Hi! I’m Tavleen. It feels strange introducing myself on a blog that I started more than four years ago but I feel like it’s long overdue. I have grown a lot since then and I have also been a bit disconnected from blogging for the last two years.

I turned 20-years-old this July. I have been at home since mid-March like many of you and since then, I have been out of my house not more than five times. Because of a lot of time in seclusion as well as it being my final year of college, a lot has changed within me. I don’t have a particular direction for this post. I guess I just wanted to write about where I am at in my life.

I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and I am currently in my third (final) year. Basically, the college life that I was genuinely enjoying a lot was cut short because of Covid-19. As the months passed by, I had to realize that things were not going to back to the way they were. College didn’t start having in-person classes and I don’t think that they will take place for the rest of the academic year. Since college is pretty much over or will be soon, I couldn’t help obsessing over the question, “What next?”

I figured out sometime last year that career-wise, I wanted to be an editor. I have known since high school that I want to work in the publishing industry but I wasn’t sure where or more honestly, how I would get there. Sometime around June, I finally started doing some research, took an online course, and started applying for editorial internships at publishing houses. Nothing clicked for me for at least three months. Thankfully, in August, I got an internship, the same day that the new semester started and within a few days, my life went from a lull of disappointments to my luck hitting some good opportunities one after the other.

In the last few months, I bought self-hosting and a domain for Travelling Through Words, something I had wanted to do for years. I set up pages for my beta reading and editing services. I interned for an NGO and wrote some cool articles for their newsletter. I did an editorial internship. I set up a decent profile on LinkedIn and learned a lot from the platform. I wrote a blurb, author’s bio, and copyedited a short story for a book that is going to be published soon. I did and currently am working on some freelance editing projects.

My life went from endless hours spent sending emails to companies, loitering in Facebook groups for freelancers, and applying for internships on multiple job portals—to making a shitton of progress in my career—within a few days. From lying on my bed all day chasing dead-ends and feeling restless, I was so busy so suddenly that I don’t think I took the time to process it and actually be happy about it.

When I found myself stressed and constantly unsatisfied, I realized that my mindset had been trapped in the “hustle culture” and I am slowly making my way out of it and to a healthier way of living. In the last few weeks, I have been more at peace with my life and have learned the necessity of striking a work-life balance. I underestimated the importance of mental peace and I overestimated the satisfaction from achievements. Now, I’m trying to constantly remind myself to be grateful, to be proud of who I am, to not be in a race with myself, and to be a good friend and a good family member even if I’m not at times. I’m trying to not worry about the future and live in the present, which is something I have never done in my life, but is needed in the uncertain times that we live now.

I’ve always had a plan for my future but at the moment, I don’t, at least not anything concrete, and I’m trying to be okay with it. The Internet age that we live in has given us the luxury to try out different things and pick another direction if one doesn’t suit us. So whether my future consists of post-graduation, a job, a project, multiple rejections from all of them for months on end, or sheer boredom, I think I’ll be okay. I’m also reflecting and thinking. A lot. I don’t need to have all the answers about who I am and what I want right now. If I’m making an effort to figure it out, I think that’s enough.

As far as this blog and my bookstagram are concerned, I haven’t been the most dedicated person on either of them for the longest time. If I’m honest, I’m not quite sure what I want to do in terms of content. I do post book reviews and I like that, but as far as the overall picture is concerned, I don’t feel satisfied with or excited about being active on either platforms. I want to put out things that excite me and feel authentic. For now, I’m just going to go easy on myself and go with whatever schedule and content make me feel good in the moment.

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