#LevelUpShaula And About Investing In Ourselves

I came across this particular Aida Azlin's instastory a few days ago. Anyway, if you haven't followed and subscribed for Aida's Tuesday Love Letter, go check out her website here because believe me, you won't regret it. Now back to the story, I'm not sure if I have mentioned in this blog, at the beginning of the year I usually create some challenges for myself and I've been doing so since 2 or 3 years ago. Even though I didn't make it for most of the challenges but hey, at least this girl is trying :p

Some of the challenges are:

1. Reading Challenge.

This one is pretty much inspired by Goodreads Reading Challenge where people set how many books to be read throughout the year. On 2017 I only succeed 2 books out of 20 and for 2018 result can be read here. I might be only able to finish 5 books in a year but actually, I was reading more than 5 books but they didn't make up until the end.

The reading challenge actually tells me a lot about myself. I didn't know by tracking my reading can be turned into a self-discovery. By tracking how many books I successfully finished until the last page shows me what really caught my interest; the metro pop and romance novel really bores me while self-help and biography books giving me life. 

      2. 10 New Knowledge & First Experiences.

All I can remember for 2017 right now is I came to a makeup class by Wardah at the end of 2017 to tick my 10 lists. On 2018 I went to a beach camp for the first time, learned floral drawing on youtube, MC-ing for office sports competition, started Journaling, made special Raya pockets, met Allyssa Hawadi and Liah Yoo in person, joined a cooking class trial and others. This challenges me to always open for new experiences, to learn new knowledge and to never ever limit myself. In my opinion, in the end, life is about experiences and while we have the chance, we should go for it.

      3. Savings Challenge.

The hardest of them all. LOL. Fellexandro Ruby (of Thirty Days of Lunch Podcast) gave an idea in one of his sharing to give a birthday gift in a form of a challenge, and one example of them is by completing an emergency fund! Considering how important for us to have an emergency fund, I've successfully tracked my expenses but to stick to a budget is really hard. Well, I'm on my way, guys. I'm on my way.

Best of 2018, the reading challenge result and 2018 gratitute journal

A little disclaimer: this post is on draft since early of January 2019 and only had the opportunity to post it late in March 2019 (I know, my bad).

Congratulations to all of you who have passed the year 2018! To begin the fresh year of 2019, let us thank yourself that we've made it this far. I know, time passed really fast and it still feels like yesterday we celebrated the new year 2018 but look at where we are now, it's 2019.

Firstly, I'd like to share the 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge result. I challenged myself to read 10 books in 2018, so much lesser than in 2017 (challenged myself to 20 books) because I knew how hard it is for me to finish a book currently. I've lessened the challenge to 10 books for 2018, yet I only managed to successfully finish half of it. Well, actually there were more books that I read in 2018 but most of the reading stopped in the middle and I didn't finish it until the last page. If you're curious about what's in my reading list, check out my Goodreads account here.

Actually I kind of feel ashamed to show the books I finished reading throughout 2018 because the books were mostly a light reading. Marchella FP's Nanti Kita Cerita Tentang Hari Ini was a graphic book that could only take 15 minutes to finish while the longest book was Sitta Karina's first of her Magical Seira series, Seira and The Legend of Madriva that consists of 240 pages. All in all, I take it as a punishment for not keeping my commitment so I promise this year would be better!

Next is a series of The Best of 2018. Here I gather you my favorite things throughout the year, just because I like reading and watching (on youtube) other people's annual favorite.

(Reverse) Homesick and a guide to find home

This post is truly inspired by CultureShockPanda's post in here. 

This month marks almost one and a half year since I left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for good. Do I miss KL? Absolutely. And it goes beyond what I have explained in here. I actually miss every bit of it, everything about KL, whether it be good and bad.

A young inspirational YouTuber, Gitasav, said in one of her videos (here), the dilemma of 'perantau' (people going overseas whether it for studying or working) is their confusion of home. Gita, as a perantau herself from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Germany, one time found that she couldn't define whether her home in Jakarta is her actual hometown, or Germany, the current country she resides.

As a perantau myself (which I don't really prefer to be called since Padang-Kuala Lumpur only an hour flight away--not that far in compared to Germany), I have been in that situation before. Like Gita, the first semesters I was still hating the facts that I got to go miles away from my friends and family. I hated that everything was so different, very new and I thought Malaysia was not home, really far from what I thought was home.

But now, after I left Malaysia for good and my student visa expired, I realized KL was the city of my first times where I spent my early-adulthood stage there. I was 17 years old the first time I stepped into the university there and I left the city when I was 23 years old. Can you see the transition there? From a young, foolish and innocent high school graduate to a young lady who got bachelor after her name and ready to embrace the adulthood life.