Goodbye 25 and Hello 26 ...

Just a few minutes left and I will turn into 26 (well, by the time this post is published, I'm 26 already)

Goodbye, 25. Thanks for all the moments I have been through

I must say, it was one of the most important periods of my life so far. I have learned so many lessons within this year, tried to figure out who I want to be, what is my mission, found the way to appreciate and nurture my true self as the way it is.

And I'm writing this post to recap my 25, my key learning :)

1) Career path:

- New position, struggled to handle all tasks on my own. Learned that business is business and you can not take your personal emotion into it.

- Left my first job (been there for more than 3 years, my colleagues had become my best friends, my second family)

- Suffered in a new environment, doubted my capability, took a look at myself and found a way to fit in.

- Developing a new skill set for the new environment.

- Last but not least, defining my career path for the next stage. (the most important objective at the moment)

2) Mind & Body:

- Took a Brand Marketing course: learned and structured my knowledge, rearranged my way of thinking. And the best thing was I not only learned a lot from both coaches and my teammates but I also overcame much pressure from work and finished this course. Our team even won the best presentation on the final exam. Hard work was really paid off.
One more thing, I'm grateful that my team and I still keep in touch and every time I meet them, I learn a new thing and we always have a great conversation on many topics.

- Zumba: attending a Zumba class every week. At first, I danced awkwardly but then I pushed away my shyness, learned to release the whole body, and feel the music. Zumba really makes a great impact on both body and mind 'cause I don't have a chance to think about my problems while trying to keep up with the dancers. It helps to get my mind off the troubles for a while and push the stress away. Finally, my body movement is way better now and after every class, I feel joyful and refreshed.

3) Soul:

- Heart-broken: my summertime sadness. Somehow we crossed paths in life, did have a great time together, and ended everything with respect and kindness.

- Surrounding myself with great friends and family. The time when I felt hurt and vulnerable, my friends and family always opened their arms, comforted me, and made me feel loved and treasured. Yes, I'm so grateful that I have such amazing friends who have been there for me and helped me overcome my sadness.

- Meeting new friends: I have made several new friends this year, many of them have become my close friends. We exchange thoughts, points of view and I must say that I learn a lot from them. Thanks for being a part of my life.

4) Personal growth:

- Changing the workspace also changed my perspective and way of working. I cool down my hot temper and stay calm to solve the problems.

- Start writing a blog: although I may be the only reader of this blog, I still love writing it. I find joy in writing and so far try to define the content direction for this blog.

5) Fun facts:

- Total countries visited: 3 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore)

- Total cities/provinces visited: 9

- Total books read: 12

- Book that took the longest time: Sophie's world (almost 5 months to finish this book) - a book about the history of philosophy.

- Book that took the shortest time: Murder on the Oriental Express - only 01 Sunday to finish this detective book because I couldn't put it down until the end of the story.


Dear 25, you have been so good to me so far. Thanks for bringing me lots of great experiences. Goodbye to you and thanks again for everything.

Hello 26, please come in!

Written by Norah

Aug 5th, 2018

Happy birthday to me !!!

Spreading the kindness and positiveness

Nowadays, if you pick up a newspaper or turn on the news on TV, you may easily see or hear a lot of information about the chaos occurring around the world such as wars, corruption, politics, homicides, and robbery.

These things make us doubted the world, is that such a scary place?

I do think that everything has both good and bad sides, just like yin and yang. We can not reject that injustice, discrimination, violence, abuse, and poverty are still out there and become a burden for many people. However, good things also happen in our daily life, for example, love, friendliness, sharing, forgiveness, kindness, learning, and improvement.

So it's a matter of what perspective we choose to see the world.

I'm practicing finding the good and positive side in every situation I'm into because I believe that every challenge that life throws to me is the way the Universe tries to communicate and teach me to become a better person. And from my experience, everything that I have been through makes me who I am today.

However, I do not mean that we just simply ignore the negative things. It's the inconvenient truth that we have to face and make it a motivation urging us to do something, even small things to change the circumstances. Have you heard about the Butterfly effect? A small change can make a big difference.

For me, the small change that I have made is changing my Facebook news feed. Yes, I started to clean it up by stop following some pages, asking myself the question "Is this the type of content that I want to read every day?" And by far, I'm thankful for making that decision because now, I can focus on the important ideas that are valuable to me.

One day, I found the page Nas Daily through a recommendation from my friend.

Nas Daily is a page run by a group of young people, making a 1-minute video every day. Initially, this page was launched by Nuseir Yassin. And on the way of making the inspired 1-minute videos, he has attracted many people to join his team or become his supporters. This page now has more than 7 million followers on Facebook with an average of 1 million views per video.

So the question is how they can make that great impact?

What Nas and his team are trying to do is spreading positiveness. They tell us the stories of innovative people around the world, how they contribute to make their country a better place, how human values should be treasured. By far, they have been an inspiration for a lot of people, including me. Watching their videos makes me realize that despite many conflicts and discrimination, our world is still a good place full of potentials and diversity.

Moreover, they connect people from around the world in the group "Nas Daily Global" This is not an ordinary travel group, it is a place where you can read incredible stories from other people. These stories have helped to open my mind to new viewpoints and motivated me to appreciate the differences.

So if you're interested in the above ideas, check out this video, it's my favorite: https://www.facebook.com/nasdaily/videos/1085290271623124/

The second group I want to mention is Girls gone global (by Dear Alyne). However, sorry guys but this group is only for girls.

Why?

Because the aim of this group is to create a comfortable environment for every girl to share their thoughts without worrying about being judged or misunderstood.

In this group, there are many topics to discuss every day of the week:

1) OPEN TOPIC SUNDAY and MONDAY
2) TALENT TUESDAY -or- CAREER TUESDAY
3) WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
4) TRAVEL THURSDAY
5) FEARLESS FRIDAY -or- FEMINIST FRIDAY
6) RELATIONSHIP SATURDAY

By far, I have read a great number of inspirational posts in this group.
Some of them are about girl empowerment through real-life experience, which motivates all the girls to be strong and do whatever you are passionate about.

Some of the posts show the reluctance, concerns, fear, and thought of many girls out there. Being a girl in today's world is both a gift and a challenge. Yes, with the evolution of women's rights, our girls have been released from many outdated customs and boundaries but not every girl is treated well, and sometimes, we have to face discrimination, the outdated prejudice along the way.

What I do learn from these posts is every girl has trouble to solve, a challenge to overcome, and somehow we are trying to fight as hard as we can. With the support from this group, it seems like our girls are given more power to do everything we desire and as a statement for Alyne: "This is a place to share and build your friendships, to learn about how to fulfill your dreams, and to feel LOVED!"

Well, I would like to end this post with an image that really expresses my opinion

Written by Norah

5 am in the morning

[My bookshelf] The hundred year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared

It's funny that right in the label of the book, you already know its story.

Yes, this book is about a 100-year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared.

Sound weird huh?

Then, if you think of a 100-year-old man, what would he look like?

Is that a man with grey hair, shaking legs, wearing glasses, a pair of slippers, and old pajamas?

Yes, apparently Allan Karlsson had that typical look, but he was far from an ordinary old man.

On his 100th birthday, he decided to escape the retirement home, climbed out of the fence, and went right to the travel agent. All of a sudden, at the travel agent, Mr. Karlsson stole a suitcase from an angry young man coming from a drug gang and got away on a bus to Strangnas.

The book followed Allan through his past and present adventures. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan’s earlier life in which – remarkably – he lived through three important events of the twentieth century: World War 1, World War 2 and even became an important participant standing behind the scenes of many historic decisions during The Cold War.

The most interesting feature of this book is how the author - Jonas Jonasson placed the protagonist who had no interest in politics or religion, in such political dilemmas.

Allan's carefree acts (sometimes I must say silly acts) unexpectedly impacted the history of the century. He helped to create a nuclear bomb, met, drank vodka, and became friends with the world politicians from two hostile sides: The Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union) and The Western Bloc (The US and NATO allies)!!

Jonas Jonasson used his imagination to connect all of the historic events and link them with the life of Allan Karlsson. Although this is a fiction book, somehow you can see the whole vibrant picture of the twentieth century, especially the Cold War through the eyes of Sweden - a neutral country.

In my opinion, this book is crazy, cleverly funny, and really worth reading. I think the review from the Telegram is the best description for this book: "It’s a silly romp, but the loopy novelty of it can be very entertaining."

PS.: This is my first book review and I want to choose a recent book that I can not put down until the last page. Though this book received mixed reviews on Goodread (some people consider it too tedious, exaggerated, and annoying), I still think it's worth a try and recommend it as an entertaining choice for your reading journey.

A Thursday morning

Written by Norah

About me - About my blog

Hey, welcome to my blog! 
First of all, let me explain why I create this post. Well, I think that 500 letters in the given description box are not enough to describe my ideas. Therefore, I write this post to say something about myself and the reason why I started this blog.

Here are 3 things about me :)

1. I'm an introvert. 

Yup, there are many stereotypes about introverted people.

Being an introvert doesn't mean that I'm always shy and anti-social.
In fact, I like talking in small groups, especially a group of close friends or people I enjoy talking to.

It also doesn't mean that I'm afraid of the crowd. I enjoy making a presentation in front of a big crowd. However, I will need more time to prepare before the presentation and after that, more time to recharge my energy.

Some fun facts about my introverted personality:

- Being an introvert, I tend to listen more and observe more. It helps me notice, feel, and remember things that other people may leave out.

- I prefer to share my thought and feeling with people I'm comfortable with.

- I don't like conflict and tension. However, they are part of life and I can not avoid them. So if I need to stand up for what I believe, I will fight for it strongly.

2. I love food, music, travel, and books (so many things huh?)

Who doesn't love food? haha

I enjoy trying new dishes, especially in places that I have never been to. It's not only about eating but also a new experience (sometimes a challenge if that dish doesn't taste good :D)

Music is an essential part of my life. I listen to many kinds of music. Actually,  it depends on my mood which changes rapidly =))

I now prefer instrumental music (Yiruma is my favorite artist) and start listening to jazz (inspired by the movie La la land). They are my relaxing, reading, and concentration music.

I still love soft music like Pop and Ballard. Well, they are classified as my up-mood and sing-along music :D

Travel is my inspiration. My goal is to travel to all ASEAN countries before turning 30.

I have been to Vietnam (my hometown), Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia

Traveling has helped me to open my mind, broaden my knowledge, and get out of my comfort zone.

I love making plans for my trip and reading hundreds of reviews is one of the most fascinating things that I enjoy.

Books: Yup, I love books because there is no better way to travel to another world than by reading. I love the feeling of going on an adventure on every page, that's when my imagination flies high. Sometimes, I can finish a book within one day because I can not stop following the protagonists' deduction or their thrilling journey.

The second reason why I love books is that I do appreciate the difference in point of view. While reading a book, you will see what the characters see and feel the way they feel. Standing in their shoes, you may perceive the situation differently.

In my opinion, the difference makes our world diverse. Therefore, if we learn to appreciate the difference in the perception of each person, the world will be a better place.

3) I believe in Karma.

Ya, and it's not related to religion. In fact, it's a rule of life: what goes around, comes back around. Every action has a consequence. So if you choose to do good things, you will attract good energy and good things will come.


About my blog: What is it about?

Well, as per a friend's suggestion, I intended to create a travel blog at first. But then I think that I may have other subjects to write about besides travel, so I create a blog in which I will put many aspects of my thought on. It's a way to express my ideas, my opinions, my attitude to the world.

Why do I want to keep the positive vibe on this blog? 

To answer this question, I must say that I'm not always an optimistic person.
Therefore, I want my memorable experiences and key learning saved on this blog, so whenever I feel moody, sad, depressed, or lonely, I can read over again all positive articles and release myself from the pressure and bad energy.

I also hope the positive vibe from this blog can help you too.

Besides, as a post on Pinterest, writing is also a good method to improve yourself. Therefore, by writing this blog, I hope that I can be a better person every day.

Hope you enjoy reading this blog and looking forward to your sharing :)

P.s: I make a commitment to myself to publish a post every 02 weeks so that I won't be lazy and bailout from this personal project. Currently, each post (even short post) takes me around 3-4 days to draft out the idea, write, and edit. I'm still working on improving the content of this blog so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to send me your feedback. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

Photo source: Pinterest - Lifehack

28/06/2018

Written by Norah