So this topic struck me today while I was talking to my colleague this morning. We were talking about how people are and what are their focus at certain age and I thought it would be a great topic to share. 

Well many of us, probably in our 20s and 30s are hustling and finding our own ways to get through our mid-life crisis and it is mostly a personal experience as everyone has their own journey. Despite that, we may find some things in common at a point of life and of course, from experiences there will always be lessons. Most of the time, this would be some time too late in life, when it may be too late to make mends. 

So, if you ever read this while you are young and have a long road ahead, perhaps this will be a useful message to help you get through life. 

Here's a few lessons that people learn too late life; 

1. Not everyone is a friend

This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is true. Sometimes or maybe most of the time, people can be selfish and have their own interest in mind, that they do not care who gets thrown under the bus in the process. This can be friends, colleagues, strangers, girlfriend/boyfriend and even family at extreme cases. Provided the opportunity, they will do you wrong. Being selfish is not the same as self prioritisation, but not caring if others got hurt in the process of you achieving what you want. A simple example would be dating your friend's ex. I am sure most of us would have came across this scenario at a point of life and I am one to personally experience this. The feeling of disappointment and betrayal was horrendous. So my personal advice is to choose your friends wisely, otherwise just be cautious. In spite of that, I am not saying that there are no one out there good enough to be a friend with good intentions. I know that there are and I have a handful of them which I adore. True friends are the ones that would never intentionally hurt you. They will always look out for you even if you are across the world and they will be strearn with you if you are headed in the wrong direction. So if you ever find a friend that makes you feel that way, make sure to let them know that they are appreciated. 

2. Success is not measured through richness

3. Start today

"I'll just start tomorrow." I know we all have said this at least once in our life. Procrastination is the road to self sabotage. Putting things off may seem like the best thing to do when you don't want to deal with it, but this is not a healthy method. Whatever you decide to do in this moment will determine what you turn out to be. Or in other words, your past actions has made you into the person you are today. You are leading your life and decisions that you make today might impact how you turn out later on in life. If you plan to be successful in whichever field, I suggest that you start somewhere today, rather than putting it off for another day. Start small, maybe a plan would help. Then progressively take actions that would eventually bring you closer to your goal. Today is the right time to start! Strive for what you are passionate about.

4. Be sincere

At the end of this life, no one is going to give you an award for the millions of dollar that you have but cannot spend since you're dead. People remember how to treated them and how genuine you were with them. Help others whenever you can, this can be on an scale but just be genuine and don't expect anything in return is the key. Besides, I know how easy it is to be negative and not see goodness in people. But take a leap and see the positive traits in every situation. This will change your life for the better. Even if others don't see it, it is fine because all that matters in the sense of peacefulness that you will feel when you genuine do these things. 

5. Think before you talk

It is easy to say things without thinking, and in this opinionated world, everyone feels like they are entitled to say something, doesn't matter if it makes sense or not. What we don't realise is how it impacts so many things. An example would be a rumour. Guess imagine if someone decides to spread a horrible rumour about you and how it would impact you, your job, your family, your lifestyle, etc. Yes it is just a rumour but this may push people to make drastic decision, especially if the rumour affects their status in this society. Your tongue is sharper than a knife so be careful with the word you decide to say. Not everything is meant to be joked about it. Process what you want to say and verify sources before you decide to share. 

So lately I had several encounters with people where the conversation was about something that I found sensitive. You must be wondering what could be the topic about? 

Well, it was about religious practices. 

For one, I believe that everyone should be given the opportunity to explore and find out the right religion that one wants to practice, whichever that resonates best with you. 

Perhaps being in Asia, this topic might be a little bit more sensitive as everyone thinks that their religion is the best and you shouldn't even have a conversation with others about it. 

Personally, I think everyone should be able to practice whatever religion they want. It shouldn't be a question at all, especially when the main aim of all religions is to make you a better person that you were yesterday. Or if existing religions are a little extreme and you prefer to be a unicorn, go for it! That's your call.

As parents, I do believe that you are responsible for guiding your children to be aware of the religion that you practice as a family. Not only that, teach your children why you practice things a certain why. And if you have no idea why there are certain practices dones, take some time finding out. I mean a blind cannot lead another blind and hope that things would be magically understood. Besides that, somewhere in the process, your children will mix with others with different religion and learn somewhat about other religions. They might be curious of why are there different religions and why different people have different practices. That is also your responsibility as a parent to advise them about other religions, even if you might not know much about it. There is definitely nothing wrong with knowing the basics of other religions, just to know and teach your children. Ignorance will be help educate the future generation. 

Once these children become adults, it is not your call anymore. Yes, you raised the child, but based on your direction and teaching, they must have been able to navigate through all of life's decisions. So take the opportunity to believe that you have taught them well enough and let them decide what they want. 

If you did not attempt to educate yourself to guide them in the right direction when they were children, it is your fault. But it still does not give you the right to control their decision after that point. Just because you did not question the beliefs and practices when you were young, that does not mean that kids in this generation won't question you. And when they question you, don't get offended because something right about your teaching has prompted them to think differently. Without proper guidance from parents, many children end up not understanding the importance of religions and tradition, and over time they don't practice it either, because they don't understand why they are even doing it in the first place. 

Yes, I understand the certain people do not think about this especially when it comes to raising kids, but it is a necessity. Educate yourself first. Always know why you do certain things. It is not mindful to do things because someone told you that you just should. We are so evolved and have all the access to find out more about everything, if only we wanted to. 

So challenge yourself by questioning why you practice something? It might be as simple as it gives you hope and peace. And this reasoning is enough. Also, never ever question others about their beliefs and religious practices in a rude way. Just like your religion is great, so is theirs. 

Most of us think that giving ourselves basic attention like having timely meals and getting sufficient sleep is considered self care, but no it is not. Self care is beyond that. It is simple things you do that brings a positive change to your life, especially during stressful times. 

I know that this pandemic has been difficult for most of us, especially the ones that has lost jobs and loved ones. This crisis is definitely unprecedented as it has caused vast disruption to our everyday routines, from our freedom to stepping out of our homes to travelling for a getaway. This past year has pushed us to reconsider many things, especially how we have been taking things for granted. Personally, one thing that I noticed is how I have been taking advantage of the times I had with my family before the pandemic. Currently I am stuck, alone without access to travel back to spend time with my family. As I do not usually socialise much, I do not have many close ones that I can spend time with and this has affected my mental health during these hard times. Luckily, I am still able to interact with people several times a week as I have to be in my office, so that has been a relieve. However, I cannot stress how important it is to keep in touch with close ones during this pandemic, just to keep ourselves and them going and show that you are there for them despite the distance. 

So here's a list of takeaways from this pandemic that we should have experienced;

1. Quality time.

For those who have the privilege of working from home and being with your family throughout this pandemic, trust me you are blessed. Normally most of us are in a constant loop of work and busy lifestyles that we do not realise that time is flying, our parents are aging, our children are growing up and all that we are doing is chasing money. Yes, I understand that an income is important and we need it to get through life, but it can never buy time and happiness. Therefore a good balance between quality family & friends' time and work life is necessary for a happy life. Because sometimes we don't realise what we have until it is gone, and it will be too late for us to regret it.

So if you have been neglecting your close ones, you need to STOP and make changes. Life is too short for regrets.

2. Travelling

I don't know what is it like wherever you are, but here where I am, there are international travel restrictions so there goes all my travel plans to an entire year. But alternatively I had the opportunity to explore places within my country. If you are anything like me, which is a person that loves to travel to different countries and explore different cultures, you surely know how horrendous it is to be unable to travel for a prolonged period. Nevertheless, this past year has pushed me to travel within the country and notice the many beautiful places that I never got to visit before. In a way, I am glad that I finally got to visit these places and know more about my own country and how interesting it is. 

If you have been sulking about not being able to travel overseas, take the opportunity to explore your own country. It might surprise you. And it will definitely help to boost the economy of  the travel industry of your country as well. So in a way you are doing your part to support your country. 

3. Dating

If you are in a relationship during this pandemic, I'm sure it is challenging to keep the relationship going especially when there are movement control restrictions which prevents you from travelling more than a certain distance from your home. So even if you live in the same area as your loved one, you might not be able to meet them and that surely isn't a pleasant feeling. It might even feel like a long distance relationship even if it isn't. But we are so blessed in a way because we have technology that allows us to 'see' our loved ones virtually throughout the day. I know it isn't the same as being together, but it is something that will make us appreciate the relationship better. This situationship might even test your relationship, so you either come out stronger than ever, or you will learn from it. Either way, I do see it as an opportunity to appreciate times we spend with our loved ones. We should live and love like we might not live to see another day. 

And not forgetting the single ones out there. This is a tough time to be single and alone, but always see every moment in life as an opportunity to become the best version of yourself before you convince anyone else of your worthiness. Start working out, learn things that you have always wanted to learn, start online dating if that is what you want to do. There are so many things we can learn virtually these days, so there shouldn't be anything holding you back. Somedays you might feel down and lonely, so make sure that you keep in touch with friends and family. You need to be happy with yourself before you start attracting your loved ones.

4. Remote working

As many of us have been working remotely since the pandemic, it shows how most jobs could have been done remotely with minimal hardware access. We are living in the best times where we can enjoy the privilege of cloud technology, VoIPs, virtual meetings, collaboration tools and etc. This has definitely saved us all a lots of money and time as we do not need to travel to work frequently, which saved money for fuel and also provides flexibility. 

Obviously, working remotely can also be challenging and may not be the best options for some people and this is evident based on the stats from Buffer; However, if we can encounter this challenges by making changes, we will definitely be able to integrate the change and adjust our lifestyles better to face this pandemic.

5. Online business

This is the best times to invest in online platforms. Whether you plan to start your own blog, youtube channel, online business, it is a good opportunity now because people have a preference for virtual shopping, learning and entertainment currently. Also, this generation has gotten used to buying things online which will save them the time of going out, looking for what they need. In addition to that, it is not difficult to set-up a online business if you are really interested in doing so. You just need to invest some time for research and have patience. Learn digital marketing as it will be very useful for you to promote your business as well. 

Those were the 5 things that I have learned from this pandemic. I am sure that there are more to it so let me know what are your thoughts about this pandemic. What were the challenges you went through and how you overcame it? Also, please share your advice for those who are still struggling in this situation. Besides that, the vaccine is also partially available in several countries and there has been controversies about it (I'm sure you have heard of it too). So what's your input about it? Are you ready for the vaccine or against it?

Do share your thoughts in the comment section guys!

Hope you enjoyed the read.

Have a great day/night wherever you are. 💙

Lots of Love, K 

 Hello and welcome to my blog. 

I am a person that sees the best in a every situation and people sometime think that I'm un-opinionated, which is not true because I truly am. Well I think generally we humans are pretty opinionated about most things. I just tend to not talk about my opinions because I believe that everything has its reasons and my opinions aren't going to change anything. I'm probably wrong but here we are. Nevertheless, I have challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone and to put some opinions out there, so this blog is my attempt to test the water.

I don't have a specific genre for this blog. It is going to be about anything that runs through my mind, which could be as bleak as how I can spend hours zoning out on certain days to the most controversial discussions. And of course, if you are reading and you think, well I wonder what's her opinions about this? Then just drop me an email or comment on my post, whichever you are most comfortable with and I would love to find out more about the topics and share my thoughts about it. However meanwhile, I will be sharing whatever that crosses my mind.

So that's what my blog in going to be about. 

A little about myself so you know whose mind are all these thoughts coming from. 

I am currently an engineer in the chaotic corporate world. Growing up, I absolutely loved writing and scripting play dialogues. I did write short stories back then, which probably got thrown away some time down the road. During university days, I had a blog that I wrote to keep myself busy, but over time I got busier and kept that aside. And after 5 years, here I am.. Back to doing what I love doing, writing. But this time it is challenging because I am attempting something new, which may or may not work out for me. Either way, it is going to be a learning experience and I really hope that all my readers enjoy the content. 

Have an amazing day wherever you are. 

Lots of Love, K