Hello community !
As the year is wrapping up its a good idea to reflect upon and I thought why not reflect on the journey of this lovely newsletter ‘Blissed’ which is little older than a year now. It’s the place which has connected me with such an amazing community of people all across the globe. It truly feels like second home now!
The ‘Making of Blissed’
Why ‘Blissed’?
Blissed was born out of the need to declutter the chaos in my mind which kept bumping and rambling the sides of my teeny-tiny brain, as it was creating loads of inertia. Some say inertia is good, it keeps you going. But when the same inertia leads to unrest, it can become catastrophic.
Human mind has been known to cause sufferings of its own kind, and when it causes suffering to oneself, its wise to take charge and clean up the mess. Now when I say mess, I do not mean negative, but what I certainly mean is clutter & chaos.
Our minds are mostly chaotic like that wardrobe which has been mercilessly dumped with random clothes in the hope that they would someday be worn and celebrated. Some clothes are worn, but some stay hanged with the bill intact - forgotten but still occupying space. What eventually happens to such a wardrobe? It keeps filling and filling to the brim, and one fine day it explodes. So, before my mind would have exploded (metaphorically), I thought why not clear my wardrobe full of thoughts, emotions, opinions, wit, anxiety, humor, sadness, grumpiness, madness and all other human emotions one can think of into writing, as that’s the only mode of communication I don’t suck at!
Thus was born Blissed, a newsletter which I thought would bring Bliss — meaning ‘perfect happiness; great joy’. Now Bliss cannot translate to happiness alone; it needs company. This journey of writing (which is anyways a lonely process) needed to be shared with a set of like-minded people and community who were seeking for stories, thoughts and opinions which do not seep into the layers of politics, religion, scandals or anything else which becomes controversial.
I would be brutally honest in accepting that I had no clue how the newsletter would take shape. The main intent was to let my thoughts out. It was like a diary writing — with the difference that this time the diary would be public.
What all themes to expect at Blissed.
1. Parenting
As a parent for more than a decade now, one of the obvious choice of theme was parenting, where each day I was navigating the whirlpool of emotions and incidents while I kept questioning my own style of parenting. But writing came to rescue as I could find a sea of parents who were sailing in the same boat, without a captain or a sailor on board who were trying to take control of the wheel to ensure it did not sink. I managed to whip up a couple of posts on the journey & experiences as a parent.
Attaching few of my favorite posts from the parenting theme:
2. Relationships
One of the most intriguing things gifted to humankind are relationships. As humans we always seem to be tangled into this complex labyrinth of relationships which we seem to weave all throughout our lives. Not only that, we add to the complexities, while gloriously flaunting our self-created miseries as a nagging child waiting to be picked up and caressed. To dig deeper into human connections and see how they can be interpreted differently, I decided to include the theme of ‘Relationships’ into the newsletter.
Some of my favorite posts under the ‘Relationship theme’ can be found below:
3. Positive self-growth
We all have sometimes been in that place when we have self-doubted ourselves for being unworthy or unsuccessful, felt helpless or vulnerable and felt many other overwhelming emotions. As a human we have been gifted with diametrically opposite emotions which are capable of burning us inside or making us stay afloat. I strongly advocate the theory of positive self-growth as I believe that as humans we have the power to heal within. So it comes as no surprise that this is my favorite theme.
Below I share few of my favorite posts under the ‘Positive self-growth’ theme:
4. Urbanism (with sprinkles of poetry)
I would not be doing justice if I leave this theme untouched. Coming from a profession where growth and development of cities & towns is the start and end of all conversations, Urbanism had to be on the list. Also I feel cities are like human with similar traits such as feeling vulnerable, desolate or even ignored at times. Therefore, while discussing Urbanism I prefer to opt for brevity in the form of poetry as I am able to perceive our cities as human-like.
An unapologetic confession: “I always say this - I was a poet before I became a writer. Poetry came as naturally to me as a child learns to breastfeed. It was embedded so deeply inside me , that there are times when it becomes the only mode of expression. I believe poetry is ‘The’ most powerful, versatile and liberating form of writing and will always be.”
Sharing few of my posts from the ‘Urbanism’ theme below:
Hope I have been able to do justice in introducing my small yet mindful world of ‘Blissed’ and I really really look forward to forge more meaningful and deep connections where I am able to spark conversations on the diverse yet intersecting themes of Blissed.
In case you decide to share any other content from the publication, kindly credit me, as all content is copyrighted © material by parulkapoor_unplugged and would carry legal implications if published elsewhere without due credit. They are a product of hard work and love for the craft.
If you like this newsletter, here’s how you can motivate me to churn out more meaningful and soulful content 👇:
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Till next time — Stay Blissed !
(Blissed is a reader-supported publication, for the ones who are looking for discussions on personal growth, cities & culture and modern parenting through the lens of sensitivity and rationality. I write some soulful poetry too! To support my publication consider upgrading to paid, as all my work is a result of sheer passion and thus some teeny-tiny funding will only encourage me to write more soulful content)
Loved the wardrobe analogy 👍💕
What a beautiful journey 'Blissed' has had over the past year! Your reflection on its creation and evolution is so heartfelt and resonates deeply. I just wrote one similar post for Coffee Times as well. It is coming next week.