THINGS I LEARNED FROM 2022

HIBERNATION IS NOT FOR HUMANS

If you are looking at the heading and smiling…. Well thank you, and if not you haven't been to that phase yet. And this is coming from someone who recently moved out from her cave, trust me the mechanism of isolation was never built for humans. Even the most introverted beings need a little spacious place full of people (they know, of course) from time to time, to let go of their wild thought and regret some spoken words. Even if the whole COVID-19 situation made you feel like isolating there was always a part of you that was online, sharing every single detail about your homemade Golconda coffee.

Last year of my life was not very full of people but, just me and did it make me happy then? Yeah, but does that make me happy, now that I think about it? Well no. I did miss that long calls with friends, that last minute café plans, that not very much required shopping hauls, the Saturday night movie plans and of course a lot of family gossip that I never heard. Thus starting this year I drew a line, as wide to stand and as equal to travel to both lands (my poetic version that no one asked for). Simply meaning life is short and sometimes even shorter, there's a little time to go undercover and there is even much little time to go live in caves. Even so there is always enough time to take a pause, some deep breaths and may be just talk around, talk to your mum, go annoy your siblings, prank a friend and a lot. And if isolated lifestyle was really a thing we would have been born in eggshells not via placenta connected to our mothers.

THE WABI-SABI MINDSET

Growing up in an Asian household there were different meaning for perfection for me, for skin it was to be fairer, for grades it was to be the best, for a woman it was to be kind, and diligent type. Coincidently I never succeeded to pass that qualifying barrier, just like the medical entrance exam I never passed(PS:I apologize for the dark humor). Neither did I see myself as a perfect being nor did I idolize anyone, but rather criticized a lot, yes you can throw hands at me, it's okay!

Yet I have absolutely no apologies to present, in the light of the fact that none is perfect not even the slightest part of us is worth being called perfect and there is absolutely nothing wrong about it. You can actually laugh about me sounding like a self-help book, but I am just stating facts.

So what's the wabi-sabi mindset?, on a friendly note it's not a dish, It's actually a Japanese proverb meaning, to ''embrace imperfections'' of both yours and of others. Just to simplify and clump it in a few words; there's absolutely nothing wrong about that little mole on your face exactly as there's nothing wrong about your classmate's birthmark. With a population of billions it would be so blind of us if we frame any single character as perfection, hence it's no less than a myth that we all created subconsciously.

SELF CARE IS ''THE BASIC''

If you are someone whose been reading my blog page for a while you would probably know me better, of how much I took self-care as a basic item (for new readers I am being sarcastic here, spare me!). If I was to look a few years back I would see a teenage girl with low self-care, a little grumpy and clumsy as always. She would have random thoughts in her head and all the little things in her to-do list, but she lacked a lot on herself. There were no little coffee breaks, a peaceful walk in the park, some sunrise sunshine, that DIY face mask, or a skincare routine.

Even today I am not any beauty guru or a self-help book author, but I know the basics, it may have taken me twice as long to realize how much my well-being means to me but here I am. The today year old me might sometime overdo things beyond her potential, but she keep herself grounded because she knows how to take breaks and may be some deep breaths.

Summarizing everything said above, self-care is definitely The basic, no matter how tough of a person you are there are things you should be doing for yourself to keep going.