The 4 Core Values I Stand For

On Friday 17th February, I completed my internship at Mossery, a stationery brand startup that crafts beautiful customisable planners, sketchbooks and notebooks to the world. However, what I really found special about the company was its huge emphasis on nurturing and communicating values.

Throughout the 2 months and a half (or so) period I was there, I eventually started thinking about my own values. Everyone has a set of values they live by, but I was never really conscious of mine before. Finally, after some deep soul-searching, I figured out 4 core values that I’ve been following pretty much my whole life. And I’m sharing them here, in the hopes that you too will be inspire to look for your own.

1. Ancora imparo.

I am still learning. Okay, so it’s funny but this is the slogan of Monash university, which is basically how I discovered that beautiful, empowering yet humble phrase. At core, we, as human beings, will never cease to learn. If we want to grow, we have to keep on learning.

Who I Am Becoming In 2017

At the last few seconds of 2016, I stood strong, waiting for the fireworks. At the first few minutes of 2017, I noticed how my arm was not tired, my hands not trembling, from holding up my phone to film those 10 continuous minutes of beautiful bursting fires in the sky. That actually surprised me; it seemed that my workout sessions, as irregular as they can get because a university student’s irregular schedule, had paid off.

For many, this is probably a very small insignificant detail, but to me, at that moment, it meant everything. I only started taking care of my fitness and physical health in April 2016 for the first time in my life, and I have come far in terms of physical endurance, as well as pain tolerance and delayed gratification. Maybe not as far as I could have, but far enough.

But most importantly, I stood mentally strong. 

There was a point in 2016 where I felt that all the hardwork I had put into building myself for the past 2 years of staying on my own in Malaysia, all the efforts put into self-esteem and confidence, had been in vain as I was crumbling back to being shy and insecure about the slightest of things. As the saying goes, it takes time to create something, but one second to destroy it. And I had to rebuilt myself in the last months of 2016. I had to slowly but surely get back up and move on with life.

The Joy of Being Alone

Disclaimer: This was written on Saturday 26th November, on the way back home. A short piece, unedited, that I just felt like sharing. 

***

I’ve forgotten how to be alone.

I’ve forgotten how it feels to appreciate a meal outside of my home with my own company.

I’ve forgotten how to take solo adventures, like little trips to the city, and reflect on myself.

This year has been the least lonely year I have ever lived. From being part of a committee, to a community to a family. I’ve constantly been surrounded by friends. I’ve been left with very little time to myself.

So when the last semester of the year was over, I was left with mixed feelings. I was eager to go back to a tranquil lonely life, yet I was also apprehensive of it.

Narcissism & Manipulation

INTRO:

~ Being a future psychology student, I decided to create a new category of posts here on An Evil Nymph’s Blog which will be dealing with some of my weird and crazy theories of life and people. For fun, of course since I don’t have a degree yet. Also I’m not trying to make generalisations and it’ll be best that as you read on imagine putting in the word ‘maybe’ in every sentence. These are only my 19 year old opinions. Anyway, scroll down at your own risk… and enjoy! ~

***

Narcissist. Self-centred. These are words that describe those people who are in “pursuit of gratification from vanity” or have “egotistic admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride.” (Source: Wikipedia)

When I first discovered that word, I could easily identify some of the people I knew having such a behaviour. From what I had seen in my short life, narcissism was not hard to decipher as those people were so open about being like this… and even proud of their self-adoration. One could imagine someone who likes holding a mirror and looking into it 24 hours a day without shame.

However, lately I’ve found another kind of narcissism. One of a more subtle nature.

And more dangerous as well.

It’s Never Too Late… For A Selfie!

It’s never too late for a new blog post either!

For those of you who love to participate in the Weekly Photo Challenge as much as I do you may notice how the title relates to the fact that I haven’t been blogging for two weeks but I really want to remedy to that by still giving a shot at one of the challenges I missed which was ‘Selfie’.

1st take:

You can actually find this photo on my Instagram. Follow me @dkwaye !

My Looking-Glass Self

I’m late again, sorry for that, but I’m rather busy in this beginning of the second term of the school year; anyway, here’s your awaited Picture it & Write for this week:

 

“Happy 18th birthday, Lena!”

Their enthusiastic voices still echoed in my head, although the party was over for more than two hours. If I closed my eyes I would see their faded grins and narrow eyes and high cheekbones… I would feel their hands on me, congratulating me, wishing me all the best things in the world.

When Evil Learns To Love…

With all that St Valentine’s Day stuff going around for a while since now more than a week, I’ve been reflecting a lot on Love. I believe that my faithful readers know that perfectly, since most of my previous posts revolve around it, whether in a romantic or gloomy way.

But recently, I’ve felt Her coming back.

And by Her, I mean, An Evil Nymph.

 

Reflection

Yeah it’s time for this week’s Picture it & Write! And again I’m inspiring myself from a short story I’m progressively building at random, depending on the picture Ermilia hosts every week, called ‘Unpredicted’.

NB: the progress of the story itself relies on the pictures given.

Read what happened previously in the story:

1. Your Eyes… And Mine

2. An Escape Attempt (keep scrolling for this one, it’s at the very end of the post!)

3. The Love Key… Among Others

4. This Is Your Life. And It’s All You’ve Got.

5. Destructive Yet Inspiring

Now, here’s this week’s picture and contribution: