5 Highs of My Journey as a Blogger #SuperBloggerChallenge2018

For Week 5 of the #SuperBloggerChallenge2018, one of the prompts really appealed to me more than the others. It asked me to reminisce on some of the best moments I've had with the blog. Even by normal standards, I have been blessed because I have some blogging highs that not many amongst a crowd of tens of millions of Indian blogs can claim to have achieved. Here are some of the best moments that Godyears has given me over the years.

1. Winning Awards

One of the biggest wins for me would definitely be winning the 'Best Creative Writing Blogger in India' at the country's first live blogging conference awards ceremony, Win'14. It came at a difficult time in my life and really was the start of an amazing year where over 10 of my short stories would also get published in various national anthologies. Winning the Best Blog from Kerala at the Indian Blogger Awards 2017 meant a lot too, ending another tough year with a smile.

2. Going viral 

You won't believe it but it is 2018 and I still get recognized in medical conferences across the country and even social gatherings featuring random doctors for this one blogpost!

I had written earlier too about the flawed Indian medical system and how things needed a radical approach for improvement. But somehow, that article in 2015 which was written over a period of nearly 3 weeks and was close to 3000 words (!!) struck a chord with the medical community in India first and then abroad over the weekend. I did not really notice it gaining traction initially and was already planning to write my next blogpost (some random movie review) when the calls started coming. First it was doctors. Then it was online medical sites. Then newspapers, news sites, news channels and yes, even BBC.

By the end of that week, the article had been shared over 40,000 times just from the parent site, besides being copied in various websites and debated widely across news channels and social media.
Today, the article has over half a million views just at my site. I have read the comments of over a 1000 doctors across India - from first year students to medical directors of India's top institutions to budding 12th standard students. I have been featured on the front page of newspapers and have articles dedicated to me in health magazines. Bouquets and brickbats have both been answered to (worryingly, in a 4:1 ratio supporting my stand.)

3 years later, do I stand by what I said? Sadly, yes. I would still rather my child be a pole dancer than a doctor in India. The system is still in an unholy mess and nothing - infrastructure, resources, apathy to violence, hatred towards the community, flawed education systems, improvement in either quantity or quality - has changed. What is worse, I now know that most doctors agree with me. How I wish the powers-that-be had fought harder to prove me wrong.

3. Inspiring the youth of India

In 2017, the combination of being a Blogger - Doctor - Author paid off in a unique way, with the Changing Tomorrow Youth Summit inviting me to be a speaker in Jaipur alongside many celebrities from various fields (including actress Raveena Tandon and politician Sachin Pilot) and inspire an audience of over 1500 young minds to think beyond the normal choices shown to them. It was fun, reliving the journey that linked the above three titles.
I think it was well received by the students too - at least there were no tomatoes and eggs flying in my direction so that counts as a win, I guess!

4. Finding a New Family

One of the best things that came out of blogging was the new family I made. These fellow bloggers reveal their hearts and souls in their words and it is a wonderful way to know who matches your wavelength. And even though we are hundreds of miles apart, the opportunities to meet up arise via blogger events. I've been lucky to have attended a few over the years and met/made some awesome friends along the way who even today are there for me when real-life friends and family aren't.

Today, I can walk into a dozen cities in India I have never been to before and there are blogger buddies I have never met before happy to see me and meet up.

5. Inspiring people via the 'Heroes of Kindness' blog series 

One of the biggest highs that has come from blogging was purely by accident. After doing TV Shows in 2016, I was stuck searching for a theme in 2017 for the A to Z challenge (Where you write every day of April except Sundays on a particular topic, each article corresponding with a letter of the month.) While randomly going through the net, I found a small heartwarming article that really made me smile on a day filled with bad headlines. And that got me thinking of all the similar inspiring real-life stories lost in between news of war and hatred.

I ended up doing a series of Real-Life Heroes of Kindness where I found a person for every letter of the alphabet from all corners of the world who had done a kind deed. Instead of just writing about them, I tracked many of them down and talked to them directly or in some cases to the recipients of their kindness too.
My main aim was to prove that kindness exists in this world if you choose to search for it and readers loved this series for how it restored their faith in humanity so much, I have continued it even after April has passed by.


That was 5 of my top moments in this blogging journey. What did you think of them?

Also, what has been the best blogging moment you have had? Do tell.   

Authors note:

The article is written as part of the #SuperBloggerChallenge2018 by #Instacuppa conducted by HealthWealthBridge.com, FashionableFoodz.com and AllAboutTheWoman.com and should not be re purposed, republished or use otherwise. The content herein is owned by the blogger. SuperBloggerChallenge2018 is not responsible for any infringement caused.