One December, a spiritual friend and I visited a temple, somewhere in Gujarat. When sitting on the steps, I asked him if he believed in new year resolutions. He said he did. ‘I think It is easy to change when everything around you is changing. When the literal planet we are standing on is starting all over, why shouldn’t we?’

Last year, I made a vision board over wine and ice cream with a friend. We made cutouts from magazines and newspapers and stuck them on chart paper. This friend and I like doing activities together so in many ways this was craft night, nothing more. We both stuck it up in our rooms nonetheless. I hid mine every time someone came home. Shy about the dreams on it. And to save myself the embarrassment if I didn’t make it happen.

My husband and I believe in different schools of action. I believe that everything needs incredible effort to happen. He believes that everything happens in its own time, effort helps but doesn’t materially change things. So we should live lightly. While I live most of the year in my school, I live the end of year in his. All I have been doing for the last few weeks is writing, reading and hiding in the comfort of my family. It has felt like months. The months I need before I start again.