When 2020 started, we were all so excited about welcoming a new decade. Like many people, I had a long bucket list of what I'd like to do, where I'd like to go in 2020. Little did I know that flying back to Singapore from Vietnam in February was my last flight in 2020. That also means it's been 16 months since I last placed my footsteps on an airplane. It feels like forever ago. It's all because of the deadly virus called Covid-19!
As I'm sitting in my comfortable home writing this blog entry, over 3millions people died of Covid in less than two years. I can't complain that I couldn't be home with my family to celebrate the last Lunar New Year or I couldn't go on a holiday. I'm blessed and still incredibly grateful that I still have a great job and perfect health. This pandemic made me realize how unpredictable and uncertain life is. You can still plan your life, but you need to be flexible and adaptable to changes when necessary. My 2021 resolution list got longer, with many items brought forward from 2020, which I don't know when I can cross them off. Now that the pandemic has the world on pause, it's a perfect time to take things slow, reflect, and focus on what's most important. I miss traveling. I'm sure you do too. When I looked back at all my beautiful travel photos, they instantly put a smile on my face. This post will be a long one, as I wanted to take you back to my 2020 memories. I wanted to reflect on how I lived my life through the global pandemic and how blessed I was to thrive through the world's most challenging time.
So here we go!
January 2020, Stef & I were lucky enough to be able to welcome the New Year in one of the most romantic cities in the world, Rome. We had breakfast in Vatican City one day, threw a coin in the Trevi fountain the next. I'll save Rome stories for another entry. For now, here are some throwback photos from our fabulous trip.
Before the pandemic, I was hardly home. Either I was traveling for holidays or work, or I was out with my friends during the weekends. I thought it would be difficult to be locked in the house for a few months. Somehow, I adjusted my lifestyle very quickly and got so used to staying at home. Even after the lockdown was over, I hardly went out. I enjoyed working from home more, taking my conference calls at home while having a cup of coffee when the morning sun lighted through the window. Working from home gave me the work-life balance that I didn't have before. I spent less time traveling on the road, more time getting things done, and most importantly, more time on my fitness routine, which I love. I set my workout routine at 6 pm every day after I finished working.
Being in the lockdown for a month urged people to do things that they had never done before. Myself included. I had my hairstyle cut extremely short and I liked it.
I never cared about plants before, but I started growing some herbs and plants at home. I was so motivated to redecorate my bedroom after 4 years of living in it. I know right? What's the odd! But Covid, everything could happen.
This is how the room looked before.
I was so pleased with how the room turned out that I seriously consider learning more about home decoration & interior design.
During the lockdown, we also started to appreciate our relationship, health, freedom, and many other things that we took for granted. I called my family almost every day to make sure they know that I'm well and safe. After the lockdown, I had many long-overdue catch-up lunches and dinners with friends.
Yet, on the same day, thousands of people around the world were dying of Covid. Thinking of it made me sad but also made me realize how fortunate I am. That is why I'm constantly reminding myself not to take anything of that for granted and always offer a helping hand whenever I can.
When Stef told me that she needed help with her endometriosis surgery, my first instinct is "Yes". Yes, I'd help her in whatever way I could physically, emotionally, even financially. Yes, I would be her appointed guardian to give consent to the proposed treatment if she was unable to handle her affairs in critical condition. Yes, I wanted to be the first person she'd see when she woke up after her surgery. Yes, I wanted to stay in the hospital the entire time until the doctor let her go home. Everything sounded so easy until I was at the hospital ward. The reality kicked in. As soon as we said Goodbye and the nurse took her away from me, I felt so heavy and terrified. I was praying that no one called my phone that day and asked, "Are you the guardian?" or "I had to give consent that impacts someone's life." The nurse said, "the surgery usually takes 3 hours approximately," but 5 hours later, she was still in the Operating theatre. My brain started going down to the "negative" lane with all the scary thoughts. No matter how strong I am, I can never handle the emotion when someone I care about gets hurt. And I cried in the waiting lounge for no particular reason. It was an overwhelming and exhausting day and week.
Looking back now, I'm so proud of Stef for doing this surgery and willing to share her experience with the world so she can create more awareness about endometriosis. You can read more about her story via this link here
Although we didn't manage to travel to other countries as planned, our year-end holiday last year became the most memorable one as Stef's surgery was just one week before Christmas (December 17th). For the rest of the weeks, we spent time at home for her recovery. I had a couple of dinners towards the end of the year with some other friends. It was a quiet and unusual New Year's Eve with no midnight countdown. But we still had some fun with new friends in a bar, then rang in the New Year with champagne, laughter, and wish at my house until late.
2020 didn't turn out to be a great start of the a new decade like what we all hoped for, but at least, it reminded us of many things we took for granted, many valuable lessons that we needed to learn and relearn.There will still be many uncertainties in the year ahead. But as long as you are content, healthy, and surrounded by good friends, you are good.
You Might Also Like
MY SAFE SIGHT TRANSPRK LASIK EYE SURGERY
Why didn't I do it when I was 26 years old? Well, I couldn't afford it then. It was more affordable to buy six boxes of contact lenses for $200++, which lasted for six months than to pay almost $5000-$7,000 for a 30-minute procedure. Another reason was I was skeptical. I was so afraid of the risk, side effects, and possible accident could happen. I could lose my eyesight forever. There are so many articles, comments, recommendations, blog posts on the internet. The more I read, the more I got confused. There are also so many types of Lasik surgery nowadays: LASIK (laser in-situ keratomileusis, PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), LASEK (laser epithelial keratomileusis), RLE (refractive lens exchange), EpiLasik, PRELEX. How would I know which one suits me? After months of researching, I decided to make an appointment with Dr. Tony Ho at Clearvision Eye Clinic & LASIK Centre. Lucky for you now, all you need to do is to read the detailed comparison that Dr. Ho wrote on his website to find out what option is most suitable for you.
Back to the surgery, Safe Sight TransPRK surgery is an all-laser, one-step, no-touch, non-invasive vision correction procedure that does not require the eye surgeon to cut a corneal flap. The standard LASIK (cut, flap, and zap) process might have flap-related medical complications, which are my ultimate fear. Thankfully, with the new technology, no surgical devices are touching the eye at all. Clearvision Clinic uses the Schwind Amaris 1050RS excimer laser machine with a zero-latency eye tracker and the ability to track all 7-dimensions of eye movements. The procedure on both eyes was much faster than I expected. I thought I would be lying in the surgery bed for at least 30 minutes. It turned out I was there for 15 minutes or less. First, I was asked to keep looking at the blinking green eyes. Then, the Schwind Amaris 1050RS machine removes the epithelium cells of my eyes. After that, the laser machine shapes the cornea to correct the eye's refractive power. Doctor Ho placed a transparent, high-oxygen permeability content soft contact lens over the cornea to protect the treated surface while the epithelium cells regenerate. The Corneal Cross-Linking treatment took additional two minutes to complete. Before I got comfortable in the warm bed, the nurse helped sit me up, and Doctor Ho asked me to smile for a photo. The surgery was over, just like that.
- I did not rub or squeeze my eyes, especially for the 1st week. I used eye wipes to gently clean my eyes every morning and night.
- I didn't apply any makeup and eye gel or lotion for nearly three weeks.
- I didn't go swimming or do any vigorous sports activities until after four weeks post-surgery.
- I wore UV protected glasses when I went out. I still wear sunglasses now whenever I'm out of the house on a sunny day.
Disclaimer: Although this blog post is partially sponsored by Clearvision Eye Clinic & LASIK Centre, all opinions are my own.
You Might Also Like
I felt like I just celebrated my 35th birthday not so long ago, but now, I'm already 36 years old. Where has the time gone? I thought I would have a quiet, low-key birthday celebration this year with just one or two closest friends. But I ended up having many birthday celebrations instead. I'm not complaining.
We started with a yacht birthday party in the morning. (Thanks to my BFF Stefanie for arranging everything, and to everyone for spending their time to celebrate with me! I'm so touched). I just needed to bring my bikini and show up. We had a delicious birthday cake from American Express, too much wine, a good dose of vitamin sea, and endless laughter.
My initial plan of having a quiet birthday was spending the weekend at Marina Bay Sands hotel, swimming at the sky infinity pool, reading books, or going for a walk at the Gardens by the bay. But, nothing can be quite quiet when my girl, Stefanie, shows up. In a good way, of course. She always brings sunshine wherever she goes. We checked in the hotel room just enough time for me to have an important meeting that I couldn't afford to skip. The hotel also offered the birthday girl a free upgrade to Deluxe room with a sky-view (exactly how I wanted) and sweetened my stay with a surprise birthday cake. Then, we had another birthday cake when we had lunch the next day at one of the restaurants.
In the evening, I went out to have dinner at an Italian restaurant with my friends and colleagues. Thanks to Stefanie for arranging this again! Mazzo restaurant team surprised me with a flamingo Lamborghini shot and a delicious birthday cake. Thank you, Patrick & Mazzo team! I had way too much fun that night. My jaw hurt from laughing too much.
The next day, Stef and I had a morning swim at the famous infinity pool, took a couple of photos, and enjoyed the city view while sipping our cup of coffee. We didn't get to stay long as our appointment slot was only for one hour per day. Who would have thought that we had to make an advanced booking to swim at the hotel pool before? But this is the reality we live in now during the pandemic. A lot of adjustments, changes, new rules applied. I did what I wanted to, and I was happy, regardless.
After the swim, we had lunch at the hotel restaurant and went to the casino right after because Stef was feeling lucky. Thirty minutes later, we walked out of the casino with an extra $200 in Stef's wallet. It's my birthday. Of course, everyone is feeling lucky! At least, I like to think so.
At night, we went to have drinks and dinner with my good friend, Javi, at the Fairmont hotel. Not only did I have a great laugh, but I also had another birthday cake, and a happy birthday song sang in Spanish, by the most fun & good looking Spanish man, I know. A big hug and thanks to Emmanuel, General Manager of Fairmont hotel, for the champagne.
Have I done all the celebrations yet? Probably not. I'm the kind of person who, if I can wake up and be happy every day, I will celebrate no matter how big or small. But every birthday, it's a chance for me to reflect, to look deep into my soul (and sometimes my insecurities), to question myself, "How much have I grown?", "What have I accomplished?" "Am I happy?". Then, I started looking back at old photos.
The photo on the left was Crystal 2.0 ten years ago. She was young, innocent, ambitious, energetic, and impatient. The image on the right is the Crystal 3.0 now. She is still young at heart, more experienced, always ambitious, more patient, understanding, and compassionate. What have I lost over the last ten years? Perhaps, the insecurity about my flaws, the doubts about my ability, the negativity when I hit the roadblocks, and the need to find someone make me happy. What have I gained on the contrary? Some wrinkles on my face, a few pounds on my body, a lot more patience and emotional maturity, and a longer list of work-life experiences, and the contentment in life that is so hard to find.
There will still be days when PMS syndrome hits me; I'll feel like I've not accomplished enough, I won't have time to achieve all the goals I set for myself, I haven't spent much time with the family, where will I be in the next 5 and 10 years, and the list goes on. But as soon as those doubtful feelings got me, I quickly realised that the hormones rollercoaster is trying to give me an emotional ride. I can let it swing my mood up and down, or I can choose to say, "Stop it. It's enough". Whether I'm at v2.0 or v3.0, I'm still fighting my own battles every day like everybody else. But at 36 years old, I learn to choose what's worth fighting for and what to let go. I'm lucky to be surrounded by many great people. Some help me before even meeting me in person. Some spoil me with their love and support. Some help me to grow from my mistakes. Some motivate me to go after my dreams. Some push me out of my comfort zone. My memory sucks, but I'll never forget these names.
I'm always a work in progress because I'm nowhere near perfect, and I will never be. But I know what I'll bring to the table, and I'm not afraid to express myself. I love the woman I've become, and I am enough.
As always, thank you for reading! To all my beautiful friends, thank you for being a part of my journey!