What Does Happiness Mean At 22?

Most of the time, people mistake ‘happiness’ as the life goal. A destination we have yet to reach. But you have heard of that ‘Instagrammable’ inspirational quote which says that happiness is, instead, the journey.

Unfortunately, quotes don’t solve any problem. And sometimes, they are so simplified that we tend to misunderstand them. Yes, I agree that happiness is the journey, but it doesn’t mean that our new goal is to now be happy all the time. That’s where people get the concept of happiness wrong: it is not constant. Your journey doesn’t have to be always bright and beautiful. There will be storms.

It’s time to delete that misconception from your neurotic pathways. Happiness is not constant. If, after reading the quote, you’ve set yourself to achieve 100% happiness in your day-to-day, you are bound to failure and disappointment. Happiness isn’t the destination, but it is not entirely the journey either.

So what is happiness? And how dare a 22-year-old like me lecture you on such ‘wisdom’?

On Staying Productive And Sane At University | #BackToSchool LINK ROUNDUP

I haven’t been blogging for a month and I apologise for that. Ironically, my last post was on my 6th anniversary with WordPress. Well, life happens, and I will keep that for another post.

Another month has passed, and despite everything that has paralysed me to write here, I’ve been able to publish a few posts in my student blog. I admit I’ve been writing less, going from 3 posts a week to 1. But, at the same time, the semester gets more hectic by the hour for my fellow student readers, thus maybe it’s best to keep it at a post a week. For sanity.

So, as I’ve said before, I’m going to be compiling all the posts from my student blog once in a while over here, for those who haven’t caught up with everything yet.

How to Get the Best Experience Out of University? | NEW BLOG ROUNDUP

As you may know, for the past month, I have been working on my new self-hosted blog for University/college students. I’m aiming to create content that will help them get the best out of their university experience.

Basically, it’s like a survival guide for students.

In case you have missed the news completely, I’ve decided to do a link roundup here so that you can catch up with my other content. Maybe this will be a monthly thing.Besides, you could

Besides, you could also share this with students you may know out there who are going through college!

So here it goes…

I’ve Changed—Ever Since I Got Into Street Dance

In a nutshell, I’ve changed from this girl:

…to that girl:

I wouldn’t say that they are completely different from each other, but I would say that the transition from one to another made me rediscover who I really wanted to be, or how I really wanted to portray myself to the world.

I Will Miss Campus Life

Last weekend, I met up with my university friends, both on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday our meeting point was at the campus itself. And after spending such enjoyable days with them, I realised that I will miss this after I graduate.

I will miss my student life on campus. I will miss the late nights I spend with my friends, living on the cheap. I will miss the feeling of walking to school. I will miss all of it. 

I have only one semester left. I’m graduating in July this year… and I might not be turning back. Which means that I might not pursue a Honours year/4th year, because I might prefer to work first and then do a Masters later on, probably somewhere else, somewhere new. After this, I am, most likely, moving on.

Nevertheless, with a heavy heart.

Why 2017 is the time to re-evaluate your workplace | Weekly Reads

For 2017, I set myself a Goodreads reading challenge: my goal is to read 30 books this year. After a disastrous reading year in 2016, in which I read only 15 books, I decided it was time to get back to my regular reading of an average of 30-40 books a year (and if you were reading this blog in 2014, you might remember that I surpassed my Goodreads challenge of 52 books!). Reading has always been my favourite hobby and I’m no way letting it go, even when adult life will get busier!

However, as I did mention in a whole post last year, it doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped reading. In fact, I’ve been reading more than ever, digesting news on Pocket and my favourite blogs. Recently, my Twitter has become a freaking ‘news’ feed, literally. I’ve been spamming it with articles and videos I find interesting.

Therefore, I’ve decided to renew a very old ‘trend’ of mine on this blog: previously called Sites of the Month, I used to collect my favourite links/articles of the month and post it up for you guys to read as well. This time, I’m calling it Weekly Reads because, you guessed it, it’s going to be a weekly thing, every Sunday. Because I read too much in a week anyway.

On How I Discovered My True Personal Fashion Style | Thanks K-POP

I feel that it’s been a while since I wrote a personal personal post, like when I used to ramble about my #OOTD or what I bought today or basically what is going on in my life… and this post is going to be something of that sort. I’m literally typing this in the middle of the night, instead of focusing on my exams revision, without any plans, impulsively. I usually prefer it if readers can take away something valuable out of my posts, but I’m not sure about this one, where it is going to go… haha, anyway if you enjoy ramblings, read on.

Here’s the gist:

It came to me like an epiphany. I finally discovered what my true and all-time personal fashion style was. Like, the core of my style. And it hit me… while I was watching BLACKPINK:

For someone who never listens to k-pop, how did I end up watching this in the first place??? Well, it’s all thanks to the Fine Brothers and their latest react video. I always tend to go check the music videos they react to just because I’m curious…

I sincerely have no idea how my train of thoughts work so fast but somehow, watching this video made me think about the clothes I saw at the mall today as I was passing by some clothing stores, then made me stand up and walk to my closet to open it and check out my clothes. Well, I believe there is some association… since I was really impressed with the colourful funky style these Korean girls were pulling off.

How I Read A Lot—Without Picking Up A Single Book

These past few weeks have been the most hectic ones out of all my semesters in university: juggling among school work, extracurricular work and being a freelancer. I was able to manage it all in the end, but I did neglect something that I consider very important in my life: reading.

I used to read, on average, 30-50 books a year, and we are more than half way into 2016 and I have barely reached 10 completed read books. Shame and horror, I have not even been able to keep up with my daily 25-minutes reading time. Is this what I am becoming/what society is making me become? It reminds me of the time when my friend once said that her mom told her in her teenage years that she should make the most of her reading time while she is young, because once we reach the world of adults… it’s over. I was hoping to contradict this saying, but I believe this year got me.

I also realised that I have been on social media for more hours than I wish I did, however this is how I teamwork in my activities and how I learn about current events for my freelance writing.

Feeling Fat

When I was a young carefree teenager, my dad would often tell me: “You should lose weight.” I was criticized for my fat belly and was told that if I didn’t do anything about it, I would never find a husband.

Thank god, I didn’t give a damn about ‘looking good’ or ‘finding a man’. I had read and learnt countless of times how girls tend to fall under the illusion that they are not beautiful enough and that they never will, unless they resemble those super thin top models in magazines. I’ve seen how detrimental of their self-esteem it was to constantly compare their bodies to those Photoshop’ed ones… or to their prettier (a.k.a. more socially acceptable body types) peers. I’ve heard about very strict diet that could potentially lead to death.

I learnt from an early age to love my body and to eat all the things I love (in moderation, of course) and to not be defined by someone else’s perception of ‘beauty’. I encouraged myself to be an independent woman, and to be aware that if I wanted a man, that man would not have the right to shape my body to fit his ‘ideals’ (impossible ones indeed), but would instead accept me as I am.

21 Lessons Learnt On Turning 21

On Tuesday May 3rd, I turned 21.

Although some might say the opposite, 21 years is a pretty long period of time. 21 years feels like a lifetime, for all the positive and negative experiences I’ve gained and endured. 21 years is 252 months of existence on this Earth. It is around 1,095 weeks. Approximately 7,665 days.

It is freaking 6.623e+8 seconds.

Of course, in comparison to the time of the universe, this lapse of time is very very very insignificant, but it is all relative anyway.

Without further ado, here are 21 lessons that I learnt (most of the time via the hard way) during those 21 years and that will probably stay on with me for a very long time. Moreover, I wanted to make this post a little special, therefore, each lesson is presented to you in a picture-text form, designed and personalized by me.

How To Surprise A Birthday-Surprise Organizer For Her Birthday?

*I know that my birthday was on May 3rd and that this post is therefore late, but oh well, better late than never! Enjoy!*

I am usually the one that organizes birthday surprises for my friends, but I never had a surprise for my birthday. It did not really matter either. We were in the middle of the semester, filled with assignments, thus I told myself not to expect much. I did however hint at my boyfriend that I would like something special, but I knew I was still better at surprises than him (haha).

Yet, I did not see it coming when my friends actually surprised me for my birthday this year!

I can’t believe I fell into their trap. They successfully surprised a typical Birthday-Surprise organizer. And here’s how they did it (in advice form):

 

Motivation Monday | Making Time for Personal Hobbies

Did I just make ‘Motivation Monday’ a weekly blog post series? Still thinking about it.

This is just going to be a quick tip for everyone who is as busy as me, whether it’s because of work, school or family, and have happened to just lose control over their time management and over their professional/personal life balance.

Aside from my workout morning routine, I have also set a kind of evening routine for myself. Since the beginning of the semester, at the start of this month, I have found myself to be caught up in my university schedule and studies, and extra-curricular activity. In fact, those who follow me on Goodreads might have noticed a sudden drop of activity.

I had stopped reading.

Motivation Monday | Together We Fitness

*I have no idea whether ‘Motivation Monday’ will become a weekly/fortnight thing or a one time thing, but I couldn’t resist making that alliteration.*

Malaysia has been very hard on my health in the past weeks (weather, school, activities, living on my own… who knows why) and thus one of the things I started to do was to be more conscious of my fitness levels and on how to stay fit. In almost 21 years, I have never been focused on fitness, or the importance of sports/working out for instance, until now.

A lot of my friends, local and abroad, go to the gym regularly and although I am lucky to have access to a free gym at school (or if it’s not good enough, I can even go to the paid one next to my apartment) I’ve never been interested in doing so. I am still not interested, but this is mainly because I am always shy when it comes to starting something new and foreign to me, and also because I do tend to be intimidated by the various machinery that I wouldn’t know how to handle. However, lately, my room has become my little gym place. I even bought a yoga/fitness mat!

Discovering Japanese Snacks! (Part 2)

I’m on my last week of exams and I’m able to squeeze in some time to finally announce that I ended up eating all of my Japanese snacks! Therefore, here’s PART 2 of ‘Discovering Japanese snacks!’, which involved buying lots of Japanese sweets and try them out, because eating has become one of my dominant hobbies here in Malaysia. 😉

If you haven’t read Part 1 and want to go through it before scrolling through this post, click HERE to have a look!

Here we go for my mini reviews of the last 4 Japanese snacks:

1. Lotte Koalas March Cookies

Classic Japanese’s definition of cookies, filled with mouth-melting chocolate. This definitely reminded me of my childhood favourite: Hello Panda! I love how the cookie part was crunchy and actually quite easy to break due to its surprising thinness, but without being too soft. It was cooked just right. The chocolate was as enjoyable as one would on biting on any Hello Panda cookie.