#100happydays

[fanfare sounds] I present to you @laoahma's blog, at long last. I think for some of you, it's been a loooong time wait since I brought up this idea. So it's finally here, I felt now was the best time since I've got so much time. I'm even taking up knitting now!

5th January - I decided to start the #100happydays challenge, inspired by the youtuber Kelsey Impicciche. My friend loved the idea and asked me to post a reflective piece of my #100happydays journey, so I took this opportunity to start a blog with it as my first post! After watching a heart-warming video from the beloved Youtuber where she talked about this challenge, I wanted to kick off the new year with a more positive vibe. This challenge is all about noticing things that make me happy by taking a photo/video of it. I took up this challenge with the aim to appreciate the little things and be happier with my life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been critical of everything I did (bit of a perfectionist) and worry way too much about the littlest things. But this journey had me actively looking for reasons to be happy or thankful.

I started the challenge just before our exams so naturally it was a stressful time so the kinds of things that gave me relief were going to church and joining fitness classes with my friends. Amidst the week of 2am sessions and waking up at 8am for exams, this challenge helped me appreciate the little things that happened in my day. I kept reminding myself to be happy, "don't get irritated with that" and "it's just a little thing, ignore it!". And before I knew it, exams were over and my housemates and I were going out to celebrate. After exams it was pretty easy as I had goofy friends and a full schedule; church on Sundays and Mondays, netball on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and hardly any classes. If anything, remembering to record what made me happy was the difficult part. I kept forgetting to post about things until it was 2am and I was in bed watching a Netflix show. I think some of the best times were when I forgot to take photos, that showed that I was too busy enjoying myself to bother. I don't think I ever posted anything just to show people I was having a good life. I genuinely posted some of the most ridiculous things in my day. I'd also like to tell you guys about some of my highlights during this journey so buckle up because it's gonna be one underwhelmingly exciting ride ;)

Our exam period in January lasts for two weeks but mine ended early so I had one blissful week of pigging out and binging Netflix shows. During this week I came to really appreciate my fairy lights and cozy bed although my room is pretty small. I think I actually finished all four seasons of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina in that week (if you haven't watched it, go now!) and caught up on all the sleep I lost before exams. I was supposed to travel with my housemate Sandra that week but she went home for CNY. Okay so January wasn't exactly the most thrilling but starting the new semester, I was looking forward to our Neuroscience and Behaviour module. It was definitely interesting, not the easiest, but definitely interesting.

February - usually this conjures up images of red lanterns and lots of visiting but since that was in Jan this year, all it brought to mind was Valentine's Day. I could go on and on about why this day is just nonsense but I guess that's for another post on another day. I'm not going to talk about Valentine's Day at all though because on the next day, my girlfriends and I played netball in Sheffield Malaysian Games. We were scheduled to play outdoors which soon turned out to be the worst because on that day, Storm Dennis visited us. The conditions were the worst but we still had the most fun. I did fall on my butt which resulted in torn ligaments and a swollen ankle that I didn't even know about till a month ago but we did our best as a team and made lots of great memories. It was impossible for any team to score because the wind would just blow the ball off course. We went to Primark after that to buy matching jumpers because all of us were soaked through from the games. Soon after, I completely forgot about my busted ankle and we were on the way back to Notts. 

Here comes the most exciting bit (for me at least) - my friends (Tina, Harris, Hilman, Hazirah, Khaleeda and Sandra) and I went to Disneyland Paris 🥳 AAAAHHHH one of the things I hope to achieve in my life is to visit every Disneyland, park, cruise, island ... whatEVER Walt Disney has thought up - I want to be there. at least once. So I posted on my story looking for anyone who might want to spare a weekend to visit countryside Paris. I didn't get to travel as much as I would've liked this academic year but at least I got to walk through Sleeping Beauty's castle and ride on the Hyperspace Mountain roller coaster. So the night before Disneyland in our cozy Airbnb, Hilman, Tina and I stayed up till nearly three AM comparing showtimes and drawing up timetables so that we'd be able to hit all the rides and shows we wanted. I even had digital maps and timetables sent to everyone because I was THAT excited. The day in Disneyland was so much fun, the child in me was let out and ran wild - even walking through the entrance felt magical and it really felt like, just for that one day, all my worries fell away. After weeks of stressing over the logistics of the trip, I was ecstatic to finally be there and thankful for the mostly good weather. My sayang, Khaleeda, made a vlog for our little weekend trip that's up on Youtube!

All through January, February and March, a group of us had been preparing for a big event at the end of March. Malaysian Festival (MFest) is an event our society holds every year to spread and introduce Malaysian culture to people in the UK. We would have exhibits, games, food and performances. So in these three months, we practiced. We practiced our traditional dances and our KPOP choreography. Now, I'm writing about this under March because that was when our practices increased to almost everyday and we had to get serious. This was always my favourite event of the year because I got to see people who had never danced before practically transform into pro dancers by performance day. Any day I had dance practice was always a good day; you could ask me to sing or speak on stage and I wouldn't be able to do it. Dancing though, I can do no problem at all. We were all psyched about performing March 28th but sadly due to the increasing cases of Covid-19, we had to cancel MFest so we did the next best thing. We gathered all the performers for the great, final practice where we also did a proper shoot and everyone dressed up like as if it were the actual day. It wasn't the same as performing in front of a crowd but we still had fun and getting our effort out on social media was just as good. To think we went from being a group of strangers volunteering for a festival to a crazy close-knit group of mismatched students. Here are some videos and photos ;P

Finally, April - the challenge was supposed to end middle of the month but me being me, I counted it wrong and thought it ended 28th. The highlight of this month was me finally coming home. YAY! The entire journey dealing with flights was tiresome but after the loong wait, I arrived in KL on 13th and quarantined for 14 days. The first week passed quickly as I entertained myself with Netflix and exercise but the closer it got to returning to Kuching, the slower it felt time passed. I found joy in little things like taking a relaxing bath, video calling with my friends & family but most important, meal times and food. One thing I really did miss though was access to equipment to bake, I was cooped up in a luxurious hotel room so I had all the comfort in the world but no oven, not even a microwave haha! Not that I had any ingredients anyway. After all that, I finally reached home at the end of April and that night, my family and I had a barbeque, cooking some of my favourite foods: three layer pork and roasted potatoes & sweet potatoes. It was such a relief to be home after the trouble and stress we went through trying to come home. And now I'll be home for another three months before there is any chance of me going back to the UK for third year.

Okay so I might've gotten a little carried away talking about big joys instead of little ones during this challenge but with me, every little thing counts. The late nights spent at either 100 or 96 Broadgate with my friends playing games or watching scary movies were all I could ever ask for. The littlest things from cooking together to simply sitting in the living room chatting about our daily lives. I guess what I'm trying to say is this challenge really did a whole deal of good for me, maybe it doesn't seem like much but it means a ton to me. After a hundred and fifteen days of noticing things that make me happy, I do it automatically now. I relish in these moments during the day, and at night before I sleep - I look back on it and thank God for all the blessings I have in my life, big and small. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading the first entry to my blog! I will continue updating this blog with anecdotes from my life, maybe some advice/self-help stuff and definitely a couple fictional stories I come up with. If you've read everything here then congrats! and thank you!