient husband. Breakfast, more often than not is few rolls put together from a pastry shop. Her lunch and the husbands are from the canteens in their respective work places. Dinner, yet again is either a take-out or a hurriedly cooked ‘pot of something’ for the family, by whoever gets home earlier. Either Shiela or her husband Lal.

“More than the guilt overload that I carry, I can see signs of lack of concentration on school work by my children. They are sleepy, by the time I go home. It’s over the weekends that we have what I can call a satisfying meal. This is something I’m going to change this year. How I am planning to do it is challenging. Lal and I have come up with a plan to have more home cooked meals – even if it means that we freeze some, over the weekend. Breakfast will be a home packed meal too – which means I will have to wake up at least another 45 minutes earlier. That’s ok, as long as we are both committed to make this happen. After all, much of what we do are to ensure our children grow up ok. Food is the foundation. This is what I am going to do differently this year. Less of take-outs and more of home cooked wholesome food”, says Shiela happily. 
 

We wish her luck.
 

Take time off technology

Priyal, is a happy-clappy young executive who spends much of his leisure time on some sort of “i-ness” ie iPad, iPod, iTab or the smartphone. So what does this young man of 28 years want to change this year, we asked. 

“Well Aunty”, he said “as strange as it may sound for a young buck like me, I’ve decided to have very little to do with the gadgetery that surrounds me. I am distancing myself from too much of screen-time, whatever type of screen that is, other than, of course the time I spend in office at my job. My eyesight is not that great and I do get migraine a little bit more frequently. My doctor says I do too much of ‘social media’. I think it’s time to take that advice seriously. So what I’ve decided is to have some ‘down time’ for all the screens and stay with what is really important. My further studies and reading”. 

Well done, Priyal! We wish you luck as well.

Car-pool!

Anurag drives to work – day in and day out, as most of us do. So do three of his friends. “This year, my friends and I are going to car-pool. This is a great concept in the western world so why not adopt it here?” he asks. 

“We all travel from the same direction and come into the same area i.e Fort and why not just get into one car in the morning? Evenings can be different with our different work schedules but there are days that all four of us finish up at the same time. Working on roster, the day’s driver is responsible to pick us up and drop us back too. That’s a commitment for the day. We hope to try this out in the first quarter of 2017 and see how it works. That way, we will not only help ourselves, but help ease three cars a day out of the traffic jams. Now, isn’t that ingenious.” says Anurag with a cheeky grin. 

Good thinking Anurag! 

Say no more

“I am going to say NO, this year”, says Chathu who feels she is overloaded on all sides. At home, at work and in her social circles. “I feel so stretched and diluted by the end of the day by doing all that I’m asked to do – I go home like a wet carpet”, she sighed. 

Been to a psychologist last year for anxiety related stress, Chathu was asked to describe her daily routine. It is then that she found that she is a ‘yes-man’ so to say, who hasn’t cultivated the habit of saying NO. 

“This year won’t be the same. I’m going to stand up for myself and assert myself. I don’t mean to be a bully but anyone has a limit to what she can do! I think I’ve breached my seams by trying to please so many people, it only hurt me in the long run. I don’t have to do that – I can pleasantly say a very cordial No. Isn’t that so?”, asks Chathu who already has said no, to a demanding sister in law! 

Stay calm Chathu.

So what are you planning to do in 2017, that’s different to what you did in 2016?