2018: My Year in Retrospect

Background: I started doing this "year in retrospect" exercise in the year 2015. Why? Because at the end of each year, we tend to rant that a year has passed by so quickly. But if you look back and reflect, surely, you must have done something throughout the year.  Now whether you consider these activities productive, good, fun or meaningful is another thing. But for me, that's entirely up to you - your own rules, your own metrics, your own definition of enjoyment and your own criteria of what's worth your time with the 365 days we've been given in a year. :)  As my motto goes - life is never too short if we live it well. :)

Here's my 2018 in retrospect (and in random order):

New things I tried:

-  I got into Essential Oils (EO). I now make my own moisturizer, serum, scents and oil blends for various purposes.   You can check out some oil recipes I've tried here. 

Source

-  I got into cryptocurrencies and altcoins, and also got a hardware wallet.  Price fluctuations have been really crazy this year that's why I haven't logged in for months. 🙈  I just have to document it here so that when they become valuable someday, I would remember I have some. 😂  

Source

Things I did to shake myself out of my comfort zone:

- Every year, there are goals on my list which I never get around crossing off coz they require a lot of time and since I have a day job, I only have the evenings and weekends to do all the things I want to do.  This year, I challenged myself to work on 1 or 2 things on my list.  I did complete one (yay!🙌) and partially did 70% of another one.  How did I finally have time to do them?  Which leads me to the next highlight of my year -

- I didn't go on a leisure trip or week-long vacations (only 1 trip to SG but it was for personal business).  2018 was tough at work. 😬 It was like a rollercoaster ride and I knew a long vacation just won't cut it out.  So instead of having a couple of week-long vacations, I decided to have 1-day breathers spread throughout the year so I could decompress more frequently and also to finally carve out time to do some of the things I've been wanting to do but always never found the time.   Find out how was the experience of 1-day breathers compared to long vacations here.

Some important realizations:

- Because I was trying to finish some personal goals in the evenings (and occasional office work too😬), I got a little delinquent with health and wellness (translation - I slept late and I wasn't  able to exercise regularly). The moment my body gave me signals,  I started making changes asap and that is why I only finished about 70% of my second goal.  I went back to prioritizing sleep and my physical activities  coz everything becomes immaterial if I end up getting sick. 😜  So late this year, I re-activated my exercise habits - swimming, brisk walking, 15-minute kickboxing or 3-minute planks. 😅   Take note, that's an "or", not an "and". 😂 

- When you prioritize to do some things, other things have to be pushed back.  So when I decided to do a couple of big things that are more time-consuming but more important, I didn't have time to do a lot of my other usual activities.  It is in times like this when you realize that time is finite that's why we have to use it wisely on things that matter. 🕰  Time and health are the two forms of wealth we usually take for granted but let's keep in mind that time is the only wealth which we were given equally and the only kind of wealth when once it's lost (i.e. time has passed), it can never be recovered. 😬

Number books I've read in 2018 - 11 books.   Here are my best reads for 2018:

The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.  The book is jampacked with Stoic teachings and inspiring stories.  The story that really moved me was that of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.  If you haven't heard about his story, read Rubin Carter's story here.

The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. It tackles about the principles of Adlerian psychology which are very thought-provoking.   How thought-provoking?   His answer to the question "What is the meaning of life?" is "Life in general has no meaning." 😱 But don't make any judgment. Find out why Adlerian psychology views life in general has no meaning. 

The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner.  It chronicles the lifestyle and outlook in life of the longest-living people on earth from 5 places - Okinawa, Sardinia, Icaria, Nicoya and Loma Linda.   

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.  There are so many practical nuggets of wisdom considering Aurelius wrote these personal reflections between 161AD to 180AD.  One of the most memorable for me is on death - that no matter what age one dies, the loss is equal. Why?  He explained - "...when the longest- and the shortest-lived of us come to die, their loss is precisely equal. For the sole thing of which any man can be deprived is the present; since this is all he owns, and nobody can lose what is not his."  More Aurelius' Stoic reflections here.

My best purchase for the year - a paper shredder. 😂  The ipad Pro and Apple pen come only next to the paper shredder. 😂   

New record - I was part of a wedding entourage for the 13th time.  And I thought I was already retired from being a bridesmaid the 12th time.   Always a bridesmaid, never a ... braid.  🙊😂  What were you thinking? 😂 I just meant I've never had my hair braided in any of the weddings where I was a bridesmaid. Wahaha... 😂

That's about it for my 2018 highlights - my own metrics, my own definition of enjoyment and my own criteria of what's worth my time in the 365 days of 2018. 😊

Happy new year!