Reflection on 2013

Happy Belated New Year 2014, everyone!

It's a new day, a new beginning. But before we charge boldly into 2014, I think it's good that we give a proper last look at 2013 before saying goodbye.

I can't say that 2013 was a picnic for me, it was tough and eventful to say the least. I had been in the deep end since 2012, I've let myself stuck in a rut, a complacency if you will, I let the hustle and bustle of daily life grind me and the autopilot take over until I was a mere shell of my former self. For years I kept telling myself over and over again that it was OK but it wasn't. You're not supposed to endure life, you must revel in it!

Things dragged on for too long while I sat idly by, waiting for the universe to make things right for me. That's where I was dead wrong! If there's anything I've learned from last year is that the universe can only help smooth your way but the initiative must come from yourself.

In hindsight, I'd say there are three major highlights that happened:

1. Mid last year, I finally pulled the trigger and closed a 5-year-long chapter in my life by resigning from the very first job I've ever had. That was some burden I was finally able to shed! From then on, all bets were off.

2. Another highlight (or should I say lowlight) of the year was that I fell sick and had to be hospitalized - for the first time in my life!

3. And the award for surprise of the year goes to....switching job not only once but twice within the course of two months! When I started my second job, I'd expected for the treacherous water to finally calm but to my utter bewilderment, it didn't. Instead, my second job was so unbearable that I had to make another jump and moved to another company. Excitement has since fizzled, to my relief.

Events that took place in 2013 - and to some extent, 2012 - was full of high and low points that made up this journey towards self-discovery and fulfillment, and ultimately, an enchanted life. They have given me a renewed outlook in life and it is really an exhilarating, positive feeling. I've made tons of mistakes and errors along the way but I'm glad I have done so because I can learn from them in order to achieve what I want and more importantly, deserve, which is a charmed life full of pleasures and joy.

Now, I am eager to start a new life and I am determined to live a better one this time around! I am excited, nervous, worried, eager, euphoric, manic; I am this whole mixed bag of emotions that's about to burst right now. I hope I get to reflect on 2014 a year from now and it will be filled with great things.

Here's to better things ahead!

Yours truly,

Le Frugaliste