[3] 26 notes before 27
This post is inspired by Tiramisu. I'm turning 27 this year, and it's time for me to look back at the entire year I've been 26.
New Year's resolution. The funny thing was my 2024 New Year's resolutions were very, very different. I wrote it in a Notion template, but I didn't remember what happened, and I lost that template. I did wrote about continuing to learn Japanese, reading 10 non-fictions, and learning guitar. Guess what, I achieved none of them lol. I have no regret tho.
You are stronger than you think. I have been struggling mentally prior to being 26, and I felt at peace, for once. Maybe because of the frontal lobe maturing, I don't know.
Self-help advice is a tool, not a religion. I learnt this quite late into the year. At first my Youtube kept on showing all these self-help gurus giving advice and stuff, and I was intrigued by that. Not gonna lie, some of the advice was genuinely helpful, but some can be quite dangerous as well. But I think it's better to take it as what it is and not rigidly follow everything. I mean, an Asian girl living entirely in Asian countries won't have the same values as what predominantly Western advice is and vice versa.
Take care of your skin. Especially if you have allergies. Find the source of those allergies and make some changes to your environment. You don't want to let it become out of control because the stress of dealing with it will make it worse.
Let them. You don't have to spend too much energy on how people treat you. If they decided to go on without you, let them.
What is meant for you will find you. Lol, I did say this on no. 3, but yeah, I believe this at heart. Chasing things desperately will break your heart because you put a lot of expectation in it. Do your best and let God handle the rest. If it's not for you, you can feel that in your heart.
Watch one movie a week. Good movie, bad movie, a subpar slasher B-movie, an-arthouse-wong-kar-wai-movie, anything. Also watch it without looking at your phone.
The future is exciting. Being a pessimist will not help you enjoy your life. Accept that bad things happen and will happen because it's normal. Nobody will have a smooth sailing life just because they are richer, prettier, or smarter. It's a human thing to endure certain life events and live to the fullest.
Financial planning. Planning is better than letting it flow or being reckless with your current resources. I will link it to no. 6 and no. 8. Planning means you are doing your best at the current time. For the unpredictable future, let God guide you. May your preparation fruitfully help you in the future.
Don't overspend on video games. Control your spending and don't let the addiction find its way. I believe you can do anything with your hard-earned money but those dopamine rushes are temporary. Set a budget and stick to it.
Make time for reading or any hobby you have (notice I didn't say find time). I allocated 30 minutes reading before bed every day. I stick to that most of the time. It helped me in reducing the physical TBR.
Social media is nothing for personal but everything for a business. In my case, I don't feel overwhelmed by the social media anymore. Since currently I'm in a social media detox, I still have to post some updates in my IG just to let it run. I scheduled every post, and it tremendously helped me.
Everything is compounding. Your saving habits, the number of pages you read, and the short time spent talking to your family—all of that will compound for something greater in the future. I believe in making small changes and will continue doing that for years.
Time passed. I started making time for reading, and I saw the time pass rather slowly. From one page to another, and I finished the entire book in a month. So I learnt this and applied it in other aspects. If I do this specific thing, I might succeed or fail the next year. I have the experience regardless of how it turned out.
Dress up for yourself. I put more effort into how I dress wherever I go. It gives me so much comfort knowing I feel safe with myself. I no longer feel people are going to watch me because I don't think that's the case anyway. People think about themselves, right? Thanks, Morgan Housel.
Long distance relationship. I have a long-distance partner, and we rarely meet. At first I was thinking about how difficult it would be. But then I realized I felt comfortable with the idea of treating them as a partner, not an entire life. I do whatever I want without feeling restricted. At the end I still have someone to talk to and be excited with.Â
Clean your closet. Clutter stresses me out, so last year I cleaned my entire closet. I decided to donate old clothes that I can't fit anymore. I feel content with the amount of stuff I now have and learnt about timeless clothing, which was something I looked forward to building one day.
Read newer books. I think as a writer that one day, hopefully, will publish her own book; reading a new book is very important. I realized that my taste was quite old-fashioned. I need to balance the contemporary and classic to maximize my learning experience in writing. There are a lot of good literary fiction these days.
Clean your inbox. Last year I cleaned up my emails as well. I unsubscribed from a lot of old platforms that I no longer used. I think this is called digital clutter, which also includes the media in my phone. Regardless, I need to free a lot of space on my phone anyway.
Buried resentment will show subtly in how you treat someone. Sometimes we think we have forgiven that person, but the buried resentment says otherwise. There's still a lot of work that I need to do, but I'm glad that I realized this issue exists within me.
Wear sunscreen. Not an ad, but wear sunscreen most of the time. Physical sunscreen is better. Also at night, let your face breathe for once by wearing nothing. Those active ingredients will irritate your skin after long use.
It's okay to be the one reaching out. People are busy, and it's okay to be the one asking about them. You will be genuinely surprised at how much they, too, are waiting for your message. But if both parties are waiting for it, nothing good will come out.
You can bake anything with premixed flour. Instant pancake mix, steamed chocolate cakes, cookie dough—anything really. It's more fun to do it from scratch, but it takes more time. Regardless of that, making something was still fun to do.
Fresh flowers are nice for a birthday. Something that I will continue doing is buying flowers for myself.
Do things slowly. I felt less tired if I didn't rush on doing something, except if it was really urgent. Especially a physical thing.
Plain water is the way to go. All the way, all the time.
waiting for 27 notes,
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