What’s the best way to tame your inner ‘monsters’ and start the new year a happier person? Anina Elizabeth Jacob has a simple, practical solution. Why not make the monsters your pals?
The doodler’s ‘Hello 2019’, a fuzzy monsters-themed desktop calendar, puts a positive spin and brings to your table ‘delightful avatars’ of those everyday troubles that weigh you down. Brought out under the brand The Doodleholic, each month in the calendar aims to bring you a slice of positivity to help you turn over a new leaf.
“Monsters are something we are scared of, something we associate with things negative. It’s time we realised that as long as they are in our imagination, we have the power to turn them around into something positive. In Hello 2019, it’s all about, in a symbolic way, conquering your monsters by being friends with them,” says Anina, a programming manager with Toonz Media Networks in the city.
So, when February, the month Valentine’s Day falls in, teaches you the importance of self-love, March talks about happy times and the need to find some ‘me time’ amidst a busy life. April helps you let go of your apprehensions and December is all about giving and sharing, a time that abounds with the Christmas spirit of magnanimity, says Anina, an architect-turned- illustrator.
The February section | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Explaining her choice of matching a particular sentiment with a month, Anina says she delved into her own experiences this year to come up with felicitous, colourful doodles and messages. “In 2018, there have been a lot of things I learnt, a lot of both positive and negative experiences that I underwent. I think I learnt about self-acceptance, facing my fears, taking risks and so on. Looking back, I wanted to turn all of these life lessons positive and take them forward to a new year full of the joys of the spring,” says the 24 year old.
More than merely informing you the days and dates, Hello 2019 doubles up a “self-help calendar with interactive” features. For instance, talking about self-love in February, one gets a little column on the page where one can jot down ‘Five things I love about myself’. “The idea is to also make the calendar personal. This way, it works as a daily reminder for the duration of the month. There are sections where you can scribble your thoughts, write a love letter to yourself or colour in between lines. It’s thus a self-help exercise as well,” explains Anina, who recalls doodling on the back of notebooks during school to “escape” classes. The wire-bound calendar comes at ₹450 apiece.
“Doodling is something I started doing behind my Chemistry notebook. Liking my pastime, my friends started calling me ‘doodleholic’ and the name somehow stuck,” she says with a laugh about how her brand got its name.
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