Thanks, 2018.

2018, you have been such a good year to me. I think I can say this is the best year in my life so far in terms of experience and changes.

Like most recent graduates, this year I have started working full time. Reality hit me pretty hard and I had a hard time figuring out what career path I want to take, and perhaps I don’t really want a so-called “career”. This year I was constantly conflicted with how to integrate my dreams with my career and, for most of the year, I was pretty lost. I have many hobbies and I have not thought of what to do with them. Should I focus on one? But what if I end up losing interest in what I pick? It is even possible to do everything I like? Thankfully, over the course of constant reflection I have came up with a rough idea of what to do for a living. This year has made me realize that the adult life is hard. It’s hard to always think about your own dreams when there is reality and practical problems to deal with. Sadly, most real life problems revolve around financial matters as you have to spend most of your time working in order to sustain your living.

One of the best things for me this year is how much time I have spent on travelling. Out of the 52 weeks of 2018, I spent 7 weeks away from home. It doesn’t sound like much, but compared to previous years in school, it’s quite record breaking. Out of these 7 weeks, I spent 2 weeks in Hong Kong— one week in March and one week in November. My experience in Hong Kong has triggered one of the biggest changes for me this year. Staying in Hong Kong has made me question my life in Toronto as I felt a sense of belonging to Hong Kong that I have never experienced before. Back in Toronto I constantly feel like I am in a long distance relationship. This is still an issue that I haven’t come up with a solution for yet but I already feel very grateful that I had the chance to experience Hong Kong.

Overall, 2018 felt like pretty long year for me as I was constantly changing and exploring new things. Hopefully in 2019 I can go beyond and experience even more!

2018, 多謝。

2018, 你對我真的很好。我想這年應該是我過得最開心的一年。同樣, 這年我經歷了很多讓我成長的事。

像很多剛剛畢業的朋友們, 我今年開始了我第一份工作。原來現實同我想像中的差很遠。今年的經歷令我明白到做一個“大人”真係好難。當現實生活中給你很多難題去解決係很容易忘記自己的想法和夢想。或者一些人係真係無夢想, 但我想多數人都是社會迫成的咸魚。現在都市人要用太多時間和精力來換取穩定的收入, 而結果就是慢慢失去自己。融入社會今年的我體會到這一些, 所以我想更努力地追隨夢想, 給身邊的人看另一條路係可行。說到夢想, 今年我係有點迷惘。有了很多嗜好的我, 我不知道怎樣將牠們融合到自己的事業裡面。我應唔應該集中在一樣嗜好？但如果揀了一樣我會失去興趣的又點算？難度真的不可以做我喜歡所有的事嗎？感激的是我在年尾想到一個方法去解決這個問題。

說到 2018, 我不得不提我的旅遊。在2018裡的52個星期, 17個星期我係在外地過了。聽落去唔算多, 但因為過去的幾年仲讀緊書今年真係破了記錄。其中有兩個星期我係在香港度過。有些人會說旅行係可以改變你的想法, 這一點我係絕對同意。因為去了香港我開始質疑我現在的生活。這些想法我還未解決了, 所以我希望明年我可以找到答案。

總體來說, 因為我不停地在改變緊今年真係覺得好長。我希望明年會一樣活得咁充實！