Wednesday 5 July 2023

27

2022 was a mix of feelings. It was the best first year living in Melbourne, and it was the first year I lived with my partner. Things were going fast and I had so much different feelings throughout the years. I was at one stage so overwhelmed and stressed about life. But at the same time, I've had the most relaxing and care-free year. I loved 2022. We created a home for us and Coopey. 

I was introduced to all of his friends and things got a little bit overwhelming for me. I felt small, lost and hard to fit in.  I felt socially awkward and under achieved. I had all sorts of feelings about myself, I was extremely conscious. For a little moment, I didn't know why I was feeling this way. Then I realised it was all part of growth and changes I am going through. 

2022 was amazing, I was loved and looked after. My partner's family took me and really too care of me as if I am already their daughter in law. This made me realised why my partner was the warmest person I've ever met, that is all because of the way he was brought up. I appreciate a lot about him. 

I am going to keep this short and sweet, because it is not a year in review post. In 2022, I turned 27 and it was the first year I celebrated my birthday with a partner. He surprised me with a big bouquet of flowers, I woke up to it the next day and got my favorite pair of Swarvorski earrings. We also went Paint and Sip as our fortnightly date night idea. 

I have to say I really enjoy having a partner and doing things together. He allows me to be myself in this relationship completely and he comforts me when I cry like a child. In the first time in forever, I felt like I can cry like a child. 

Here are some photos until April 2022. I have a terrible memory so it will much easier for me to recall and tell you what happened during April 2022. 


 

I was strolling after my birthday waiting for my partner to pick me up



We had a group of us who all have one thing in common that is we all lived in Brisbane and moved to Melbourne. It was such a cosy night we had.

27 never looked better.

R and I also went to Sip and Paint, guess which one is mine?

Chandon for the important occasions such as my Birthday :)

My lovely friends got me this for my birthday.

I felt so spoiled with my bouquet from R <3


This was during the night noodle market


Random street mirror photo with Coop near where I live.


An afternoon moment







Wedding Shenanigans












A splash of colour




Chandon Trip with smokey eyes, accidentally got too heavy handed again

Teppanyaki visit





Yarra Valley Delish





Saturday 25 June 2022

Completed 30-Day challenge daily entries : Wake up at the same time every day

Hello, below is a completed personal entry of my wake up at 6.30am 30 Day Challenge. 

A bit of an update from myself post challenge, no I still sleep and wake up at very random times in the morning. And no I haven't give up on this, I will continue to try and will want to eventually tick this goal of my long-running bucket list. 

Day 30 - Apr 20th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 8am again today because working from home! Retrospectively, looking back at the past 30 days a few things I will definitely do differently going forward would be if I am not strict and consistent enough during the crucial 30 day shaping period, I probably will not achieve my goal. I have been quite inconsistent with my wakeup time every day, that certainly didn't help. Secondly would be, I really need to be more committed to this challenge and even push myself a little more. Lastly, I definitely will continue on waking up early and set a consistent time to wake up and sleep until I achieve this goal.  

Day 29 - Apr 19th, 2022

Hello, the last few days of not waking up early has fucked up my rhythm. I woke up at 8am this morning because working from home today which is far from the ideal time I want to wake up at. Second last day until the 30 Day challenge.  

Day 28 - Apr 18th, 2022 

Hello, a public holiday day today, I fucked up.  I woke up around 9am this morning. Tomorrow is work day, so I will definitely have to wake up early again. 

Day 27 - Apr 17th, 2022 (N/A)

Day 26 - Apr 16th, 2022 (N/A)

Day 25 - Apr 15th, 2022 

Hello, it is a public holiday here in Melbourne. I turned off my alarm at 6.30am this morning, slept until 8am before I got up and get ready for today. I am almost coming to an end with this challenge, few things I noticed are that I tend to feel sleepy earlier during the night and I have more energy when I need to wake up early the next morning. I have been able to go to bed between 10-11pm. I still struggle with a consistent wake up time. 

Day 24 - Apr 14th, 2022  

Hello, I woke up at 6.45am this morning. Got all ready by 7.10am and was actually early for my train. It was good to be early. My alarm rang at 6.30am as per usual, I turned it off and slept for another 15 minutes before I got up and got moving. 

Day 23 - Apr 13th, 2022

Hello, I accidentally didn't set my alarm properly this morning. So it didn't actually go off at 6.30am. However, I instinctively woke up around 7am, felt a bit odd that my alarm didn't go off this morning. I still managed to catch my train for work and surprisingly arrived on time still! Last day of work before the week ends!  

Day 22 - Apr 12th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 8am today. Alarm rang at 7am today because I realised I may have gone cold turkey too quickly, so I thought if I dial it back a little bit by half an hour maybe I could do it more regularly. And god I was wrong. I woke up at 8am today. Well, no excuses tomorrow as I have to wake up at 6.30am to catch a 7.23am train to work.

Day 21 - Apr 11th, 2022

Hello, not long until I finish this challenge. I am not too pleased with my progress but I am not too pissed either. I set my alarm at 6.30am today and I didn't wake up. I turned it off and woke up around 7.45am. I see this as a great improvement because I have not been able to wake up naturally before 9am before. I am hopeful this will work out. I do plan on continue this challenge even after I finish the 30-day period.

Day 20 - Apr 10th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 8.30am today. A little bit of change, although I woke up later than my anticipated wake time, my body somehow managed to wake itself up. I turned off my alarm on the weekend, and my body started to wake up in the morning, not terribly late in the morning. I used to wake up around 10am or even later if I turn my alarm off. It definitely is helping me with my body slowly getting used to the natural body-clock rhythm.

 Day 19 - Apr 9th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 7.30am today. I woke up around 6.30am and then fell back to sleep until 7.30am today. Last night was hard to drift to sleep because I've had some strong Hong Kong milk tea for lunch. My body being super reactive to caffeine, it took an effect on me. I fell asleep around 1am. 

Day 18 - Apr 8th, 2022

Hello, I woke up in time again around 6.30am. I started to feel like I can actually wake up earlier because this morning I was half wake before my alarm rang at 6.30am. So it was good to know my body is slowly getting used to my routine. Tomorrow is Friday and yes my alarm is still set at 6.30am. Let us see if I could wake up tomorrow. 

Day 17 - Apr 7th, 2022

Hello, I woke up in time today because I need to catch my train that I can't miss. It was again incredibly hard to get out of the bed and keep myself moving in this cold climate. I am just not built for this. Tomorrow would be another 6.30am wake up, which is what my whole challenge should be on. Keen to see another 6.30am wake-up success. 

Day 16 - Apr 6th, 2022

Hello, good news I woke up at 7.45am today which is 15 mins earlier than my previous day. Again alarm went off at 6.30am today. Cold Melbourne morning is not helping. Tomorrow I will have to get up in time because I am working in the office and will need to catch my train at 7.23am. 

Day 15 - Apr 5th, 2022

 Hello, I woke up at 8am. Alarm rang at 6.30am and once again it was too hard to get out of the bed with cold weather and sleepy eyes. 

Day 14 - Apr 4th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 9am today. I left my alarm off because it is the weekend! I definitely not doing this correct. Maybe next weekend I will still wake up at 6.30am. But I have two more weeks left for this challenge and tomorrow is Monday meaning I am waking up at 6.30am again! 

Day 13 - Apr 3rd, 2022

Hello, not a good start today because it is a Saturday and I had no specific plan when I get up at 6.30am. If I have to be completely honest about what I did last night, I will. I turned off my alarm last night because I wanted to wake up when I feel like. So I woke up at 9.30am without a problem. :)  

Day 12 - Apr 2nd, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 7am today. The days are getting colder and shorter. It was once again super difficult to get out the bed even though I slept earlier last night. My alarm rang at 6.30am and I really could not get myself out of the bed and face the cold. 

Day 11 - Apr 1st, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 6.45am today because I had to catch the train for work. I still feel tired when I woke up so I am sleeping even earlier tonight. Let's see if I could wake up better tomorrow. Good night. 

Day 10 - Mar 31st, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 6.45am today because I had to go to work. So I am not overly disappointed at myself. I also managed to get on the earlier train too. It was still hard though to get out of the bed. I wonder how many takes it will take me to wake up with ease at 6.30am? 

Day 9 - Mar 29th, 2022

Hello, I woke up around 7am today. Alarm rang at 6.30am. The urge to go back to sleep was too strong. I managed to use my inner voice to kick myself out of the bed. Trust me, even at 7am I still had a strong urge to back to the nice and warm bed. It is definitely getting colder here in Melbourne. 

Day 8 - Mar 28th, 2022

Hello, I was awake around 6.20am because Cooper started to bark. Then I tried my best to not stay in bed until 6.45am. I finally got up, extremely sleepy. My brain was running at 100 mile speed because I was thinking how I can keep myself awake without the aid of caffeine or tea. It was proven difficult. I am in fact, right now, writing this blog post with a cup of tea sitting next to me, waiting to be consumed. In the hopes of waking myself up to start working. I must say, at last a good start to a Monday. I managed to wake up before 7am again. 

Day 7 - Mar 27th, 2022

Hello, failed again today trying to wake up at 6.30am. I semi-woke up at 7.30am and then drifted back to sleep again. I ended up waking up around 10am. I think it was because I didn't have something I must do unlike work days when I have to wake up early. This weekend I have basically ruined my 5 days effort of waking up somewhat early. I have never been a morning person, this transition I must say it is really hard. Shall we try again for the next week?  

Day 6 - Mar 26th, 2022

Hello, I didn't wake up at 6.30am today because it is a Saturday and I have been good for 5 days so I decided I should sleep in. Probably not the best decision I've made consider that I have been good for 5 days I should have continued with it. I caved in to sleep. I woke up at 9am this morning instead. Don't worry though I will try again tomorrow. 

Day 5 - Mar 25th, 2022

Hello, I woke up at 6.10am today, which again surprised me. However, I was still in the mood to do nothing when I wake up but to just chill in bed. I guess one step at a time. Hopefully I will eventually get it right and wake up at 6.30am not early not late. Anyways, I am happy for my progress thus far. 

Day 4 - Mar 24th, 2022

Hello, I actually couldn't believe that I woke up at 6.45am today, although a little bit later than 6.30am. However, this has been the earliest time I have been waking up. I am little surprised because I managed to feel energetic and I didn't actually feel tired this morning when I woke up. I also slept little bit later last night, that is why I am also really surprised that I managed to wake up and not feel exhausted. I guess it is working. 

Day 3 - Mar 23rd, 2022

Hello, three days too deep into this shit. I am a little surprised that I am still doing it. This morning was difficult to get up, I turned off the alarm that went off at 6.30am and slept until 7am. Woke up with sudden realisation that I needed to catch the train at 7.30am so I better get up and get ready for work. So I did. The usual ritual I did to wake myself up in the past two days have been to turn the bathroom heater light on and kept reminding myself why I am doing this challenge. At last, I got up and made it to my train on time. 

Day 2 - Mar 22nd, 2022

Hello, day two into this 30 day, waking up at 6.30am journey. Allow me to express my thought: Life is hard. This meme speaks from the bottom of my heart. Day two actually didn't make thing easier, actually made things harder. I felt so reluctant to wake up this morning, and the desire to stay in my bed is even stronger than day one. Assuming it is because that I slept later last night. This morning I had to stay in for half an hour more, and finally dragged myself out of the bed at 7am. 

Day 1 - Mar 21st, 2022

I managed to get up at 6.30am and left my bed. My body and mind is crazy for my bed though, I had to get myself out of it because if I don't, my brain kept on telling me to go back to sleep. All I can think of is how can I go back to bed. As soon as I was in the bedroom, my brain wants me to sleep again with this overwhelming amount of desire of going back to sleep. So I made sure I am not going back to it and made myself a cup of green tea, thinking that should be able to help me to kick start the day. I had to use bathroom light heater, to mimic the morning sun as the days are getting shorter here in Melbourne, 6.30am is still pitch dark, even Cooper didn't like getting up early with me. He is in fact, had gone back to sleep.

 

Saturday 11 September 2021

26

Second COVID birthday. Pleasantly surprised that COVID vaccination is actually out a year later. When I thought it would take ages. The world has definitely learned to live with COVID. Australia certainly isn't the best at vaccinate the nation. We are still dealing with daily cases. How lucky I am to live in QLD, we barely go into lockdowns and overall in comparison with other states, we are doing really well.

Being 25 was great, graduated from Uni and it really didn't take me long at all. Being 26 is even better though. April was amazing and that was the only holiday I took since I started working full time in March this year. As usual some photos to help me recall about the good times. It looks like my memory only deteriorate with time. 

Since March this year I have been working full time and learning about what really means to be a full-time adult. I was learning about workplace politics and finding my own confidence and establishing a career for myself. It is rewarding, challenging and exciting. I really do feel like I have finally starting doing life full-time. I fell in love again, the most organic way possible. I swore to never touch online dating app again, and I have not let myself down. Being a dog owner really taught me about the unconditional love and the constantly growing love I have for Coop.  He really is the cutest being.

I am proactive and brave with love again, despite the disappoint and hurt I've had from previous relationships I knew I still want to have connections with others and most importantly with the one. I had a little birthday trip to Melbourne, it was hard and difficult due to constantly lockdowns in Melbourne and ongoing COVID cases. It was so awesome to be back in the city I've always loved so much. In fact, I am moving away to Melbourne soon to start something new, a new chapter perhaps, another exciting adventure perhaps, or perhaps this will be a terrible mistake I make. I don't know and I won't know until I do it. If there is anything I learnt from life that is to take risks, to experiment, to enrich my life and to go after my desires. If it's worth having then it's worth risking for. 

I've gone through enough periods of self-doubt about choices I made in the past, made me feel ostracized and like an alien from my friendship group. I was a little disappointed in myself but I knew I wanted to be the same. I knew I wanted something slightly different. So I gave myself the reassurance, I gave myself the recognition and approval for every decision I have made. There is very little point of regretting and hoping things could be a little different because it won't be.

It is so cool to growing old and understand yourself more and more each day. It is so cool to see yourself growing more confident And it is so cool to see yourself learning about the world. I used to not care too much about anything because I didn't understand why I should be. It is such a different life being an immigrant to this country, for the past few years of my life I feel like I have been trying to be part of this country and I have been fighting my own culture. The best thing about being an immigrant is the difference, since the moment I landed my feet on this foreign land, I was different and let's remain this way. Acceptance is always the first step to growth and expansion.
 
He is fine, I am not choking him. I promise.

Coop is now two years old!
It was cold and windy the usual Melbourne weather.
 
"Are you done yet, I just need one photo."
 


Drinking wine even though I have Asian Flush, in other words Alcohol Allergy.

He took me to his favourite Mexican Resturant. 
The day was too long for me to actually the food.


 


April hair adventure, I call this mermaid hair.


Princess Jasmine and Aladdin, my favourite Disney Movie.
 







I am healing with my butterfly

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