So here it is. The end of 2018. Since tumblr got blocked in Indonesia, I barely open my dashboard. Semacam sedih sih karena tumblr lah yang dulu mengisi hari-hariku selama kuliah, gak berhenti ngakak liat dashboard karena postingan super silly, tapi ya gimana, sekarang sudah ada twitter where I spent so many hours dari ketawa ngakak, nangis terharu liat video iklan Thailand, sampe Istigfar ngeliat kelakuan orang-orang di negara sendiri yang disgusting dan aneh-aneh. Oh iya btw, recently what I did on twitter was just reported accounts since they spread lots and lots of hates and I just canât stand it anymore.
So, in this opportunity, I will write things Iâve been so grateful for in 2018. Just because I probably needed it. Tumblr has been my personal diary that I thought Iâd need to post something before 2018 ended. Tumblr has actually been my loyal friend, a place where I could pour my thoughts and feelings into words and kept them in archives. Every once in a while, Iâd just look back what Iâve been through and what Iâve been thinking in my archives. Aww, itâs too bad I didnât write as much this year. Itâd be fun to look back, though. But, anyway, here it is, here we go, THE THINGS I BEEN GRATEFUL FOR IN 2018:
1. HEALTH. And the opportunity to still be able to live. I am not saying that I have again another near-death-experience this year, but to be able to get through the day, to be able to wake up and breathe air, stand up from the bed, walk, eat, drink, talk, laugh, cry, feel??? That may be the things we often overlooked at but to be able to do ALL that? Thatâs something. I donât have any friend who suffers depression at the moment, but from the story, from the youtube video, from social media, I noticed that not all people are as lucky as me. We heard stories of influencer got depressed and almost took their own life, a lot of YouTubers even talked a lot about mental health this year I think, I have friends who took a break from social media because they just couldnât take it anymore. I think this year (or last year?) I took a 400k IDR psychology test in a hospital for some job recruitment and I am just surprised that Iâve been diagnosed as a SANE and MENTALLY HEALTHY person. I mean, in this specific time when a lot of people are diagnosed with something? Thatâs just a big relief. And also, for real physical health, this year has been going great. I got a little problem with my lung, had a cough for almost 2 months, I think? Kinda messed up my productivity a bit. And I thought I got a TB when THANKFULLY itâs just a light lung problem. Had a TB test and it turned out negative. I also started to go to the studio! (which just lasted for a couple of months. Still great, though) and tried light jogging (the word âtriedâ might undermine the real effort, I literally fought my laziness just to find a time slot to go change and run). OH, and I walked! These past couples of months I cut off my gojek budget and started to walk + took public transportation whenever I was not in a hurry. It actually started since I bought a smartwatch (in a syopi flash sale) that detects heart rate, steps, walking pace, and stuff, and I thought: âhey why donât I get the most benefit of it?â So, I started to set my own goal: 9000 steps a day and that goal surely wouldnât be reached if I still took gojek so thatâs why I started to leave gojek a little by little. Still use it sometimes, though, but itâs just I started to not depend on it too much. Anyway, it turned out great! I could save around 100k/month now and be healthier and be more aware of public transportation route.
2. FRIENDS (AND FAMILY). My family is still complete, Alhamdulillah. We may not be as tight as we were before (because now we are in 3 separate living places, weâve been in 4 though so this is nothing), but we still good. Weâre happy, weâre very supportive of each other, spent so many times with my mom now that I literally shared the house with her (itâs just 2 of us now in our home) and we had fun. A lot of fun. My mom and I visited GBK and Monas when Asian games happened, went to a concert with my sister, had a great time in Lebaran holidays. The sad part was just the moment my Grandma passed I think, but still, itâs been a great year. And as friends⌠I have always ALWAYS been grateful for them. My college friends were always there. There have been some moments this year when we were so tight, like, we would hang out on Friday night consecutively, like what, for a month straight? And then we ran together on Saturday afternoon. Had dinner after and bubble tea also. Like, that moment was great. My high school friends, too. My IFP friends. Basically, people who were there since the beginning and are still there. Definitely thankful for that. And I met incredibly amazing new people, too. I joined a new activity like Kelas Inspirasi, Sekolah Bumi, IPA course, and so many more where I met new inspirational people. I also made friends with people from Tumblr, who I can relate so much. And of course, my students who are now also my friends. Like, for real, now itâs impossible to hate 2018 because I feel like my network just broadens and I could see views from so many angles. Like, these people changed me so much. I thought that it would be very difficult now to meet new people and build network after school/college life because you know, work and stuff. But turned out life has its own way to bring people into my life. Just like that.
3. STABILITY. As in economic stability. It has always been something I never could be grateful enough of. Been making my own money since I was in college back in 2011? Never asked my parentsâ money since then and therefore I already learned how to manage my own money. Got a non-permanent job for the moment, but it covered my life okay. I live now in my parentsâ house which means I donât need to spend my money on rent (and food). Transportation is cheap. Everything went great. Especially this year. I could save some money while I bought some concert ticket, shoes, phone, planning my next holiday, service my laptop, online shopping, bought tons of new books (which some I havenât read), ate in some fancy restaurant, hangout in coffeeshop once in a while, went to the cinema, patungan buat nikahan teman dan kelahiran bayi teman, donated some books to organizations, bought running gears, et cetera, et cetera. I even had a chance to travel A LOT this year: Semarang, Padang 2x, Bandung bolakbalik kayak setrikaan, Solo 3x, Purwokerto, Jogja. Semua free dengan fasilitas hotel dan digaji pula. Wow, now that I listed them all it looked like I am actually quite living the life, arenât I? And thereâs no reason for me to not feel grateful at all. I literally couldnât ask for more. I know money doesnât buy you happiness, but the feeling of being secure financially? Thatâs totally a luxury. I have never been in a situation where I donât know what to eat for dinner because I donât have money. So, I feel GRATEFUL 100% for the stability I have in 2018.
4. LOVE. I may not be involved in any romantic relationship this year, but I definitely find love in 2018: self-love. I hope I found it. I donât know yet, actually. But I really hope I did. Iâve been blaming myself so much in 2017 that I focused on hating myself, being that woman who kept telling herself: âu stupid cheap worthless bitch, u deserve to be left, u deserve to not feel lovedâ. Gosh, 2017 was the darkest time indeed. Even I made mistakes from that, I turned my self-loath to other people and started to hurt them. This year, though, I started to make peace with myself. I started to try to not blame myself. I started to not to cry every time I remember the stupid things Iâve done. I had moments of breakdown, though, in 2018, but itâs just not as often as it used to be. Um, so yeah. I am not saying that I healed completely 100%, that I already loved myself 100% and ready to let this fragile heart of mine to love someone again or be loved again just yet. Itâs just that I started to accept myself as I am. In 2018, I literally tried to hug myself, telling myself that everything is okay, that I was sorry for every stupid thing Iâve done, and that I apologized for that. I hope itâs working. Well, it actually is, probably slowly. How do I know? Because I just feel like suddenly, I can spread love again. Ever heard âyou canât spread love unless you have it yourselfâ? There you go. I just feel like people around me (and God, of course) has given me and blessed me with so much love that I feel itâs not fair for them if I keep hating on myself. Like, how could people give me so much love while I canât even love myself? So, I decided to collect that love, build my self-esteem, and tried to give my best to people in need of love. As simple as accompanying them to have dinner, listening to their problems, replying their texts, or loving their Instagram posts or tweets. I hope I can continue this journey of finding love for myself and others in the upcoming years. Well, actually I hope this journey never end for the rest of my life.
5. LEARNING. To be honest, I think I learned more this year, in 2018 than any other years combined. Well, probably not, but itâs just that now that I am not in school anymore (as in I am a part of the society in the real world), I learned a lot of new knowledge. Like some things they never taught you at school, or you wonât find in any book. This year has been a little bit political, especially in social media, since next year is the presidential election. So, I learned a lot. Basically, I just learn people. Itâs like I have been living in a bubble before 2018 and suddenly the bubble burst and then I got the real picture of society. Disclaimer: I still live in the bubble actually, knowing that my work environment is a campus with educated people. But, social media, man. It just showed you how disgusting people can be. Although, then again, itâs not their fault. I mean, even what I think disgusting may not be true to other people. Um, this year I just learned how much homework we have as the young generation? I learned that people would literally go miles for defending their idols (as in political idols) and groups. I learned from Dodo videos on twitter how still so far away we are as Indonesians to be able to love and respect animals as much as other people in other countries. I learned that some people are THAT thirsty of fame that they made a twitter thread sharing their personal life story which actually has no good for other people (?). Like, itâs not even entertaining! The thread is basically an FYI and it could damage another peopleâs life. Like, what would you do that for??? Are you that stupid/innocent??? Yeah. I am just grateful for that. Knowing that those kinds of people exist in this world? And not having to deal with them in my real life is such a blessing. Well, I may have met new unique troublesome people in my real life this year, but itâs nothing I couldnât handle. So, thank God.
6. FREEDOM. *laugh* Well, some people wouldnât call it a blessing. In a negative way, the word âfreedomâ translates to âWHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE? I am 25 and Iâm literally lost. I donât know where to go. I donât have any plan for the next 5 years. My friends are already getting permanent job, getting married, having children, buying house, buying cars, and here I am trying to get through the day sitting in a Starbucks listening to music as no one cares.â But, hey, since itâs a âhow grateful I am with 2018â post, Iâd try to turn it around. With my current job, that is not 8-5 office working hours, I have SO much freedom. I basically had so many spare times, I could juggle jobs in between classes, I even could go to the cinemas on a Monday, I could run on a weekday, I could hang out on a weekday. Itâs been amazing. And to add more into it, I am 100% single! So, I had no one to be there for (romantically). Like, I had no one to report to (except my Mom if Iâm coming home late), no one to tell me what time to come home, who I can hang out with, what to eat and not eat, what to do and not do, where to go and not go, no one to worry about, no one to reply text to, et cetera et cetera. OMG, I just made it sounds like a romantic relationship is horrible. No offense to anyone, but really, spending 24 hours a day just for me is amazing. At times it might get lonely, but back to point no 2, I have my friends and family right there whenever I need them. And, of course, I will also be there for them. So, yeah. Just enjoying the freedom right here, baby. Of course, I have rough planning for my life as in what I think Iâd do more in 2019 and what to do to keep myself as healthy as possible. Itâs just thereâs nothing big happening soon, I think? Not planning to get married next year, or living abroad soon, but yeah, weâll see. This freedom (aka cluelessness) should give me a space to be creative to whatever it is Iâm going to feel like doing in the future. So, yeah, blessed for it, grateful for it, not everyone has it, therefore I should use it well before I ran out of it.
OK. So thatâs a LONG post. I hope I really meant what I wrote here and I can come to the conclusion that my life is beautiful indeed. I should stop taking my life for granted. Not everyone is as lucky as I am. And I should be very excited to get into 2019.