Introvert Talks - Blessings In Disguise

Welcome to Introvert Talks!

"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)

This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.

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As the year comes to a close, I was doing some self reflection and I came to the conclusion that overall, 2024 has been good to me.

If I were to look back the past few years, a big part of the early 2020s were just having to cope with the Covid pandemic. It was a stressful period for me, and for many people in the world as well. Be it lifestyle changes, adapting to new work arrangements, taking care or losing loved ones, falling ill, stressing over finances and livelihoods, we each would have our own story to tell. Thankfully, we have passed this phase.

Moving onto to 2022 and 2023, my personal life was kept busy as I bought a new place and it was my first time going through the entire process, from house hunting to getting the renovation done. It was another stressful period for me, not just because I wasn't familiar with such things, all the life curveballs just came altogether. As some would say - "Everything Everywhere All at Once". With everything going on, I had to juggle with increased work commitments, taking care of loved ones who have fallen sick, etc. But like I have mentioned in my posts sometimes, we humans are actually much more resilient than we think we are, we somehow will manage it and get through it, and then emerging as a stronger person.

2024 was not without setbacks too. I had quite a major setback early in the year, and it was a tough period. I wouldn't call it depression, but I went through a period of self-doubt and feeling discouraged on those days, and eventually, I had to rely on my mental self to pick myself up. But subconsciously, this incident became a turning point in my life. It forced me to reset my life priorities, and do a deep soul searching on what really mattered to me, and how I want to live my life in the next few years.

With the soul searching process done, it was then putting my ideas and thoughts to action. What I like about myself is, once I set out to do something, I always try to do my best and don't give up so easily. It has been a few months since I put this idea to work and I am extremely heartened to see results within a short span of time. Sometimes I think I am lucky, sometimes I also think I should credit myself for being brave to take a step out to attempt something new.

The amazing part was through this entire experience, I think I might have found a new passion and one day, everything just clicked. That I am really enjoying myself spending hours working on something interesting. Being a generally chill (maybe a nicer word for lazy, hehe) person, I never thought I would find enjoyment in doing something relatively tiring. So miraculously, it became something I look forward to in my daily life these days!

So, maybe you are wondering, after all that has happened, why do I say 2024 has been good to me? I feel it's all a matter of perspective. Some people approach setbacks by feeling sorry for themselves and just wonder why life is so unfair to them, but I prefer to think that since this has happened, what can I do to improve this situation? By putting myself in control of the situation, I can then make the change I want. So if you ask me, in a weird way, I am thankful for these setbacks, because they are blessings in disguise.

I saw this quote the other day and I thought this was something I wanted to tell myself after a challenging year.

"Appreciate your efforts even when no one else does. Only you know how hard you tried."

And yeah, only I know how hard I have tried. This reminds me of the stuff which I always see on social media - about people who hold BTC through the cycles. People will brush them off and say they are "lucky" but do they know these people had the conviction to weather all the volatility all these years?

Anyway, summing up, 2025 will probably not be an easy year. But let's bring our optimism with us to face these challenges. The festive season is coming, so here's another Christmas tree that I saw last week at a hotel lobby! Hehe! Thanks for reading!