TOP 5 LIFE LESSONS I LEARNED IN 2020

Happy new year everyone! Hope you guys had a blast new year yesterday 😀 On the night of new year, I tried to stay up to watch the fireworks. But I fell asleep before the clock strikes 12am lol. 

2020 has been a wild ride for a lot of us. There were definitely highs and lows throughout the year. Despite how the pandemic threw us out of the way, I couldn't help but see the bright side of it. So, here are the top 5 of lessons I learned last year.

1. Life composed of win-lose situations

This year I took part in a writing competition around my final exam. I was struggling in my studies, but at the same time I didn't want to give up being a writer. I know I may not be as good as other writers out there, but I didn't want to back out without a fight. 

So, I spent more of my time writing instead of studying. I thought as long as I passed, it would be fine. I thought I had to write, I need to no matter what. But when my results were out and it was worse than I expected, I was not okay with it. But in my case, it was a lose-lose situation lol. The results of the competition hasn't been announced yet and I've given up already.

But the point here is, at the time I realized, if I want something, I had to lose something. And not just in achieving your dreams. Even in your daily life, when you're living with your friends, you can't always have what you want, can't always bend people your ways. You have to always lose something in order to gain something in return. It's equivalent exchange principle.

2. Don't whine too much, it's ugly

In life, not everything will go how we planned. Life is that bitch. It keeps reminding us how humans are powerless. And there's nothing we can do about it but accept it. 

But what we can do is try not too whine as much. Not just when you're having a bad day, but also don't whine about how people behave because life does not revolve around you. Sometimes when you whine too much about others, it shows more about you than the person you're complaining about.

3. Have compassion, have compassion, have compassion

What is compassion? Compassion is having empathy towards others. People would normally be confused between sympathy and empathy. Sympathy is when you feel pity towards others, but empathy is when you try to put your feet in their shoes, try to understand why they act the way they did, try to listen to how they truly feel without letting your judgment clouds your emotion. 

4. I don't have to explain myself

I always feel the urge to explain myself whenever I made a decision. Especially decisions for myself that oppose others'. I don't know why I tend to downgrade myself just to please people. Sometimes I even put people above my priority, which is a very toxic thing to do.

Nearing the end of the year, I just snapped out of it. I realized, if I want to do something, I can just do it. Just because someone wiser than me said it's not the 'right' decision, there is no such thing as right decision in the first place. If I want to decide for myself, then that's on me. I don't need to justify why I chose to decide it. I don't need to convince people to see why my decision is better for me. I can just do whatever because I'm a legit adult. I'm done following people's pointed finger.

5. Be passionate about life

During the lockdown, we were given more leisure time to explore new things. We got to find the things we enjoy. 

For me personally, I don't like a lot of things. I don't enjoy living. But this year, I found drawing and colouring therapeutic. Thus, I will continue to draw and colour in the future. Though my days are busy, I hope I will be able to have time for myself.

Try everything in life! Just because you're good a one thing, doesn't mean you should be enough with yourself. Never feel too confident in yourself.