New Year

Spirited away to Taipei

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Unlike many of my three million fellow Chinese-Indonesians in the country, I grew up in a family that was pretty removed from the Chinese culture. I never celebrated Cheng Beng or Cap Go Meh, nor did I know when to eat bakcang or kue keranjang. One that I especially yearned for growing up was to celebrate the Lunar New Year the true Chinese way.

So, when my Personal Development Fund from work was due this year, I used it to fly to Taipei, Taiwan just in time for the Lunar New Year.

I expected lots of festivity, with dim sum a-plenty and firecrackers going off every few meters. Instead I found…

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2017: I learnt to be proud of myself

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I woke up finding multiple reasons to be annoyed on the very last day of 2017. My mom left her alarm on and disturbed my sleep; when I gave up sleeping and checked my phone instead, I did not see a message I was expecting… just to name a couple. These triggered an onslaught of negative thoughts, more reasons to feel discontent.

I was ready to have a bad end to this year, but then I surprised myself.

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How I restarted my New Year’s Resolutions in March

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I penned my 2017 Resolutions during an 11-hour transit in Hong Kong back in January. I didn’t have any notebook with me, so I had to write them down on a scrap paper.

Sitting by a glass wall that overlooks the tarmac, illuminated by the setting sun, it was one of those light bulb moments when words just flow. I was hopeful. Not unlike the sun that set shortly after, however, my resolutions that it fueled soon died out.

Here’s how it happened and how I restarted my resolutions back to life in three essential steps.

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