What I’ve Learned So Far

Tomorrow, I’m turning XX.  No, it doesn’t mean I’m turning 20! Harhar. 😛 I don’t even want to think about the number.  I’ve started counting my age backwards 3-4 years ago! Well, I didn’t really want to do an all out “What I Want for My Birthday” post.  (Which is, officially, at this moment, said in vain!!!?!?!)  But, if you’d like to know what they are (a) world peace and enligtenment (I’m serious!) & (b) a Chocolate Crepe Cake–the more layers the better.  😉

Well, I’m not probably in the best position to share with you some life lessons as if I lived some perfect life.  Actually, most of these are either (a) truths that I know based on the years I’ve been here on earth & (b) stuff that I should tell myself 10,000 more times so that I don’t keep on committing the same mistakes. So, here’s what I’ve learned so far :

1) Age is just a number. – A decade ago, I didn’t believe this.  Apparently, it’s true!  My friends & I agree we just look older but the person inside us hasn’t really changed–the way we laugh (with mouth wide open you can already see our tonsils–and I’m not exaggerating), the way we talk and the way we walk.  Sure, we’ve been molded by the experiences in life but other than that, getting older is not scary as it used to be. 🙂 *Opens a bottle of anti-aging cream…* 😛

2) I Still Like the Same Things Since I was a Kid. – Actually, Jessica Hische stated this more elegantly: “We are who we were when we were kids.”  No matter how far I veer away from drawing & colors (e.g. attending business school, spending hours solving for x, taking a corporate job, checking documents and slaving the hours away in the office), I still manage to pick up a pen & paper (or in this case, open my laptop & tinker with my track pad) and draw.  Also, however I try to get out of my geeky shell, I still find myself professing love for @AstroKarenN’s photos from outerspace on Twitter and NASA’s Instagram.  It takes me back to the days when I used to borrow Childcraft encyclopedia (which totally dates me by the way).  For those of you who were born in the digital age, before Wikipedia & the Internet, there were thick resource books called the encyclopedia & Childcraft was the most interesting of them all (according to me) because it had colorful illustrations. *Oh the bias!* 😀 In the end, this nerdiness is like an invisible barcode tattooed on my fluffy arm.

3) Drama is tiring. – I’m known in my family to be the most emotional.  As a kid, I can’t even hold back my tears.  If I tripped & wounded my knee, absent-mindedly leave my fingers by the door’s hinge when someone attempts to close it, be bullied by my older cousin, miss my parents or don’t get my point across, while my cousins & playmates would have probably suffered in silence, I would bawl.  It would be a long & dramatic and musical one.  /Sarcastic/  Decades later, I’m still the emotional kind but I should probably stick this message to the wall & remember that drama is tiring.  I mean, my eyes may be used to crying they don’t even bloat when I shed tears (unless I cried for like…6 hours?) but otherwise, it’s physically & emotionally draining!

4) The best things in life cannot be bought or sold. – If you caught my previous posts, you probably heard me talk about why I have no weekends, why I need a vacation & why my brain is fried.  I just realized that I spend so much time working so that I can go on a vacation (which ends up becoming a workcation of sorts anyway).  Then I start getting sick or depressed–at which point I can’t get any work or workout done.  I learn how to rest (for just a few hours).  I get well the next day & start typing away excitedly again leaving no time to pause without being haunted by guilt.  So in the end, the most precious things are stuff that cannot be bought or sold: relationships, time for oneself, the attitude of gratefulness & health! *I also need to inject this list into my brain!*

5) You only need a few genuine friends. – Ever felt so alone in a crowd of people? Well, that’s probably the introvert in you (or me!) who refuses to interact. Hehe. Seriously though, you probably know what I mean. It’s easier to laugh with friends and be your weird & awkward self than give a stranger a sheepish and polite smile while trying to act like a prim & proper respectable individual.

Well, that’s it so far!  I’d be happy to know as well what you’ve learned so far so that I can paste it in my brain! 🙂

XOXO,
Tipsy ❤