The funniest thing is – it’s the third year and I am still writing we’re in the pandemic. It’s not done yet although it’s getting better in the continent that I am living in. Hopefully, when I look back next year, every part of the world will be able to live with Coronavirus and no more variants which get our life stuck in one single place.

Looking back at the blog I wrote a year ago, it reminded me of some wise words I told myself – “Just do that before you regret anything and when the opportunity cost is low”, “full-time job is not the only income source I can have”, “do it now or never”, “just a few years, find your path, go your own way, then go back with your questions answered”.

These days, I’ve been thinking about what holding me back from achieving things, what makes me stagnate and procrastinate… It must be a constant. There must be something wrong, always has been. So I decided to do my year-in-review differently in my twenty-seven turning twenty-eight, I need to find out what are my constant problems and how should I solve them. But before that, let’s do the past-year review as usual first.

What have I done in my twenty-seven?

1. I’ve achieved the purpose of “going abroad”.
   
   How lucky I made the decision to travel to the UK in the pandemic time. I am living my life ahead of many people. Here in the UK, we’re out of COVID (a.k.a. live with COVID) and everything’s back to normal, while many people are still stuck in their own continent. This year, I heard many people giving excuses for not achieving things due to COVID, in my opinion, some of them are just afraid of stepping out of their comfort zone. Trust me, I understand the excuses. It takes a lot of courage. All you need is to find something to outweigh COVID.
   
2. I’ve given myself much me-time although I am still figuring out what I want in my life.
   
   I detached from my family and friend circle just to give myself a break and see whether I can remove the FOMO habit. I’d say it’s a success.
   
3. I’ve become a proper grown-up.
   
   I have been living alone for more than a year in a foreign country. I am no longer being looked after by my parents (or my maid) in the bubble of safety and comfort. I have been doing my own household chores, washing my own clothes, cooking my own food and doing my own grocery shopping all the time.
   
4. I’ve landed a job in Europe which requires a lot of intercultural communication.
   
   I am very lucky. I landed a job in the town I live. It’s not a small company but a very well-established, long history one. To be frank, it was not the kind of lively company I expected but it did broaden my horizon in learning about the EMEA market and working with people from a different culture.

28 years in review, what problems I am constantly facing and needed to be solved?

1. I’m procrastinated most of my time.
   
   As I successfully gave myself a lot of me-time this year, I started to see it’s starting to become my excuse for procrastinating. I’ve always been giving too many excuses to myself for not doing something. In the past, it was because of work, because of not having enough me-time… but now when I have more me-time here in the UK, I am off work normally at 5 PM, I still procrastinate. So obviously, they are not the main reason for procrastinating. I procrastinate because I just do. I just get used to procrastinating.
   
2. I don’t have enough self-discipline in my lifestyle.
   
   Besides procrastination, I started to realize I am not getting my shit together. Like doing household chores, it took me 1-2 months for me to feel like I need to clean my room and change my bedsheet. I’m just so lazy. Even I paid for my gym membership, I couldn’t maintain the habit of going to the gym. Even I paid for an online course, I had an excuse for not completing the coursework… This leads to my next two points below.
   
3. I have too many excuses.
   
   I don’t think I need much explanation on this.
   
4. I am always wasting money.
   
   Obviously, this is due to not financially conscious enough and not seeing money as important enough. As I said in my previous point, I paid for something that I am not consuming. I still remember when I was in high school, I wasted a lot of money paying tuition fees for those extra tutorial classes outside school. I really regret it. It seems like a flaw in me of how I spend money like I am rich (but I am 100% not).
   
5. I keep changing my mind.
   
   Originally I would like to say I am not sticking to the goals I set for myself, but I feel like this is not a huge problem. It’s okay to live with no goal as long as you are happy with it. It’s okay if goals changed and you work on other priorities. But the thing is – I always change my mind, very inconsistent. I see this as a problem not because I want to quit this problem. I know it somehow attributes to my personality traits, always wavering in mind, very irresolute.

28 years, what are your special qualities?

Talking a lot about all those negative things, we always need to look at something in multiple dimensions. More appreciation and self-affirmation (my main theme of 2022). What have I changed/constantly done well?

1. I listen to my own inner voice and follow my heart.
   
   I like a lot of self-talk. Not just by blogging, but also when I am on my own wandering in the park, on a train ride or watching movies/shows, I think a lot. I started to realize I have this ability to catch the spark in my mind and brainstorm new ideas. Keep this up and follow my heart as always.
   
   I am genuine to myself and to all my true friends.
   
   Even this year I lost touch with many of my friends, I do still trust the intangible bonding between us. You don’t have to talk to that person often or meet them often. It’s all about what you experienced together, the quality time and the friendship building efforts that both have made. True friendship won’t collapse easily. I always have strong faith and confidence in friends. I am genuine and true to them. Only true friends stay.
   
   I’m a lucky girl, always have been.
   
   No further explanation is needed. I am blessed with love from my family and friends, also at work most of the time. Have faith in your strengths.

Epilogue

This is a very long blog. I guess it’s because I haven’t been writing any blogs recently and my writing skill is getting worse. I couldn’t manage to put my words precise and concise. More practice is needed. Anyway, some last words for myself to put an end to my 27.

We are all ordinary, we are not Elon Musk, allow yourself to be mediocre. You don’t have to walk the conventional path that people think you should walk to be mediocre. Just keep following what your inner voice says, do it while you can. All it takes to be a little bit different and unique is to get out of a rut sometimes, add some new ideas, create some sparks to your life. After all, we are still human being, isn’t it?

With what’s happening around the world, the wars, the pandemic, the climate and the freedom suppression, you realize how tiny you are, smaller than dust in the universe. Why bother? Why step back? Why not walk a baby step to help someone or do something? This too shall pass. Live in the moment and live life to the fullest.

You don’t have to catch the pace of the others. Life is not a race, it’s a path with different doors. Therefore, you need to walk along the path, reach the doors and open them. It’s a cycle. Sometimes you feel lost, it’s okay. There must be some moments in your life that you don’t know what to do, it’s okay. We’ll get there. Tell yourself, it’s alright.

Be good to yourself and if you are vacillating between two options, Look for the 3rd direction. Don’t let yourself to stay in the “Hanged Man” situation for too long. Still the mind for a short while, then work on it, get out of it.

Relooking into my goals, here are the ones for my 28

• Continue to do the UI design course and complete it
• Keep making music with my Novation Launchkey Mini III
• Cultivate a sports habit – gym, boxing, basketball, badminton or bouldering, you have to find one.
• Have I seen the world enough? No. Keep exploring the UK, Europe or even the wider world.

Last but not least, what are my birthday wishes? Stay healthy and spread peace. Cheers.

The post 28 Years In Review appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it’s time to think
Better beware, be canny and careful

“ Sixteen Going On Seventeen” from The Sound Of Music

I couldn’t lie as it’s actually a “plus ten” to the above ages.

Being an organized thinker is always a challenge to me but at that same time very essential as a good blogger. This year is very reflective. It was the beginning of the pandemic time when I turned twenty-six. Never would I have thought that this pandemic has lasted for more than a year, and very likely, it is not going to end soon.

Sometimes I went back to my old post – “After The Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next?”, to see how much I had achieved a year ago and what was my plan and future goal. I found it very useful to motivate myself to go further by seeing all those progress. Because of this, I am going to make another wrap-up article about my twenty-six and the upcoming plan for my twenty-seven.

What have I done in my twenty-six?

1. I worked so hard and OT a lot for the company — 
   Honestly, I did have the best manager and many like-minded coworkers back then. I was the fortunate one who was given a lot of opportunities at work, spent most of my time working day and night, at home and in the office. However, it’s the nature of work and the organisational structure that makes me feel sick. It’s normal for a company to be goal-oriented, but because of what I learned in uni about the importance of rewards & recognitions, I couldn’t really see that from the top management. They couldn’t seem to recognize it by heart and they just ask for more. It was surprisingly hierarchical in a young company and people have the norm to please their bosses by impressing the fake side rather than expressing the real side. Nothing to deal with me personally but I just get sick of the culture of people working as a cow while nobody would have seen it. Well, the attitude of “noted with thanks”.
   
2. I quitted my job for a “go-abroad” plan to the UK — 
   Then I realized how bad I became… Was it the peer influence within the workplace or the failure of self-control? I started all kinds of bad behaviours that would affect my health: I stopped doing exercise because I couldn’t squeeze any time for it, I got addicted to staying out late at night for social and chill, I worked till 3 AM and messed up with my sleeping schedule. After half-year of planning, I decided to quit the job and take on a new challenge of going to the UK for a working holiday, and perhaps, do a master’s degree. I was so determined to do that to retune my pace of life and search for purpose in life. I had a great farewell and was celebrated with colleagues who I love and who love me too. I still miss them but life goes on. I did all the preparation work before I left, applied for the visa, took the IELTS, rented a place to live, updated my CV, opened an overseas bank account, etc. I was so blessed that everything went on the right track.
   
3. I spent most of my time with my friends and my mum — 
   In those 3 months of “domestic vacation”, I went to staycations and had my first camping experience. I spent a lot of time meeting close friends, gangs from my secondary school, community college, uni, first and second job. I like the diversity and dynamic of every single group I have. Some enjoy drinking a lot, some play pokers and mahjong, some are so fascinated in playing board games, some are my all-time sports gang, and some are just into intellectual conversations. I love them all so much. That’s why it’s always hard for me to prioritize friendship as they all are important to me. I happened to meet some old friends as well because they heard of my news and would like to catch up with me, I like the 1-on-1 quality chat so much. Then here comes the best part of my life, I finally took more time to stay with my mum and sis, I was finally there living in the moment with them, because I used to be with them while thinking about work all the time. I accompanied my mum to do house viewing, look for a place to rent and live, finally contributed something to the family. Sometimes I feel guilty because of how I decided to leave them for my own good. But after all, I do believe that everyone should be responsible for and take charge of their own life. I have strong faith in doing this. I will be back after I finish my adventure.
   
4. I became bold in expressing myself — 
   One prominent change I have at the age of twenty-six is definitely how courageous and thoughtful I have become. It’s not just about work, but also in a relationship. I risked my friendship with a person and told that person about my thoughts straight from my instinct and gut feeling. During that period of time, I always said to myself, “just do that before you regret anything, the opportunity cost is low, then do it.” It’s the best timing to let go of any obsessions that drag you down. Been there, done that, don’t try again dwelling on the past, it’s way too doomy and devastating.

What have I learned and realized this year?

1. Don’t sacrifice your health just because you are young — 
   Last November, during the peak time of work, I worked overtime most of the days and sometimes I would express it out on social media. There was one time, my ex-colleague texted me, this is what she said, 
   “working can be fun and working with like-minded colleagues is amazing. But please don’t think working overtime is normal and working till midnight earns a medal. We should not work like that. Your company won’t appreciate it. Just think deeply, why do you have to work till late? So stop this bad habit as it affects your health. You might feel fine right now, but when you get older, you might realize it’s too late.” Her words stuck in my mind for a couple of days, I even shared them with my colleagues so that we could remind each other to take care of our own health as this ex-colleague suffered from breast cancer and could tell a really convincing story from what she experienced. Not long ago, this ex-colleague passed away. She reminded me again a week before she left this world in a virtual chat. I still kept her words in mind and I am 100% sure I will never forget. Thank you. I know you are in another world, but this is one of the biggest things I learned at twenty-six. Thank you so much for inspiring me though we are now apart. I will keep your positivity going.
   
2. A full-time job is not the only income source you can have — 
   After I quitted, I tried to look for something meaningful to do. I started learning how to invest in stocks during the pandemic time and earned my first profit from it. Then that is the moment when I finally realized what does it mean by passive income and you don’t need to rely on a full-time job for earning money. It doesn’t have to be doing direct selling, which will scare your friends away. Instead of being brainwashed, there are a lot of other options like making an investment, writing blogs, being an affiliate, working as a freelancer, etc. There is even a job called search engine evaluator online. In this digital era, it gives you more flexibility in making a living. I did some Udemy courses about how to earn money by blogging or by freelancing. To be frank, I still haven’t made a penny nor completed all courses, but those courses on Udemy are surely worth it as you have lifetime access to it, which means you can go back and revisit the content whenever you want. Luckily I realize this at 26, well, not too old, not too young. Better late than never.
   
3. Do it now or never. Don’t give room for yourself to regret —
   If “better late than never” is a phrase that we use when we are at a point right before we start to regret something, then “do it now or never” is a phrase that we use when we still have plenty of time before we realize that we will regret. Right before I left my hometown, I knew that I won’t come back in a short period of time due to the unpredictable government restriction and lockdown rules. I planned for so many things like “what if my family is selling the flat in these two years while I am in the UK, who is going to pack my stuff?”, “what if I become so depressed when I am alone in the UK if I don’t let things out before I leave?”, “what if I can’t rent a flat for myself after I arrive?” With all those things questioning myself, I worked my ass off to make sure things can go smooth before I regret it. Actions speak louder than words, but my words used to speak louder as I am always procrastinating. I love that my willpower was quite strong during that time, I threw most of the unnecessary things like the old textbooks and notes from secondary school to university, decluttered packed things into boxes so my family could locate the stuff easily when I am not there, made a back-up of all my photos and documents in a secured drive and kept looking for jobs and flats to rent before I arrive, not giving room for myself to regret. So determined and I could stop at nothing.
   
4. It’s important to be mindful and live an abundant life — 
   These few months, I did feel like I have become more mindful of living in the moment. Not just because I have become more independent and mature since I started living in the UK, doing all the household chores on my own, cooking my own meals and buying my own groceries. As growing up with a maid since I was born, I am honest to tell that my survival skill of living alone is really low. That was one of the reasons why I would like to take on the challenge of exploring a new city on my own. I need this experience to make myself stronger and get out of the way of feeling lonely, instead, embrace aloneness. I have indeed become more spiritual, and in some way, superstitious. There was a time I went for a walk at the park, wandered through the streets and appreciated the views and the history of the town that I am currently living in. I was so mindful that I went back home in a happy mood. That was the time when I saw the email of having a confirmed offer from the company that I really would like to get in. Isn’t it when you feel confident or think positive about something, then that something will really go in your favour? There should be a thing called the Law of Attraction.

What’s next?

1. Put that long-term goal in mind — 
   Now that I secured a full-time job in the UK and applied for a master’s degree. Almost everything has settled here. I know leaving my family is very challenging and hard, they are old and you somehow blame yourself for not being able to stay with them. This is a huge dilemma in my mind. I have to keep reminding myself to think about this in long term. You are just sacrificing a few years, somehow it will enhance your relationship with them when you are not physically there as you have more topics to talk about through frequent virtual chats, then that’s okay. But for your future career, you know that you don’t want to turn your head back again, you are fed up with marketing and would like to try something new, then keep going for it, explore what is right for you. Just a few years, find your path, go your own way, then go back with your questions answered.
   
2. Don’t feel old and always believe in the law of attraction — 
   As I mentioned, the law of attraction is always here. Think positive, be clear-minded and have faith in everything is possible. These are the best ways of living to live the best version of yourself. It is not “nothing to lose” now, but at least, you still have room to lose and fail. Every successful person experiences failure. Be young, young in heart. Be mature, mature in mind.
   
3. Follow your instinct and go for the things you want — 
   Unless the opportunity cost is high, there is actually nothing to stop you from doing it. I should feel lucky because someone cannot go explore at this age because he/she has to take care of their family, has a very high-paid job that couldn’t sacrifice, or has a stable relationship that everything requires mutual agreement with the companion. I am none of those. So I have the token for this adventurous ride, enjoy the most out of it and go for the things you want while you still can.

I am just twenty-seven going on a new land
Baby, it’s time to change
Better be there, be ready and mindful

At the age of 27, I wish that I could find my new career path, get on the track to financial freedom, everyone I know can stay healthy, the pandemic ends soon. The advice I will give to my future self is — keep considering the opportunity cost of life, if it is low, then there’s nothing to stop you from doing it. If it’s high, then you should prioritize what you can sacrifice and what you cannot.

So what’s next after the quarter-life crisis?
Blog more — on different topics, on thoughts
Drive more — practice my driving skill, drive like a cool dude
Keep fit — do exercise & diet control

– “After The Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next?” from Three Chillbees

“May the Force be with you, and the odds be ever in your favour.”

The post I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

“Break me down and build me up” – a similar meaning to the phrase “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”…

This powerful message, “break me down and build me up”, appears in the lyrics of the recent new hits by Imagine Dragons, “Whatever it takes” and “Believer”. But here I would like to focus my song appreciation on the latest hit — “Whatever it takes” as it’s my current motivating song.

Here are the lyrics:

Falling too fast to prepare for this
Tripping in the world could be dangerous
Everybody circling, it’s vulturous
Negative, nepotist

Everybody waiting for the fall of man
Everybody praying for the end of times
Everybody hoping they could be the one
I was born to run, I was born for this

Always had a fear of being typical
Looking at my body feeling miserable
Always hanging on to the visual
I wanna be invisible

Looking at my years like a martyrdom
Everybody needs to be a part of ‘em
Never be enough, I’m the prodigal son
I was born to run, I was born for this

Whip, whip
Run me like a racehorse
Pull me like a ripcord
Break me down and build me up
I wanna be the slip, slip
Word upon your lip, lip
Letter that you rip, rip
Break me down and build me up

Whatever it takes
Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do whatever it takes
Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains
Whatever it takes
You take me to the top, I’m ready for
Whatever it takes
Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do what it takes

Hypocritical, egotistical
Don’t wanna be the parenthetical, hypothetical
Working onto something that I’m proud of, out of the box
An epoxy to the world and the vision we’ve lost
I’m an apostrophe
I’m just a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see
I’m just a product of the system, a catastrophe
And yet a masterpiece, and yet I’m half-diseased
And when I am deceased
At least I go down to the grave and die happily
Leave the body of my soul to be a part of me
I do what it takes

Lyrics: Whatever It Takes – Imagine Dragons

THREE reasons why I love this song:

1. The wide range of vocabularies and metaphors

English is not my mother tongue but the use of English from this song is undoubtedly sophisticated. Similar to Ed Sheeran’s hit (“What do I know?”) of putting “exponential growth” into his lyrics, the lyricist put an uncommon word, “adrenaline”, in the chorus of the song, I guess everyone will agree with me that the sentence – “adrenaline in my veins”, comes naturally and fits perfectly there.

More than that, many metaphors used and some words that we won’t commonly use when we’re talking with others like “vulturous” (to describe the behavior like the vulture), “prodigal son” (to describe a person who lives a lavishing lifestyle), “parenthetical” and “apostrophe” (to describe a person as the characteristics of a common symbol)

2. An unconventional and the most motivating bridge ever

I would say, seldom have I heard of a bridge like this, with rich content and wide use of vocabularies (mentioned above). The bridge starts with the words, “Hypocritical, egotistical…”, It brings out the emotion from the singer that he admitted his flaw of being so arrogant, but in contrast, he does not want to be “parenthetical and hypothetical”, this is a paradox, a personal controversy that a person will always have.

Then in the next sentence, the lyricist tells the audience that as long as you are thinking out of the box, being like “an epoxy” to hold the divided world together, being like “the vision” that guides the others’ visions… basically, something that you are proud of, it does not matter it’s something small and insignificant like an “apostrophe” as long as it makes a drastic change (the more you can see).

Everyone is just a product of the system, sometimes a “catastrophe” to others, but you are always the “masterpiece” to yourself. For this, you do whatever you take to live your own life and be yourself without making yourself regret it. Wooow…! (*deep breath!*)

3. “Break me down and build me up”

This is the core message of the entire song. “Run me like a racehorse, pull me like a ripcord”, the lyricist uses the metaphors to tell – no matter how painful it was, it will make me even stronger. Like racehorses, they run faster with the whip; Like the ripcords, they are tightened up but it makes the other safe. Regardless of the highs or the lows, always remind yourself to be stronger than ever before after failure, don’t do the shortcut but do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get through!

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

I would say this song is highly recommended to not only those who need motivation but also to those who would like to advance their English level because of the use of words and language.

This is just my personal opinion and I am looking forward to reading more analysis and interpretation of this song since this is a new hit and I can’t really find much analysis of this song.

Not many songs can catch my attention to interpreting song analysis or searching for the analysis of the lyrics, but when it does, what I read or learned from the lyrics always surprised me.

Music is a kind of therapy. Words and stories immerse into the melody. They are called Lyrics. Sometimes you find the reason why you exist in the world from the lyrics, sometimes you find the reason why you couldn’t let go of things or a past relationship, you get hints from lyrics and it’s like your only soulmate in the silent darkness.

Cheers to all the lyricists who bring a song to life and be the greatest mentor to many lives!

• PosCreActive – Positive, Creative, Active
• After the Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next?
• Master the New Skill: DGAF

The post “Break Me Down and Build Me Up” appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

Have you found your own self-motivating song?

In every piece of music, lyrics tell half of the story (and the other half is the melody), and if there is a time that you find the lyrics are actually doing 100% great, which means the 50% of the music itself is perfectly done since it’s actually exceeding double of normal music… Then, you know this is a piece of well-written music.

When you were standing in the wake of devastation
When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown
And with the cataclysm raining down
Insides crying, “Save me now!”
You were there, impossibly alone

And in a burst of light that blinded every angel
As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars
You felt the gravity of tempered grace
Falling into empty space
No one there to catch you in their arms

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope, but failure’s all you’ve known
Remember all the sadness and frustration
And let it go. Let it go

Lyrics: Iridescent – Linkin Park

Appreciating the lyrics:

Negative words appear in each line of the lyrics (bolded). This song is too special to me as it demonstrates how a lyricist turns the “negativity” to “positivity,” with just a simple message to deliver: “Let it go.” That’s why I see it as a self-motivating song.

—

Just told a friend that this is one of the best songs on my self-motivating song list. Life is not about a single person nor a single thing, you cannot hold on to that tabasco sauce and miss out on the whole piece of pizza… You have a precious and lucky life in excellent condition. Look around yourself and you’ll see this world is much bigger than you thought it was. Aren’t all these just some simple philosophies in life that everyone should have known? Well… you always know it, but you never act accordingly, and that’s also why we are human beings.

• PosCreActive – Positive, Creative, Active
• “Break Me Down and Build Me Up”
• Master the New Skill: DGAF

The post Have You Found Your Own Self-Motivating Song? appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

DGAF a.k.a. Don’t Give A Fuck

Sometimes if you like a good quality of a person, you want to be like him/her. There is a kind of person that I really admire and appreciate – the person who doesn’t give a fuck to things that are not important to them. They are clear about why are they not interested in things and don’t mind if they are not involved in some kinds of uninteresting discussions around them.

DGAF is a skill/quality that I think it’s essential to every human being. Many things happen in life, and you have to prioritize what is important to you and what is not. The skill of DGAF is a perfect one to help you filter unnecessary distractions. Honestly speaking, what I am going to say is not something new, they are all adopted as I took reference from books and what others said. I just would like to summarize some good points that have to be highlighted for people like me.

Learning about DGAF is not easy, it requires a change of mentality. Actions are everything for learning. Here are some action steps for those who want to master the skill of DGAF (adapted from the book: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck, I might have trimmed some points or added some elaboration on each point):

1. Take responsibility
   You are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Accept your responsibility. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you interpret and respond to what happens to you.
2. Let the pain come at you (sustain the pain)
   Embrace the uncomfortable as acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience. Suffering is inevitable if you want to be successful. As failure is necessary for success. When you face the pain, ask what you can do now but not why will that happen. When you find your life goals, ask what pain do you want in your life and what are you willing to struggle for. Welcome the pain and act despite it. No pain, no gain.
3. Don’t be so certain
   It’s told that certainty is the enemy of growth. Search for doubts in your life. You’re always wrong and never be right. Be humble to learn from mistakes and give yourself room to learn. As you go from wrong to less wrong, you open up the possibility of change and bring the opportunity for growth. “The man who is certain that he knows everything earns nothing”.
4. Don’t think that you are exceptional
   You’re simply not special and don’t title yourself in a very specific way. Give yourself identities (e.g. teacher, trainer, creator, friend, student, traveler, etc.) Yes, make it a broader one.
5. Just do it (Action → Inspiration → Motivation → Action)
   It’s a cycle. First, you do, then you get inspired. You get motivated from that and start doing. Don’t wait for your passion to come. You don’t follow your passion, you do first and passion follows you.
6. Quality > Quantity
   Live with less, as you are happier with less. With less, you don’t stick in the paradox of choices and you’re more concerned about living in the moment. Like sleeping, a better quality of sleep means a lot than the quantity of sleep.
7. Commitment matters
   I learned a new word “FOMO” from the review of this book on Youtube. FOMO means the fear of missing out. When you’re more committed, your FOMO decreases as you are clear about your position and what you’ve done. Then it’s an important step to DGAF.
8. Remember you will die anyway
   You will die one day, why matters? So appreciate your life more and be more humble when facing adversity.

“The only way to be comfortable with death is to understand and see yourself as something bigger than yourself; To choose values that stretch beyond serving yourself, that is simple and immediate and controllable and tolerant of the chaotic world around you”

They are the essential steps to DGAF. After you follow these steps, you change your own mentality, then you know what matters to you in life, or for yourself. Then you know there are actually many trivial things that are not worth your attention. DGAF will definitely lead us to a better life.

• PosCreActive – Positive, Creative, Active
• After the Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next?
• Have You Found Your Own Self-Motivating Song?

The post Master the New Skill: DGAF appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

Coming up with the idea of “PosCreActive” is not a random pop-up thing in my mind. I always see myself as an idea-driven person who values the importance of raising new ideas (well… maybe it’s not an absolutely new one, but at least it could be some mix and match things). People describe me as a “campaigner”, so does the MBTI test. When they see me, they see the word “CAMPAIGN” on my face. And yes, I like making campaigns, to be concrete, interesting things.

So, what exactly is “PosCreActive”? what does it mean to me? why do I have to develop this term? It’s all because I want to create something new, for my own campaign (in the future maybe) or for my own motto… simple enough. PosCreActive = Positive, Creative and Active. In the past, I used to be a happy and cheerful person, but somehow, when a person grows, he/she learns different things through failure, challenges, and stress… that’s how my life has gone through too. (maybe just 20%). I should say, due to things are changing in my life, so does my own qualities… not really a bad or good thing, but just that I believe something I thought was good and awesome about myself… has to keep for sure! And here they are: Positive, Creative, and Active.

By possessing these 3 adjectives as a person and living my life with them, I feel like I could always be a happy and cheerful person. Tho sometimes negativity and stress may come and go against your belief… yes, they broke some parts of me… but I should say… those hurts are now repairing and makes me love myself even more than ever before.

I hope I create a brief introduction about myself with my own philosophy. (phoebe’s philosophy = phoelosphy)

It’s been more than a year since I was writing my blogs day and night. Knowing that this was a good habit of mine…. I cannot let this fade anymore… Recently, I have been receiving a lot of comments from others about me. Here they are and my goal of writing this blog is to tackle them all:

1. “You are not the Phoebe we used to know because you are really negative atm.” (By those who know what kinds of obstacles I have gone through recently)
   My solution: Stop spreading negativity to your friends. People don’t want to stay with people who are negative. Say more positive things through the first step: write more. or at least try to write down negative things but not spreading them out.
2. “Your words are 80% opinion-based, 20% fact-based” (By those who have been my working partners for one whole year)
   My solution: Talk in a more objective way, express less “feeling”, express more “facts” and “views” with evidence. This will make me more knowledgeable and tough indeed.
3. “What’s your competitive advantage?” (Well… I actually made this up by myself)
   My solution: Explore my strengths and weaknesses… to find the best fit of jobs/friends/anything…….

this is also a good way for me to develop habits, train up my thinking capacity and improve my writing skill.

Expressing is always better than impressing. I love my life and can’t wait to share what I think with all of you.

I believe this is not a well-written piece because I am writing it in the middle of the night without any well-articulated wordings and grammar. (I call it “impulsive writing”)

Yeah! Done with my first post here~ Go ahead and don’t let this stop. This is how I become self-motivated after depression.

Cheers 

• “Break Me Down and Build Me Up”
• After the Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next?
• Master the New Skill: DGAF

The post PosCreActive – Positive, Creative, Active appeared first on Three Chill Bees.

Haven’t blogged in a while. The pandemic, Coronavirus, has affected our social life. The patterns of how we interact with friends have changed, making conversation and interaction a hard part. Perhaps it’s a time for people to stop and think, spend their me-time, in this 2020, to think about how to progress further?

Back to the main topic — After the quarter-life crisis, what’s next?

Honestly, I don’t really like the term “quarter-life crisis” and feel that my life at this age of 25 has nothing to do with the “quarter-life crisis”. The reason why I am raising this is simply that there was one time my friend mentioned this when she just got to the age of 25, then I started to realize there’s a term describing this phase of life. Here comes the law of attraction — if you think it is, it is; if you think it’s not. it’s not. Simple rules guiding our life, we cannot be manipulated by such thoughts. I am writing this to give myself a good wrap-up to my 25 before turning to 26 in a week after.

For me, my 25 have been a challenging yet meaningful age. I kick-started my first day of 25 after a meaningful work trip to Quy Nhon, Vietnam in March with my best working buddy, strong shooting crew, and a sociable celebrity (not the best but at least an easy-going one). That’s an amazing experience. After that, I started working on several carnival events, thinking of initiatives for fundraising in my previous job, well, something new to think of but it’s not something new to learn. Then I changed my job, met some new friends, devoted a lot to brainstorming new ideas and finding my worth at this new scope of work. Let’s make some bullet-points on what I’ve achieved/done at age of 25 in the quarter-life crisis stage as I’ve never been an organized thinker:

• Striving for excellence: Reached the campaign fundraising targets for my specific KPI in the middle of the year, the campaign I managed was one of the biggest campaigns of the company — yes, that’s related to my first ever PR-related work trip as mentioned earlier. I was expecting a promotion in mid-year but somehow I got disappointment due to some organization politics — bitch gossiping around, a different political stance at work that caused some misunderstanding/miscommunication with my mentor/boss — ended up I wanted to demonstrate my devotion out of all those wrong perceptions so I worked really hard to prove something — I’m confident to tell I’ve been the best employee there due to my passion and devotion — I made insightful content sharing and brought in new solutions that would drive our NGO further. That’s what I’d been doing before I left that NGO.
• I’ve been a lucky girl: Successfully held the Mongolia field trip in August — that’s a roller-coaster experience that I would never forget. People went on strike on the day and the day before I had to take the flight with 18 donors. I got to plan and thought of a contingency plan just in case there’s a flight cancellation or delay, thought of every scenario so that I could prepare for my communications with my donors. I was panic but had to keep calm in front of my donors and colleagues who relied on me on every single decision since I’m the only one with so much traveling experience. Thank God we ended up just delaying a bit with the support from my Mongolian colleagues, shouting out to Uno, Tunek, and Chimgee, because at any time it could be canceled due to the social movement, but it’s just damn fortunate with all those support and luck. (every trip has its roller-coaster situation and perhaps next time I should write a blog post relating to that)
• Become more aware of what’s happening in HK: I guess that’s the same to every single HK, not just me, because of the extradition law crisis, the HK government sucks. We all know it and I started some controversial conversation with friends with different stance, how dare me explaining a lot to them. Never thought I would do this. Joined social movements and elections to fulfill my civil responsibilities and roles.
• Did something related to education: I went back to my secondary school to hold some activity-based learning games — mentioned this in my 2019 wrap-up so I’m not going to talk much here.
• Changed my job: This was always my goal of 2019 or for my 25 as I had been working for my past employer for more than 3 years. If I’m still sitting, waiting for the damn promotion doing nothing, I know I’m gonna spend my life staying in my comfort zone. Honestly, leaving my past job as hard as it’s truly my best experience… I loved my workplace, colleagues, the purpose and meaning of work, it’s like the perfect job in life. But I knew I had to do this. Then I started my job hunting in May, the first time in those three years, I started writing my CV, uploading to job-hunting apps, sending it to headhunters, looking for the right job. I’m lucky that I’ve got four great companies approaching me — big and small ones, but all are those fields that I would like to tap into. I ended up resigning after getting my first offer in a small start-up that works for talent recruitment for tech companies, it’s true that I really like their rationale as I was one of their students studying UX/UI (keep learning is the point). It offered me an appealing job position and salary package. Another one was a social enterprise — I passed all interviews but ended up not even thinking about it because that’s one company that matched every criterion I set — a well-known company, travel, global scale, start-up — well that’s the company that I’m working with now.
• Got promoted in 6 months: Again, how fortunate I was. With a good supervisor, she’s my good friend now as well, good colleagues who like messing around with me. Our boss isn’t that unbearable and holds faith in me. Honestly, I did think of quitting due to the unbalance of work and life, the dislike of routine work, I even started planning my year of 2020 for job hunting/career jump. But with the current situation (COVID-19), I guess not making any move is the best move — telling my ex-boss about this idea too. I am so fortunate in such a hard time I still got to promote, got to earn money and bonus, got to do and try something new at work. Let’s keep going and see what’s happening next. Be more devoted and take more ownership with such reward and encouragement. Cheers!

I’ve been a super lucky girl in 25, the Mongolia trip, the recognition from my past employer (tho it’s not at the right timing), the promotion received currently were the proofs, learned a lot from past experiences, telling people I am mature enough to make a decision. I had gone through a lot since the trip to Ethiopia in 2018. I am always the kind of person who likes to reminisce the part, very nostalgic, well perhaps this is a bad habit too. So I’m gonna based on all these achievements, what I’ve done well, do bad, then improve it at age of 26 — life is too short, you just can’t waste any single bit of life, but sometimes taking a break like what we are doing now staying at home is necessary.

Here are some resolutions for my age of 26 after the quarter-life crisis (6 days later, I’m turning 26, to me, I’m still young as hell, keep this young mind moving):

• Stop overthinking, stop overreacting — recently I’ve been overthinking a lot. Building up a romantic relationship with someone has always been an issue to me, I couldn’t get to someone that close as I would have uncontrollable thoughts in mind that would drain me off. Focus on the me-time.
• Keep learning new things — with the recognition at work, I need to take up more responsibilities, “the greater the authority, the greater the responsibility”, I think I need to ignite my passion in this field and role. Start loving what I am doing more. Plan ahead of what can make me excel. Should I learn more about GA, about Performance Marketing? That’s the work part. What about the life part? Should I learn new sports/languages/interest? Or maybe get another license in something else? (Got the rock climbing license last year)
• Work/Study abroad — Perhaps I need to set a timeline for this part. This has always been in my mind… Recently I saw an appealing job ad — hell, that’s my first time in life feeling there’s something that I really want that makes me hard to breathe… I am not joking, I really want it — the only thing that has held me back is simply because of the virus situation that makes me hard to travel around now and we can’t even foresee when will it end. That’s damn sad. Perhaps this should be like by the end of my 26’s goal? (originally thought it could be June/July — but now perhaps start planning in June for the next March?)
• Get my shit together — As said I am so unorganized… no matter my thoughts, how I express, how I act, like everything… I am damn unorganized… stuff cluttering around the house… haven’t done any photo back-up since last April… my wardrobe is like hell, filled with so many clothes that I am not wearing.

So what’s next after the quarter-life crisis?

• Blog more — on different topics, on thoughts
• Drive more — practice my driving skill, prepare for my next road trip, drive like a cool dude
• Keep fit — do exercise (squash is a good choice) & diet control

See you next time!

(archive from my old blog dated on March 22, 2020)

• PosCreActive – Positive, Creative, Active
• “Break Me Down and Build Me Up”
• Master the New Skill: DGAF

The post After the Quarter-Life Crisis, What’s Next? appeared first on Three Chill Bees.