"So the real problem is I've been feeling rather down lately. It may be hormones. But it may also be because I realize I'm turning 25 in 22 days time, and I'm hitting a quarter life crisis. I feel like I am complaining to myself and to anyone who bothers to listen, about not knowing what I want to do with my life, especially career-wise, but not actually doing anything to change that. This is the kind of attitude in people that I despise the most, and yet I'm now the biggest culprit. I know that half the job is getting started, but I don't know where to start. Or what to get started on.

Be right back while I contemplate."

I wrote that in July 2016 and never got around to finishing it. Forgive me for this year long procrastination. I think by now it's pretty clear which one of us two is an avid writer and which isn't *shameless smirk*.

Looking back at what I've written, I would say that I've changed (progressed?) a lot in one year's time. There has been major changes in my career, relationship and social life. I'm no longer working in the same company, mainly due to the lack of direction and the sense that most of the things I did was futile. Nevertheless, I did grow and learn a lot more about myself in the two and a half years I spent there. I've since worked freelance and also had more time to focus on Square One, which did flourish and was something I truly enjoyed. After a few months of that, I decided to go back into working full time, mainly due to the need for a more stable revenue stream. I've since put the Square One business on hold, as there was simply too much going on at the same time, but I do intend on re-opening it once everything is settled.

Relationship-wise, I made the choice of moving on to something that I felt is more right for me in the long-term. It was the scariest and hardest decision of my life, but it's a choice I made after some deliberate thinking. This is still a bit of a sensitive topic as of right now, so more on this later.

In terms of social life, due to the recent changes in career and relationship (oh by the way, I've moved houses too), I've also been more socially active. I'm spending more time with my friends, some new and some old, and I realise this is something I've missed doing ever since Uni.

I would say that it has definitely been a challenging year for me, one that required me to make a lot of adult decisions and having to suck up and deal with the consequences of it. Despite this I am quite glad to say that I am still content with everything that I have today, and I still go by the motto of living life positively, getting the things you want (more action, less talk) so you won't look back with any regrets.

-Apple

Do What You Love

'Do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life' 

When you look fully into how many days and hours we have on this planet, you might freak yourself out like I do each time I think about it. You realise there really isn't that much time, the hours fly by and you especially don't want to spend them on moments that waste your time. I've been struggling these past few months, making me realign my focuses and try to do things that I'm truly passionate about. 

Can I say, when you love doing something it's not exhausting. It doesn't drain you, make you feel sick about going back to it, or even makes you time watch. Doing what you love empowers you, makes you feel exhilarated and you can still work on it at midnight without realising that you aren't tired. That's when you know you're doing something you love.

Yet, life isn't as easy at that, being able to do what you love means that you either have to take a risk on it, or possibly give up something else. This is the most difficult part, am I ready to risk this chance to do what I love, but possibly having to give up some financial freedom or stability? Can I take this chance? These are the questions that burden each part of my thinking day to day, these days I love the idea of focusing solely on doing what I love. Yet, I'm terribly afraid, I let fear dominate my decision and continue to do something that I'm not passionate about at all. There's this little black cloud in the back of my mind, always doubting my ability, convincing myself that I can't do something. I need to start pushing that dark cloud away because sometimes you need to take risks. 

Go away little black cloud, you're not welcome here today. Instead, let's replace you with a rainbow full of hope that taking risks will pay off.

- Sophia

 

When you take a break

Hello, it's me, I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet...

So... it's been a while, I took a well needed break whilst my creative thought process was buffering in the background. These few months have been exhausting but also some of the greatest, I turned 24 and I had a very quiet birthday. My family stayed over for the month so I got to spend some time with them, two of my closest friends came to Hong Kong for the first time and it was the best. Even though it was tiring, I thoroughly enjoyed playing host and seeing Hong Kong through my friends' eyes. They made me fall in love with Hong Kong all over again.

Usually, if I take a break or put something off for a long time then I think to apologise first, but sometimes, you truly just need to take a break. Don't be too hard on yourself and if you can't think or don't have the desire to finish that task straight away, then you might need to stop it for a while and come back to it.

I'm at a point in my life too, to just focus on the things that matter and do what I enjoy, especially in my spare time. I do want to write and create more content, I wish I could truly dedicate my time to it, but I'll focus on it when I want to. After all, if you're not in the mood to complete something, the outcome will never be as great compared to when you actually dedicate your time to it.

I'll be back, but I won't make any promises when.

- Sophia

Quarter Life Crisis

It's been a while since I've posted here, mainly because I don't have access to a laptop at home. But honestly, I think it's because I've been lazy. Just a warning that this is going to be quite a negative post, just a lot of complaining and letting things out.

Can you believe it's July already?! Where did the first half of 2016 go? What have I done that's even worth mentioning. I think the main highlight of this year so far has been moving. But I haven't even gotten round to making it look and feel the way I want to yet. It's missing a proper TV stand, a rug, proper lights...looks like it's IKEA this weekend!

So the real problem is I've been feeling rather down lately. It may be hormones. But it may also be because I realize I'm turning 25 in 22 days time, and I'm hitting a quarter life crisis. I feel like I am complaining to myself and to anyone who bothers to listen, about not knowing what I want to do with my life, especially career-wise, but not actually doing anything to change that. This is the kind of attitude in people that I despise the most, and yet I'm now the biggest culprit. I know that half the job is getting started, but I don't know where to start. Or what to get started on.

Be right back while I contemplate.

Minimalistic May

 

There's nothing quite as timeless as the little black dress, this one is a staple in my wardrobe. 

Minimalistic May, hands up who even knew this was a thing? I heard about it on twitter a few weeks ago and even though I've been downsizing slowly, I thought I would mention this again. Honestly though, everyone has their own approach to a minimalistic lifestyle, I talked about it here last month. I pledged to stop hoarding and banned myself from buying clothes. So far it's been going great, I even resisted temptation when I went shopping last week and nothing has really caught my eye.

Aims for May:
- Clean out the wardrobe- I really need to Marie Kondo the hell out of my wardrobe. The cleaning goddess would not be happy at the state of my wardrobe. Hope this cuts my 10 minutes of deciding what to wear conundrum each morning.
- Plan a capsule wardrobe- I'm aiming to keep roughly 40 items in my wardrobe and build a capsule wardrobe so let's see how it goes!
- Recycle, recycle, recycle- Anything I'm not using should be donated, there's no point keeping things I don't need.
- Wipe down everything- Keeping things clean in my eyes is another form of minimalism, nothing like a clean slate to please the mind.
- Meditation- Aside from the things around me, I also need to tidy up my mind! As a daily vivid dreamer, my brain is constantly on, I need to turn it off and empty it out at night.

For me minimalism is the way forward, simple is good. Are you keen to adopt the less is more strategy or do you prefer having more things?