In 2021, I found myself experiencing many of my "first times". The simplest one would be the first time not posting anything on this blog (oops!) while the major one would be first time working overseas. Of course not everything was a shining shimmering splendid first time experience. Trust me I had my share of ups and downs too! Still I would say 2021 was not as bad as I thought it will be. Things were not back to normal, but we got a "new normal". It could have been better, but it could have been worse as well.

We're now in a new page of 2022 and we have 365 days to brace ourself before another hello to a new year. I wish us wonderful days ahead! May we all be able to put closure on the unfulfilled 2021 resolutions and stick to the list we made for 2022 (lol). For the 2022 me, I hope she would be a kinder and more generous human being, not take people/moment/things for granted, create and live a meaningful day everyday, and put balanced focus on both life's content and context. To have more confidence in herself, faith in the process, and trust in the progress. 

Before we proceed further to 2022, let me do the recaps of my 2021!

I have always stayed within Asia for study, work, or travel. Until in 2021, I got the opportunity to go beyond Asia for the first time and even to live there for a year. This was truly a life milestone for me! The travel/relocation preparation during pandemic was exhausting with the paperworks handling, travel restrictions checking, and Covid PCR test result waiting (the last one was the most dreadful one, as it determines my eligibility to board the flight). Yet it was all paid off at the moment I board the SQ plane and here I am today 10 months later, feeling comfortable, safe and happy to have a new home.

It's a no brainer to say that I am 100% lucky to came to Switzerland and 1000% fortunate to travel around Europe. Within Switzerland, it was very convenient and reliable to travel thanks to the solid train-rail infrastructure. With the train it's just 1 hour to admire the beautiful Geneva lake, 2 hours to be mesmerized by the medieval architecture of Luzern, or 3 hours to get chilly in the snowy Grindelwald. Cross border traveling was also easy and safe. I board on 1.5 hours flight to see the canals in Amsterdam city, book a 2.5 hours flight to get my dose of sun in Santorini, and jump on 3 hours train ride to enjoy my Parisienne baguette under Eiffel Tower.

Call me exaggerating but I have always declared myself as a city girl. Take me under the sun and I will walk under the umbrella. Invite me to an outdoor activities and I will laugh at you. However for the past 10 months, apparently I spent most of my weekends outdoor, under the sun, close to the nature. Now I laugh at my self :D

I could hardly picture myself go hiking for straight 8 hours, nailing a peak of 3,257 m elevation; but I did it! 

Recently this year a friend introduced me to a philosophy called Stoicism (hey you, if you read this, thank you!). One of the principle in the philosophy is about identifying between what we can control and what we can’t. Everyday in life we have various battles to handle. For some battles, we can win it because we have full control over it (mostly are for battles with ourself). Yet there are battles that we may not win, as to win it will depend on factors outside our control; that's why here we don't have the guarantee in winning.

I have to admit that sometimes I can be quite hard to myself when things don't go like how I projected it to be. I can be upset, disappointed with myself, or lost confidence to put in effort. Correlating the Stoicism principle to my situation, apparently I fail to acknowledge that there are things outside my control which I can never influence. Let's say I want someone to treat me well; no matter how nice I treat him/her, there is no guarantee that he/she will reciprocate my effort. Perhaps I achieve something that I am proud of; regardless how important is that milestone for me, other people might have different opinion about it.

So this year, I learnt to give myself a break. I started to learn to pick my battle wisely and put my focus on ones that I can influence. This allow me to be more relax and also be more resourceful. As the less things I need to control, is the more I can pour my energy over things that matter. 

Haha how contradicting it is with the previous point? Indeed at the same time, I'm learning to be more in charge of my self. I'm trying to understand what I want, speak up my mind, make my call, and own my decision. It isn't an easy process for me as I usually try to accommodate others and keep my thoughts/emotions to my self. It never too late to realize that as much as it is important to be kind and respect others, it's also important to be kind with ourself!