It’s my first day of work in 2025 and I am starting the work day right by waking up earlier than usual, reaching office earlier than usual and wearing brand new clothes (new top and jeans which I got from my US trip). Not to forget my new shoes from Sunny Steps and with my new perfume from Chanel (Les Exclusifs de Chanel Comete). Hehe. May this year be a great year and I hope I can get promoted this year. Fingers crossed!

1 person – Travelling alone can be both exciting and scary.
2 weeks – For both work and personal vacation.
3 climates – 3 different parts of US means 3 different climates to adapt to.
4 timezones – 3 parts of US and Japan.
5 bags – Basically my checkin and hand carry bags.
6 devices – All the gadgets I needed for the trip.
7 layovers – Oh, please don’t remind me of this.
8 flights – Setting a new personal record, yet again.

Fun, fun, fun!

Looking forward to the start of my journey and feeling blessed for the opportunities and ability to travel.

I’m counting my blessings at the work related opportunities that I receive.

Not everyone has a job and not worry about impending layoffs.

Not everyone gets to travel on business trips to other countries.

Not everyone gets budget to study/upskill themselves.

However, as much as I can get these opportunities, there will always be people who are jealous at what I get. I mean… If you don’t ask, you won’t get it, right? If you don’t deliver results, you won’t get it, right? This is a reminder to myself that there will always be jealous, negative and toxic people around.

“Yeah. We are our own person. If people are negative best to limit the interaction.

Cuz we are influenced by the top 5 people we hang out with.”

This is something that one of my mentors, Marie, told me. Not exactly linked to the jealousy I received from my colleagues but something where I asked for advice on.

Obviously people love to see and gossip about the good stuff that others receive, including myself. What others did not realise is the difficult times people have to go through. They also did not realise and did not want to see the amount of hard work people put in to receive these “good opportunities”.

As I grow older, I realised it is even harder to have people around you who truly appreciate what you have and are happy for your accomplishments.

I realised that as I become more self aware and mature, I am gaining more empathy and awareness on the effect of my words and actions. The world of the empathetic is tough.

Last August I was battling with a wave of emotions from my breakup and also anxiety for going for my first surgery. Yeah, my ex-boyfriend left me after knowing my health is on a decline. I knew about my surgery right after my breakup. This August, I am like shopping happily and hustling hard for my career. What a difference 1 year can make!

My manager also told me that he is proud of me that I have make so much progress and positive changes in my mindset and maturity in the past few months. Lots of self work and hard work has been put into improving my self awareness and myself.

“It’s you who made yourself matured. Not other stuff. They helped you force look into yourself.”

Exactly what Gulabi has said which I can fully understand. It is what I decided to do and my thought process that makes me got better.

I was invited to give a talk on innovation and patents at my company’s innovation forum today and I delivered my virtual presentation to around 150 people. It was my first time presenting to so many people actually. The last virtual presentation I had was actually for less than 100 people. I was panicking internally and I think I have more filler words than I planned for. Nevertheless, it was quite an experience for me though.

After the presentation, I ordered a large cup of earl grey black tea latte with mini bubbles from Koi Signature. Such sinful and expensive drink haha. 🙂 So glad that I managed to complete the talk. 😀 I even make sure I put on full makeup for the virtual presentation.

In fact, my eyeliner ran out after I finished drawing 1 of the eye. Had to struggled to squeeze out as much as I can from the remaining eyeliner for my other eye. Glowing up has been expensive because first I finished my eyebrow pencil last year, now I finished my eyeliner. I have never used up these eye makeup products before. 😮

Hopefully my work continues the upwards trend and may I get promoted for the next promotion cycle.