What’s Your Story – Rajlakshmi is known for her versatility in this blog world. She has tried new genres and after spending over 10 years in the blog world, she is amongst the most admired bloggers. She is an artist, writer, and a fitness freak. Her Instagram profile is full of amazing fitness videos and photos and it is an inspiration for people who want to stay fit. Without much ado, let us talk to her and know more about her.
What’s your Story with Rajlakshmi from Sydney
1. Hi Rajlakshmi, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Rajlakshmi – I am a military brat who got to experience the various cultures of India very early in life. I often brag about the fact that I studied in 9 schools. One of my early ambitions in life was to be a truck driver so that I could keep on experiencing the beauty of our country. But try telling that to your mother. Most days you would find me blogging about my ‘smarty’ siblings, publishing photos of my fitness routine, or watching the world – upside down.
2. How many blogs do you currently own and what was the main reason behind starting those blogs?
Rajlakshmi – I currently own three blogs, but two of them are dormant (poetry and travel). I started them with the idea of creating niche specific content but found other platforms to share the same.
3. What kind of content do you write on these blogs?
Rajlakshmi – I cover a wide range of topics on my lifestyle blog – Fitness, Yoga, Poetry, Travel and Life in general. And on days when I run out of content, I write about my sister’s love for urea and poultry food.
4. Has your life changed before and after blogging? If yes then how?
Rajlakshmi – Life hasn’t changed in general but for a decade blogging has provided me with an excellent medium to be creative. It gave me the confidence to experiment with different styles and forms of poetry, travel photography, and writing about my yoga and fitness journey.
5. Have you met anyone interesting in your blogging journey?
Rajlakshmi – I have a huge group of friends that I met through blogs about a decade ago. We are a close bunch and have shared practically all our ups and downs with each other.
6. Tell us about your professional life?
Rajlakshmi – I am a software engineer, splitting my time between meetings and building Java applications.
7. With a full-time job in place, how do you manage time for writing?
Rajlakshmi – I usually write once a week, mostly over the weekend. Unlike before when I used to publish thrice a week, now it takes a couple of days to complete a single blog post. I try to spend a few hours after dinner (when all the household chores are done) writing or reading blogs.
8. What do you think is the best service a blogger/writer can provide to their reader?
Rajlakshmi – Honesty. Be it promoting a product or reviewing books or simply being themselves.
9. What do you do in your spare time?
Rajlakshmi – I am either practicing handstands or admiring the newly grown succulent buds in my garden. I can look at them for hours on.
10. What is your ideal working environment?
Rajlakshmi – Any quiet place with a comfy sofa is enough for me to work or draw or just sit and watch life pass by.
11. What is your greatest achievement in blogging?
Rajlakshmi – Every single message from my readers stating that they started practicing yoga or drawing after reading my posts, makes my heart happy. I feel humbled that my words could inspire others to take up healthy habits or make changes to their lifestyle.
12. What are the 3 main qualities that you see in a person?
Rajlakshmi – Communication, Behavior and how they treat others.
13. We do see that you are very active on Instagram and we have seen all your fitness-related posts? Tell us more about how you got into this and what’s your secret behind the fitness?
Rajlakshmi – I feel the toughest thing about fitness is consistency. It was something I struggled with for many years until I started doing Yoga. I felt like I finally found my mojo. I started by following Youtube videos for beginners, learn basic asanas and precautions that need to be taken while transitioning into a pose. With continuous practice, I was able to improve my fitness level and also gained strength to do other workouts like HIIT or bodyweight exercises.
I don’t have a secret, but my only advice would be this – Consistency is more important than intensity.
14. How has your life changed after moving to Australia?
Rajlakshmi – The best thing about my workplace is that it believes in the culture of promoting work-life balance. This was a major change in my lifestyle – to have a life after work.
15. Apart from writing and fitness, we also know that you are a sucker for arts especially doodling. From where do you get ideas for all those amazing artworks? Do you still do that?
Rajlakshmi – Yes, I still draw. The good thing about Zentangle inspired artwork is you really don’t need to have a complete idea of what the end result is going to look like. Takes the pressure off from drawing perfect pictures. I start with a circle and just let my ideas flow. Trust me, the whole process is absolutely therapeutic. I learn tangle and floral patterns from tutorials on Pinterest and Instagram.
16. What advice would you give the younger you?
Rajlakshmi – Happiness lies within you. But if you still want more, then Travel
17. What’s the best advice you ever received from anyone?
Rajlakshmi – “Make a decision and stick to it” – something that one of my managers said years ago.
18. What is still your biggest challenge?
Rajlakshmi – Time management. It’s hard when you want to do practically every single trend on Instagram or TikTok.
19. How do you balance your work and family demands?
Rajlakshmi – I love making to-do lists and categorize them based on priorities. I always do the important ones first, so it helps to keep things under control.
20. What do you want your legacy to be? How do you want to be remembered?
Rajlakshmi – As a kind and gentle soul who just wanted to do handstands.
