1
Some moments never make it to the highlight reel of Facebook or Instagram because they are our most real moments:
Smiling at a mispronounced word uttered by your little one and reminiscing about it for the rest of your life.
The happiness on your face when your little one plops into your lap with a book they want only you to read.
Watching your little one dance in front of the mirror. Rehearsing steps taught by your mother.
The way your face softens when you think of your mother. The world’s best mother and grandmother.
Humming while folding baby laundry.
Returning home from lunch with a childhood friend and feeling very very happy and light.
The quiet, undocumented moments are our most real moments – raw, whole and unfiltered. Real happiness has an afterglow.
2
There’s something beautifully comforting about returning to books you have already read. The story hasn’t changed, but you have. What once looked like a simple paragraph feels like a huge revelation today. You remember how the story made you feel the first time, but you also notice how differently it speaks to you now. The words are the same, the reader is not. Rereading an old book is like bumping into a childhood friend – familiar, yet strangely comforting. Some books unravel with time. Books we revisit in every season of our becoming.
Incidentally, a book skimmed through at lunch will leave a different impression than the same one savored in the evening.
3
Ah! The scrape of graphite on paper. There is a reason why many writers choose to write longhand – typing a word doesn’t quite carry the same tactile sensation as scratching it onto paper with a pencil or pen. The physical act of writing allows us to feel the lightness or weight of the words. Also, writing by hand allows for greater variation than typing on keyboard.
If something interests me, whether it’s a Unicorn or centipede, or sunlight falling on scattered toys, or a certain relationship, I’ll write about it. The most mundane aspects of life can inspire great art, while the most extraordinary events fizzle out without a certain aesthetic treatment.
4
When you find inspiration in the everyday, the everyday becomes more palatable. And inspiration often comes out of nowhere: on a long aimless walk, in the middle of a shower, a moment’s solitude in an armchair, looking out the window, dwelling on the horizon, holding a child in your arms. Almost about anything and everything can serve as inspiration.
5
Sometimes, what you passionately desire, comes after ruin, after reckoning.
6
A form of luxury is to be unavailable. To turn your back on the daily din is more important now than ever. Shutting out the world from time to time and focusing on what brings purpose and joy. Making space for what truly matters. A daily pocket of time that’s yours alone can make a world of difference – you show up calmer, happier and healthier.
7
People should mind their own business and live their lives without moralizing or telling others how to live. Whether someone or something is cool or not, who cares! We all find joy in different things and there’s nothing wrong with liking what you like.
8
Pressing leaves between the pages of the book I’m reading. Reading poetry aloud while leaving the soup to simmer in the kitchen. Scribbling random musings in margins. Letting the rain slow my pace. Pausing under vintage awnings. Listening. Lingering. Savoring. Collecting tiny wonders: shells, acorns, my Vika’s hair, and scattered thoughts. Putting pen to paper. Letting myself unravel and re-anchor.
9
The magic of early conversations with your baby even if they don’t understand and are not talking yet. Talk to them anyway. Narrate everything you are doing: “Now we are washing your hands”, “let’s brush your teeth”, “let’s unzip your jacket”. You are building a bond and a brain. Growing neural connections. They are listening, long before they speak.
10
Momsomnia, because a mother never really sleeps. Disturbed nights with a newborn, toddler, teenager, grown-up… and yet, your child does not owe you a thing.
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About the Author
Swati Moheet Agrawal is a mother who loves giving depth to the banal, and writing makes her world more navigable. Her work has appeared in The Alipore Post, Sledgehammer Lit, Mad Swirl, The Dribble Drabble Review, Muse India, Active Muse, Setu, and The Criterion among other literary magazines and journals.
