I'd like to share with you something that made a big difference in my life! Which is to thank myself after every single action I took!
I started doing this one day because I was finding it very difficult to get up that morning.
So I said thank you to myself for opening my eyes, it felt better.
Then I sat up in bed and thanked myself for it.
I got out of bed, thanked myself.
Went to the washroom, thanked myself.
And I kept thanking myself after every single action the entire time I was getting ready.
By the time I was about to get out of the door, I felt so much better!
I kept doing it for the next few days, and it changed my outlook so much!
So I wanted to share it with you too! I hope it helps you!
I started playing FFXIV at the end of November 2021, and after playing for about 10 times (around 4-5 hours each), I reached level 51 in the main story on Dec 25, 2021.
(To give you some perspective, my husband has been playing for 3-4 years and he just recently reached Level 62 in the main story. Of course, his character is way stronger in all other areas (Level 60+ in various jobs and tasks, while mine is only in 1 area.)
Nonetheless, I am very impressed with myself, and even though it is just a game, here are 4 Life Lessons I took away!
1. Deliberately Choose What My Heart Wants!
This is the easiest thing to say, but not so easy to do.
Because I wasn’t programmed to do what I want!
I was programmed to do what everyone else said I should be doing!
I mean, my mom, school, work, culture, society.. all of them dictated how I should behave.
After this many years of “training”, I barely knew who I was, let alone what I want!
That’s why we need to get back into knowing who we are. Doing what we truly want to do is the truest definition of ourselves.
This time, I felt a tug of desire to play after my husband created a character for my son. I felt it and said, Hey, I want to build my own character too, I want to play the game too.
Then I chose to do it. That was power.
2. Plan for It, Use It as a Reward!
For this game, I definitely planned for it.
If I didn’t plan for it, 2 things would have happened.
I would either:
a) stop myself from playing the game, because part of me didn’t want to do the work. I knew if I don’t finish my work, my guilty conscience wouldn’t let me play in order to “punish” myself.
or
b) indulge so much into the game that I’d totally ignore my work.
So by scheduling it, the game is now my reward. Once I get my work done, then I can play for the rest of the night!
3. Going All In to Play Hard
I love achievements, that’s why I love playing games. That’s why once I start playing a new game, I go all in!
When I reached level 50, I crashed.
Contempt was the first to set in. I felt so disgusted with myself! My first thought was, “OMG… I “wasted” all these time to play this game!”
I had to reason with myself to say, “No, I deliberately scheduled to play!”
So I had to lovingly change my thought from, “I wasted all this time” to “I am someone who play hard, work hard, rest hard!”
4. Celebrate Myself
Since I love the feeling of achievements, it’s not a surprise that I was placing more importance on the end goal instead of the journey.
And even though I’d achieved so much by getting to level 50, I was not proud of myself at all. I gave myself 0 credit.
So I had to get myself to celebrate everything about myself!
Here’re a few things about me that I celebrated:
- my incredible sense of focus
- my high level of endurance
- I’m a fast-learner
- I don’t give up
- I’m willing to try something new
- I reached Level 50 in 10 days (on Christmas day!)
- I’m having fun and I CHOSE it!
So here they are, the 4 Life Lessons I learned from playing Final Fantasy XIV.
- When you feel a spark, choose it to give it a try.
- Put it into your schedule to make it happen
- Make a commitment to go all in, whether it is to play hard, work hard, or rest hard.
- Celebrate yourself every step of the way
Listen, we get to start living for ourselves. So if you ever feel a tug of desire within you, I hope you lean into it too!
Guilt will come up, self contempt will come up, but I guarantee you that as you keep working through these, you will keep expanding. And don’t forget to keep celebrating yourself!
When you feel like you want to make changes, that’s because you want to be MORE YOU
The most authentic version of you
The higher version of you
The more expansive version of you
So when you want to make changes, you need to think about who you really are!
The problem is, we keep looking outside, but you need to look inside!
If you don’t know who you are yet, then I have some questions to help you to get to know yourself!
What do you like? What do you dislike?
What ticks you off?
What do you enjoy doing during your spare time?
What are your strengths? Weakness?
What brings you joy and make your heart sing?
What do you value most in your life?
If you don’t have to do anything in life, what do you want to challenge yourself doing?
I challenge you to spend at least 5 minutes to answer each question, and when you notice you’re saying “I don’t know”, tell yourself this, “what if I do know? Of course I know! It’s fun to get to know myself!”
Happy 2022!
This last month, I’d been challenging myself to do something fun, because I really wanted to live life more in the now, instead of “later”.
‘cause if you think about it, what’s “later”? And when’s "later" too late?
So, this past month, I started playing this video game called Final Fantasy XIV, and I learned a lot about myself just from playing video games!
The other thing I started is learning how to dance with my son!
HAHAHA!!
It was a short routine taught by this 9 yo girl, but we’d been practicing how to do it everyday, and it’s SO fun!
So my question to you is, what do you want to learn and challenge yourself this year?
It doesn’t have to be anything too serious, just whatever you fancy!
As long as it's fun for you, then that’s all it matters.
Why not give that a try over the next 30 days, and if you like it, you can extend that to 90 days!
Let me know how that goes!
I had a really great weekend, where we did chores on Saturday, and yesterday, we ended up going to a town (~1.5 hrs away from where I live) to go to the Reptile Zoo with my son.
But to be honest with you, there are so many things I'd like to accomplish with my business, And I'm just feeling exhausted and frustrated.
Exhausted because, I really only get to work on my business at night after my son goes to sleep. And really.. by the time I sit down and can do something, my brain is already fried, and I'd just sit there and waste time while wondering what I'd like to work on. (Yes I definitely need to work on planning out my work so I don't have to waste time to think too much).
And I'm definitely frustrated. 'cause I know I'd like to do everything under the sun, but I can only do so much, frustrated with the little progress I'm making.
So while I was at the Reptile Zoo, I recorded this.
Just to share with you this quote I saw a while ago, "It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop".
And this is the key, even if you go very very slow, you're still moving, and that's all it matters. It's not a sprint, it's a long race.
Do you also feel the same? I'd love to hear your story too! Let me know what you're working on and what you're struggling with, so I can also cheer you on!
I hope you got a chance to celebrate the father(s) or the father-figure(s) in your life!
We got a chance to walk around the park, and really enjoyed the day!
For those of you who follow me on IG, you probably saw my writing piece for my husband.
You may think it's looks awesome! But being the perfectionist like myself, I'm not going to lie, I am super unhappy with my writing.
I didn't mention this in my post because I don't want to take away from what I was posting. I wrote this for my husband and he totally deserved it!
But I am not happy with the writing at all! I hadn't had a chance to practice any calligraphy, so my writing was inconsistent. I started and restarted 4-5 times, to the point where I had to say to myself, just finish the piece and post it!
And here're the two things I want to share:
1) Calligraphy is not something that you learn, master and think you'll remain good. It's a continuous craft you need to hone in on.
It's important to accept this, esp. for my calligraphy friends, if you'd left it for a while, don't get frustrated when you come back and find your writing less than perfect! You just need to jump back and practice again! So don't give up!
2) And for those of you who're a perfectionist like myself.. done is better than perfect! Sometimes, you just need to choose your battle and let some stuff go.
Finishing something is better than giving up. Completing a task will build up your mindset, it completes the loop to reaffirm that you're a finisher and not a quitter. So even if you are not happy with the way your project is turning out, still try to finish it!
Are you also a perfectionist like myself and are highly critical of your work? Let me know!
Whether you'd pushed through before, or gave up mid way through! I'd love to hear your story!
I hope you're doing well, and enjoying the nice weather as best as you can!
Yesterday, my husband wrote this quote on the white board in front of his desk, so I was inspired to make it look pretty
And this got me thinking, sometimes, starting is hard; sometimes, keeping up with the momentum is hard.
Today, I want to share a little bit on what it means to start something.
I started my calligraphy business in the beginning of 2019. But actually, I started my business back in 2015.
I started off wanting to publish my own children activity books. But I am not a great illustrator, so I published a few colouring reference books and travel jourals. Even though no one really buys them, I'm still damn proud of myself! (I make about $24 off of these books per year, LOL!)
And while I worked on my last colouring journal, I encountered calligraphy!
Now, I wasn't a total stranger of calligraphy. When I was in Gr 8, my teacher asked me if I was interested to learn, and I taught myself how to do Gothic script!
So I felt like calligraphy was meant to be when I came back to it.
Even though I'm telling you this, I left out many many things. I was introduced into a MLM type business once many years ago, I tried my hands on making macarons, crochet, needle felting, cooking, jewelery making, drop shipping, writing blogs etc.
My whole business journey evolved drastically!
Some people are concerned about starting because they don't want to get stuck doing something that they're not sure about.
But the reality is, you don't really know what you like or don't like until you try!
I spent tons, and I mean tons, of money on many hobbies, tools, courses and "potential" businesses. But I don't regret it one single bit.
That's because I know if I don't try, I'll never know.
So if there's something you want to try, go ahead and give it a try! It doesn't have to end up becoming a business! If you love it, that's great! If not, it's also okay.
Things will always evolve, and that's how we learn more about ourselves!
If you'd been in a similar situation, or if there's something you'd like to start but unsure whether to give it a try or not, let me know! I'd love to hear your story!
