Shhh! Secret Life of a Princess

Random, provoking thoughts from a self-confessed princess :: with focus on motivational learnings from the media. I hope to inspire everyone to be the best they can be

Friday, December 31, 2010

Resolutions for Year 2011

Yes, I know year 2010 is ending and I can't wait with a little trepidation for year 2011 to arrive. And I hope it will arrive with merriment and splendor.

So, what does this mean, yes, you guessed it right! Resolution time. If year after year in Singapore, I have not made many resolutions, next year should be different. Not that I am more disciplined to make resolutions but I have a different perspective in life after what I went through in 2010. So, I have briefly summarised my resolutions to 3 points so that it will be easier for me to achieve.

1. Be grateful. People who are grateful are humble and contented. When you are truly grateful, your focus is on the good. You begin to focus on the good in other people, thus you will not be comfortable gossiping about other people since you do not want to compare yourself with others. When you think of something you do not have or own, you will think about what you DO own and be appreciative of it. Finally, grateful people are encouraging. They see the positive side of things and makes others feel good about themselves. There are so many things I can be grateful for thus I shall remain in my happy thoughts which brings me to my 2nd resolution.

2. Be happy. Life is short, so why waste it on sad moments. After watching so many funny Taiwanese series, I have resolved to enjoy humor and to see the funny side of life. So, when things are down, no matter how hard, I will try to see the lighter side of things. So on contrary to others, I shall not push myself too hard since that has always been what I have been doing for as long as I have lived. I am going to go easy on my exercise, haha, I might even gain some weight. I will not push myself too hard if I do not achieve enough at my career cos I have been working way too hard since I started working. I will continue helping others cos giving makes everyone happy. And many many more :)

3. Be alive! I have not really lived since I have been too worried to do so. So, this year, I will start living. For example, I have booked 2 trips in January 2011 after not being on any holidays in the whole of 2010. I have made a resolution to EAT healthily, and I realised a lot of my favorite food falls into the category of healthy food that is good for me (as long as I eat moderately), eg. peanut butter, butter, cereals, muesli, fish and many more. Finally, I will definitely balance work and life. I now know the most important thing in life is health and there is no point sacrificing your health for rewards at work. I definitely will take care of my health and hope I will emerge stronger and fitter next year!

So stay tuned while I update you on my trips and adventures in 2011!

Quote of the Day:
Fear does not stop me from trying...
Hardship does not stop me from giving up!
- quoted from one of my idols in the Taiwan entertainment scene whom I am too 'haisioh' to tell ('haisioh' means shy in Mandarin)

Friday, December 24, 2010

My Eat, Pray, Love Moments (24 Oct - 7 Nov 2010)



Never did I think I will have my own version of Eat, Pray, Love. After watching the Julia Robert's show, I thought I would need to go back to work (which I truly enjoy) and my daily chores until a need hit me that I had to be hospitalised and be given 2-weeks MC. Never in my entire 8 years of working had I had more than a 3-days MC and all of a sudden I have 2 whole weeks! I have always thought of myself as invincible due to the fact that I rarely get sick despite all my colleagues falling sick and the unpromising weather conditions. I didn't eat very healthily but I felt that if I exercised more and remain excited and busy with life, I will be healthy.

This year (2010) proved different. I met doctors all over Singapore from dentists, to gynaes to general practitioners. I guess it all accumulated this year. At my lowest point, I was hospitalised for 4 days followed by 2 weeks of rest at home. Thus, I chose to rest in Malaysia where I am in the confines and comfort of my family with home-cooked food and familiar family voices. Yes, I am grateful I have a really warm and close-knit family. So, this is how I finally get to experience my own version of Eat, Pray, Love (and I added 'Laugh' for good measure).


Eat

As I lost a lot of weight one month before I was hospitalised (7 kg in 3 weeks!), I had to gain them back and get my health back on track. When I went for my pilgrimage home, I devoured so much home-cooked food and lovely snacks up to 5 meals a day. There is always an abundance of food and I ate as punctually as possible. What I love is I get hungry quite punctually too :). I even learnt to cook a feat neat dishes like ginger wine chicken that I felt so happily domesticated. I ate healthy as well, eg. I got my daily calcium through a full glass of milk (which I have not took for the last few years as I thought I was lactose intolerant) in the morning, a cup of milo in the evening and bread with cheese every day! I savoured my fair share of protein through healthily steamed fish, ginger chicken and flavorsome pork. Of course, vegetables was on my daily consumption list for vitamin and minerals. I feel so blessed to have a full stomach throughout the whole 2 weeks. I was so hungry I even enjoyed hospital food during my 4 days stay! Above is a picture of a vegetarian dish from my all-time favorite vegetarian stall in Suntec City Food Court.

Pray
As a Buddhist, I prayed in temples, burnt incense and made my wishes. I spoke to God everyday, like a friend. It felt like I had to compensate for all the times that I had been too busy and gave myself excuses from going to the temple. And it felt good. It fulfills my soul, lifts me to a higher ground and gives all of us hope to continue to be strong. Sometimes, you feel you are at one with God and that you can really have a conversation. Whenever I feel that God is listening, it gives me comfort. Maybe it is self-believe, but it works :)

Love
I had not spent more than 2 days with my family since I started working in Singapore, slogging day in and day out to put food on my family's table and to pay off loans. With this 2-weeks medical leave, I could enjoy the luxury of just being home and spending precious time with my family even though it means just doing nothing without feeling guilty about work. I chatted with my mom for more than 4 hours and she revealed some secrets we never shared before as she knew that that telling it then would make me and herself feel better. I hugged her when I realised how depressed she had been and was glad I could finally comfort her. I went for a long deserved lunch with my family and just chat. There was not a single quiet moment and we all sacrifised precious time for a well-worth family outing. When together time is rare, we felt the family bond from just one simple lunch, that is the beauty of food. It brings people together.

Laugh
I made it a point to be happy, thus watched and streamed tv shows that were so funny it made me laughed whole-heartedly. I also caught up with my galpals and chatted merrily and didn't expect that by revealing what was troubling me to them, they would make me feel so much better. I truly laughing and even crying from the bottom of my heart. That is what living is.

Never had I imagined that I would enjoy a 2 whole weeks of doing nothing but rest. I reconnected with my soul and bonded with my emotions. I went to work after that refreshed and ready to take charge of the world! With so much more passion and energy that my husband was shocked I woke up earlier than him to go to work! I really think everyone deserves a short "Eat, Pray, Love" moment be it out of necessity or just to reward yourself :)

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Year 2010 in Review




It's a tough year, wait let me correct that, a VERY tough year. In fact if I have a choice, I would choose not to live this year. All the sweetness and bitterness, all the glory and pain is just not worth it. The ups and downs just keep coming like a storm coming in and out. Every time there is a good news, it will be followed by a more significant bad news. Trepidations after trepidations, it does not seem to stop.

Bad news after bad news, it just keeps coming like the pouring rain. I can't even keep up with it anymore. Reading good news is just a temporary thing. Hearing bad news seems imminent. Every time I read bad news, I could relate to it more. Since I read a lot of celebrity news, I feel my tears dripping when I read news like Selina's 3rd degree burn while filming in Shanghai and Lily Allen's stillbirth that happened after her miscarriage. It makes me feel a little better to know someone out there is facing difficulties like mine and it gives me some strength that if they can be strong, I can too.

This is the year I learnt my lesson (big time!). After years of invincibility, my health came crashing down. My body gave up on me. Years of not eating (literally NOT eating), overworking and excessive exercise has burdened my body immensely and it decided to show it's ugly face all at one shot. The first half of the year, I kept going back to the hospital to be tested if I am diagnosed with a medical condition. It made me realized life MIGHT be short and I do not have much time to do what I wanted to do! Even though it is better now, I still need to be tested to ensure it will not get more critical.

The 2nd half of the year, it got even worse, I was hospitalized (and I was never hospitalized before!) and I had to be fed through a drip. This experience gave me a whole new light about nutrition and health. It was a huge blow for me and you should not be seeing me skip any meals anymore. After that, I heard some incredibly bad news from my best friend in Malaysia who experienced something similar but in a higher intensity. At that point, I thought my tears have dried but my tear ducts worked overtime again. I questioned why did bad things have to happen to good people. I do not think we are bad people but we just have to experience what is bestowed upon us on the same year. I know time heals all pain but why is some pain so incredibly unbearable?

This is also the year that I found my role model. He is my source of inspiration at a time that I am most vulnerable and down. He lost his father when he was 17 and after that, his family went into a downward spiral of debts. He worked 2 jobs (day and night) and had to stop studying to earn money for his family. But he never gave up his dreams and ambitions to be a celebrity. He continued playing his guitar, riding his low-end motorbike and traveling from place to place on low budget with his bandmates. Today, he is a very famous celebrity with a huge fan base and he managed to pay of his family's NTD 7Million debts. He can finally fulfill his dreams to buy a better motorbike and car but yet when he heard about the floods in Taiwan, he willingly gave up those money he saved to save the lives of those people.

Why do I make him my role model? Because despite all the trials and tribulations he went through, he still remain happy-go-lucky and does not seem to have any temper. He is a very emotional person but yet he can control them to only display positive emotions. As he said, whenever he is down, he will think happy thoughts; and whenever others are down, he will humor them. Despite how famous he is today, he remains selfless and loves to serve others. He worked hard to get where he is today and remains diligent and appreciative.

I am truly appreciative to have found a role model albeit not being able to see him in flesh. It gives me the motivation to remain positive and to continue to work hard. And hope that the next years will bring better news. Thus, I end this year with a valuable quote:

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.


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Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Rainbow















As the rain falls on the window sill, so did my tears
This unavoidable wound keeps hurting
My heart is now reeking with fears
Where there was once hope, now there is nothing

I used to question if the pain was worth it
I should have pondered the happiness beyond
Regardless of how hard I try, I have no power to change it
But to slowly accept what transcends every second

The path to heaven is loaded with endurance
Just like a winding road towards a scenic mountain
As the rain stops, a rainbow shows its appearance
Maybe I can regain the glimmer of hope again.

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Happy Thanksgiving 2010



Everyone is blessed. This is a year of adversities for me. Predicaments after predicaments befell me and whenever I thought it will end, it did not. It got so bad that I cried so often and crawled into a dark hole thinking that by not facing the world, things might not turn out so bad.

Last weekend was Thanksgiving Day (26 Nov 2010) and after being melancholy for so long, I was in a great mood. I was blessed with food from the company and was surrounded by people who cared about me. That is why in times like this, it helps to think of all the blessings I have this year.

1. I am blessed to have a husband who thinks for me more than for himself and who has sacrifised so much for me. Despite coming home late from work all the time, he still takes the time to visit me in hospital when I was hospitalised for 4 nights, sleep deprived and all.

2. I am blessed to have a bunch of friends who readily gives me encouragement and words of wisdom that gives me so much strength and helps me get up whenever I am down. You know who you are. I have never felt like I belonged so much when I am with you all.

3. I am blessed to be working with a great team who appreciates my contribution and most importantly understands each and every personal needs. When I was down and out for 2 whole weeks, even though my boss has lot a team member, he did not allow me to work and took over all duties on his own.

4. I am blessed to have a family who supported me through thick and thin and was there for me when I needed them the most. Even though I did not tell my parents when I was in the hospital, my mother did not fail to cook me the best food to nurse me to health. Thanks Mommy.

5. I am blessed to wake up feeling grateful that I am still alive and to have the passion to live contentedly every day.

So, just to perk you up, esp those of you who encountered as much difficulties as I had this year, read this.

The quickest way to living a life you love is through learning to love the life you live.

You’re waiting for something to change in your life before you can be happy. You might think if only you had a different partner (or one at all), a better job, or kids that did their homework then surely you’d be happy. Surely then you’d wake each morning with the glow of one living a life worth loving. Enough! Here are 5 ways to get started:

1. Be present – You must be aware of your current existence and that you have control over your perspective. Whether you’re willing away early morning grouchiness or seeing a messy house as a chance to teach teamwork, your choice of perspective will make all the difference between just living and loving.

2. Practice gratefulness – Every day, no excuses. Pretend to be grateful if you must. It’s one of those things that catches up to you quickly as life reciprocates your emotional generosity. Seeing the good in your life will allow you to keep your heart fed while you work to change the more unsavory parts. Try it. Live it. You’ll love it.

3. Pursue balance - As a person given to extremes this has always been a tough one for me. I’ll go from taking great care of myself and communicating well to abandonment and silence as I let work consume me. The pursuit of balance requires constant adjustment as your life shifts but every time I really try for the middle I end up happier about my life. And that’s truly the point.

4. Nurture friendships – You know the people who for some reason or other welcome you into their lives? Treasure them. Make time to spend with them. It is those relationships that you’ll look back on with satisfaction when you get old and begin to wonder what your life was worth. Many of us spend far too much time thinking about how some material possession will improve our lives. An iMac would be nice. A good friend is worth just about everything though!

5. Embrace simplicity – You don’t need to have all your gold-plated ducks in a row in order to love the life you’re living. You don’t need lots of stuff and relationships so driven by drama that you often wish just to be left alone in silence. Instead you might try for a simpler approach and enjoy things because they are useful and not because they are expensive. You might join a friend just to talk and not worry about all the expensive trappings we so often heap on get-together’s. Try for simplicity and if complexity sneaks up on you, so be it. In learning to love the basics you’ll find a wondrous appreciation for the nicer things that come along.

What have you found helps bring you back to the moment you’re in and really start to enjoy the life you’re living right now?


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