Assalamualaikum & Hi,
Got the idea for this post while I was travelling back to my hometown. Since today in my birthday, let's recap of 27 random memories I had in life.
1 - was born in the UK, but I didn't remember anything because I was a sweet baby. Nevertheless, out of nowhere I'm a sucker for old British songs like it's running in my blood
2 - when I was young, my imagination was so wild & wide, so I always tell stories that I've created in my mind to my sister & she actually believed it
3 - one of early memories I had was going to kindergarten in UUM when they still at the old building. & the memories I remembered was eating rice with egg & soy sauce. Also singing the song "Heal the world" by Michael Jackson.
4 - when I was in kindergarten & primary school, Mama was actually the fierce one. So I was closer to Abah. When Mama went for outstation, Abah always take care of us. There's one time, Mama went for outstation & Abah feed me rice & crab while I was crying.
5 - back in kindergarten, I was a fan of musical chair because I always won. But one day, there's this one guy who defeated me & I don't like it anymore.
6 - my favourite song was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & I did a performance in kindergarten singing & dancing this song.
7 - I was not good at Monkey Bar but I really wanted to make it till the end so I always practice until my hands became sore. Looking back, that's the only thing I worried of back at the age of 6 & 7.
8 - I was a heavy reader when I was a child. My parents always bought books for me to read. I loved to read books about future, Aesop fabulous & Mingguan Wanita for their ghost stories. My reading habit went down when I was in boarding school & I only pick it up that habit recently.
9 - on my 9th birthday was the year my parents gave me the best surprise; so many boxes of presents which I couldn't remember now but 1 gift was an big encyclopedia because I loved books with pictures.
10 - the first time I ever failed an exam was when I was 10, because I didn't know the format so I answered in the wrong way.
11 - I was never good at Maths until 11 because I met Cikgu Jamil, the teacher who changed my life. Since then, I never got lesser than an A for Maths.
12 - I started wearing glasses since 8 years old, because my Mama noticed me watching TV at a very near distance. Oh & I loved Taiwanese drama TV3 aired at 6pm Monday till Friday before 😛
13 - when in boarding school, there's always this Aunty Cleaner who sold burgers to us secretly at the hostel & told us stories too. Never saw her since I was 15.
14 - I actually loved carrying books everywhere even when I wasn't studying because I don't like to feel guilty for not studying.
15 - in MRSM back then, we were disconnected to the outside world, thus the only way to keep in touch of the world was to read the newspapers we got for each classroom to on daily basis.
16 - was an average student since forever, but at 16 was the first time I scored so very well & was given so many opportunities such as going for great dinner, entering a lot of nerd competitions because of that.
17 - always loved to go for trip with the school & stopped by at R&R. That's was the first time I travelled far & until now I will remember each R&R I stopped by; & that was the inspiration for this post.
18 - in my Foundation year I never saved a cent of my MARA allowance because I was excited to try everything in Sunway Pyramid as it's my first time living on my own.
19 - afraid not, a year after that I started saving my money little by little according to my own capabilities. Still have a lot of fun with my friends, exploring the cities - went to a lot of food hunting; always favourite until now & going to malls, which now we thought were boring because malls were all same. Now I started to look at places that will give me experiences.
20 - A library & bookish lady since young - become a librarian at primary school so I could read books during recess, stayed at library in high school to because I loved the vibes & because it's air-conditioned & work part time in library in university because I always stayed there, so why didn't I stayed there while earned some pocket money? Now, I was in love with every bookstore I went.
21 - in uni days, we always went to surau at our residence, & it was one of beautiful moments in life. & that impacted me until now as it made me missed going to mosque.
22 - I went to so many job hunting journey but all the jobs I got was when I least expected to get. I was just trying my luck because the job looked interesting & I got in.
23 - SL1M days were the days I became a lot lenient with my life & the wildest phase of my life. I made friends with people from all sorts of backgrounds & tried a lot of things I never thought of doing.
24 - while in my previous job, I always stayed back late at work because catching up during working hours were hard. So I took some time to learn after work so I could improve, the latest I've stayed was at 10pm. Once I could do my job well, I never wanted to work extra hours anymore because I believed one should be productive & have work life balance 🤣
25 - being 25 was the age of unexpected happened to me. Covid 19, WFH, tough times at work & broken up - all three happened suddenly & left me in pieces. Despite whatever I felt, I still learn to pick myself.
26 - a year of change, so drastic change - changed my job, migrate to new city, improved my appearance & had a lot of adventures. Its like I was reborn again - & I started to believe, "there's more in life for you to feel that getting hurt". Just remember that & keep walking especially in painful moments. But still, give time for yourself to grief & embrace whatever sadness you felt.
27 - many many great things happened, got few bad things also. But I bought a car this year! & scratched (probably dented a bit) on the 6th day 😆 but may I will always be brave & safe to drive 🥰
Extra things to keep here;
Turned 27 today. Being 26 changed my life the most & what I've learned over a year were;
1. One must be dynamic as change is the only constant in life. You'll grow over time as long as you're willing to change for good - everyday is a new day to change 1% better than yesterday.
2. Also you sometimes there are things can't control in life, & that's when you have to redha, learn to let go & let God. When you redha after giving your best, you will feel light & content because you know everything in this life belongs to God & you just borrowed it from Him. And He will never let you lost but keep ask Him to guide you.
3. It's never too late for anything; the road is yours - open the map, navigate your way & go to your destination, re-route if needed & it doesn't matter how much time you take as long as you reach there.
4. Still need to work on work-life balance & dunia-akhirah balance. Especially on the akhirah since that is eternal.
Nevertheless, I'm so happy & grateful with this temporary life. Hopefully I will continue to age gracefully & happily 😊
To many more blessed year & making great memories in life in shaa Allah ❤
Till then,
Adlina