This Women's Day was not quite the usual one for me. By that I mean, I don't believe in celebrating one single day in the year to mark the innumerable, uncountable, (wait, stop!) contributions we as women make to the society. So, typically it would be any other normal workday for me. But this time on March 8, I received something as a gift, which definitely made me realise how important it is for us women to take care of ourselves — our bodies and our minds. A light-green coloured box full of goodies that can help you have fun, reflect on the self and connect with your inner self.
Called The Lifefulness Box, this initiative is the brainchild of Abirambika Ravivarman, a 37-year-old MBA graduate, who quit her high-powered corporate job to start her own venture Green Minds — a centre for social, emotional and mental wellbeing. She is also an ICF-certified life coach and she conducts various workshops and individual sessions for parents, corporate executives and teenagers. "Over the years and through personal experience, I have realised that our greatest potential is released only when we are connected with our inner self. Coaching women aged over 50, I have always felt that they have a kind of dissatisfaction, irritation, and frustration within them. But most are unaware of the fact that mental and emotional wellbeing is as important as physical wellness. That's the major reason why I created this box. It will have different things, something fun, something like a soap or bath salt to take care of the body, something to eat, and also some kind of activity that the participants at my workshop also enjoy," explains Abirambika.
The lifefulness box was officially launched on Women's Day this year. One can subscribe to receiving the box every month, for which there are several plans respectively. The subscription plans are categorised into three types — for a single month subscription it will cost you Rs 1499, a quarterly subscription is priced at Rs 3999 and the half-yearly at Rs 7999. Every month, the content of the box is based on a different theme. For example, the March 2020 box is to celebrate a woman's inner goddess and thus connect to your inner self. "It combines a delightful mix of motivational colouring cards, cosy items, self-care goodies, gratitude prompts, and more, to conjure the gift of complete well-being," adds the life coach. The box gives you every reason to be excited about your 'me-time' every month!
Abirambika tells us that the first few boxes were given to 20 women at the official launch on March 8. "The ones who received the boxes were all from different segments like some running their own business, a single parent, an author, jewellery designer, and more. Basically, women who showcase power in their own ways," she adds. She is also planning to help small businesses, small-scale women entrepreneurs who only sell their handmade products online, with this initiative. "Slowly, we will be taking in products from them so that they can reach a larger audience and we will also use their labels," she adds.
Speaking about how this would uplift a woman's spirits, Abirambika says, "After becoming a life coach I saw that a lot of women regret things or decisions after they are done or taken already. Such as 'I never took care of myself, didn't do this for myself, gave up something for my family,' these things pile up at a later stage and lead to mental health problems and things like the mid-life crisis. They reach a stage where they don't know why they are doing that. So why not do something before? Our aim is an intervention beforehand. This box is meant for women exclusively. A box full of things that only the women will consume and be happy about."
Abirambika, who has been a life coach for the past three years, tells us that she wants to scale up this initiative in the future. "We want to reach out to more audiences across the country. We will keep reinventing and restyling the box as we go forward. Sustainability is the key concept for us and thus the content will always be eco-friendly," she concludes.