I do not like milestones in general. They signify the end of something, but more importantly, the start of another.
Today marks the end of 2017. So what? Tomorrow is still another calendar day. It is still another Monday. It is just another public holiday.
Sometimes, I feel pressured to celebrate events. Such “long time once” (久久一次) is an excuse to do stuffs that you don’t usually do. And since you don’t, they why do?
Christmas. It’s a beautiful event, and I love it. But I love it because the decorations and the festivities go on for a rather long time, from early November. The real event happens on 25 December – the gifting. Why should one wait for Christmas to give something to someone? Throughout 2017, I have given things to my family without specific occasions (but we kind of credit it to one of those, you know, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Children’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, anniversaries, etc.).
So, forgive me if I do not feel the desire to celebrate special occasions like birthdays, New Year’s Day, etc. It’s a milestone, no doubt, and I generally enjoy having them. But I don’t like to purposely make it extra special, because that special moment does not last.
I prefer doing something that will last, so that I do not need to say “how I wish…”, “remember that special day…”. I want every day to be special. If I want to enjoy a day, just do it. No need to wait for the next public holiday.
When all festivities come to an end, it’s back to routine. If you somewhat hate it, something is wrong with your life. You should either change the life you are living, or you can change your mindset about the life you are living.
While the first part might be a little more difficult – not easy to change the job, or if you are a primary/secondary student – the second is more attainable.
I’m not a motivationalist, but self-motivation is keeping me alive till today.
I do not believe in motivating people, because I have lived long enough to understand that every person has its own personality. They are different from yours. What makes me think I can change their behaviour? Frankly, you won’t be able to change mine with a single article. But what would make me change is that I must realise myself that I want to change, and I must give myself TIME to change. And time might be months or years. I do not believe in changing in weeks, because the change will not be permanent. If I can change in weeks, that means that thing is not important.
When I decided to start working out, I did not change completely. I could not do 3 runs a week, so I did it once every weekend. It’s not good enough, but it’s better than NONE.
I know dozens of friends who have successfully transformed their bodies, and I applaud them. But I also know behind each successful transformation is extreme sacrifices in their food, their routine, and it’s something that I CHOOSE not to do.
On this last day of 2017, I did some self reflection, and asked myself 2 questions:
- What is the best thing that has happened this year? It’s the home improvement project, that happened this month. It allowed me to refresh the stuff that has been lying around since I moved in. For instance, I removed racks of my CDs and packed them into boxes. 8 years ago, I would still listen to CDs. Today, I could simply listen over Spotify. But some non-pop albums are still hard to access, but I can still get to them in my newly-installed cabinets.
- What is the worst thing? I cannot remember, and I do not want to remember. But I generally would despise myself for doing really stupid or foolish things that I should not be doing at all, but I did. And because I hated such feelings, I am usually an extremely cautious person in whatever I say or do. So that worst thing that could ever happen to me would deliver that emotional scar that no one except me will experience.
Unlike previous years, I decided not to “count my blessings” and list down all the products I have reviewed in 2017. It’s a lot, and I still believe I am one of the top prolific gadget review bloggers in Singapore, published no fewer than 130 articles in 2017, averaging 2.5 per week. I test the products personally, and have real first-hand experience on each one of them. I blog because that is the tangible part of my review experience.
Goodbye, 2017. Or for that matter, goodbye, 31 Dec 2017. And sorry, 30 Dec 2017, I did not celebrate your passing.
