#What Makes Me Happy: Finale

For this project, I originally planned to write ten things that make me happy, but now let me just write the last one, and maybe, the most important one. One thing that makes me happy is writing. I know it's hard to start sometimes, but the drive is still there, and as soon as I write, the words just flow from my mind. 

Writing can really help me sometimes. If I feel down, I write about how life sucks, sometimes in the form of poetry. I write until every negative things are out, then put a big cross in the paper, or delete it if I write it on sticky notes or tumblr. After that, I write my own solutions, my own plans for the problems, and wow, everything's solved. 

I've always dreamed of having my own book or novel published since I was a child, but it's really hard for me to keep up with it. Why? because I get bored so easily. For example, I have this one idea, and then I start to make the outline in my head. The endings, the highlight sentences, even the back cover of the book. But then I see other stuffs and get new ideas, and it is like those new ideas are more interesting than the old ones. So I do it all over again. I've read that if you want to write a novel, you should stick with an idea, and eventhough you think it's awful in the middle of the work, you need to stick with it until you write the ending. But I can't do that. And that's why I like writing poems and drabbles more nowadays. 

At last, I want to tell you the point of this project. I want to show you that in order to be happy, you don't have to get extravagant things. These small things that make up your life, are as important as them. I'm happy to go to Denmark and join IBO, but those things don't happen everyday. So if you keep waiting for the big things to be happy, you might never be happy for your whole life.Even the fact that you can breathe easily, that you can see the world in colors, that you can hear the music, those little things should make you happy. Because out there, there are people who can not afford to have them all but still put a smile on their face. It's the end of 2015, let's be happy.

...

Can't wait to write again for this one-and-a-half moth holiday!!! It's been so busy lately for me with all the tasks and exams and all the things I need to do to adjust myself in this new environment, but anyway, I feel like I really should start writing again. I know this year writing project of mine didn't go well, so I'm going to put my last article for that in a few days later. I'm going to update the "Poems" tab too with new poems I've written in 2015. And you know what? Eventhough I can't say that I'm a great poetess, I know I've been improving. I will write one post to summarize this year's story as usual, and also one not-so-usual article about IBO 2015 (yeay!). And last, I will inform you about my next year project which does not only involve writing, but also designing! I'm suck at graphic design, really. But I think maybe I can practice a bit here. So.. that's all for today, Hope you all an amazing holiday ^^

12-10-2015

Tasks and studies might fill up the most of our times, but I believe we shouldn't let them take our time to do things we love and time for our family and friends (friends, not classmates not teammates not organization-mates, though they may overlap). Our hobbies, family, and friends have as much right as the tasks to fill our time. Never think of times spending with them as wastes.

There is even one more thing we shouldn't forget. God, above all, has the right for all our time. In our busy times, it might be hard to pray and remember God, but don't forget that those prayers could help make those hard times easier.

The most productive person, for me, is not the one who can do his/her tasks fast. Not the one who can handle the most number of classes. But the one who, with the same 24 hours he/she has a day, can do his/her study well while still living his/her passion and maintaning a good relationship with his/her family, friends, and the most important one, God.

01-10-2015

Blessing is not always about big things, like going to one university that you've been dreaming for forever, or getting medals, money, or Nobel Prize. For me, blessing is when you buy one wrong cereal pack because you don't like full-cream milk, but when you open the other one, there is two packages of chocolate milk that you like. For me, blessing is finding a book for reference after a countless nights of searching. For me, blessing is when God still let me stay strong and true to myself despite everything that is happening.

Blessings are literally everywhere, we get them everytime we breath, everytime our hearts beat, so why don't we be grateful from now on?

18-09-15

Everytime I feel tired and start to complain about my life, I think of my mother.

I usually go to campus from 8 to 3. Yes sometimes I need to stay until 6, but that's only like, one day in a week. Some days like today for example, I only have to stay until 12. But my mother, she works from 8 to 7 four days in a week, and 8 to 5 for Friday. I wear a tired expression when I meet her, while she wears her best smile.

Yes, I have tasks. I sleep late almost everyday. I am tired. But so is she. She said she had some problem with her memory as the effect of some therapy she had years ago, so she had to read and learn all the materials and laws about taxes in the night. But then she still wake up at 3 or 4 to pray. For her, for me, for our family. She still spends some time to help my sister with her study. She still had the time to come right away to my place when I got sick, while I don't even know if she is sick.

Sometimes I feel like asking God to switch places with people. Sometimes I feel like complaining again and again. But now as I think about this, I can only ask myself, "Do I really have the right to ask for it? Do I even have any right to say 'aduh, capek banget hari ini' ?"

#What Makes Me Happy (4)

To repay all of laziness in writing these months, let me write the fourth post for my personal project, today. This thing that I will write, might be the common answer for people if asked "What makes you happy?" It's simple, yet everyone knows it works. It's music.

Listening to music is a good way to spend the time, everyone knows that. It could be relaxing, it could be fun. Whatever your choice of music is, whether it's the classic opera or Taylor Swift's old country song or Beyonce's pop song or Muse or Oasis or Greenday, music could save you from boredom.

Music is the way people communicate and connect with each other, some even say that it is the way for human to synchronize. That is why, when you are feeling down, it's good to listen to music about 'feeling-down' as well. For us human, it is good to know that someone, some other people in this world feel the same way that you do and can understand what you feel. But don't let sappy music drag you down, listen to the upbeat ones and dance to it to help you up.

Sometimes when I feel tired, I listen to Cave In by Owl City (which is my favorite musician) until I feel better, than after that I will turn the more 'positive' and upbeat ones, like Beautiful Times. I like other songs from other musicians as well, but Owl City is still my all-time favorite. I can't even choose which song or album is my favorite, because I love all (ok not all, but almost all) of them. His music is so magical (I can't find a better way to put it into words) and the lirics are deep yet funny. Even if I got a bit pessimistic about his latest album before, The Mobile Orchestra, I still put Can't Live Without You on repeat and I still dance to Thunderstruck now haha.

So now, make your own playlist for both your sad and happy times. Remember, use music to lift you up, not to drag you down.

#What Makes Me Happy (3)

Oh God... finally I could write in this blog again. So, I'm not going to give excuse or anything about this-super-late post. I was busy, but most of all, I just don't feel like writing. But now I do. So this third installment will be about... drinks.

I don't know if it sounds weird, but sipping my favorite drinks always help to calm me down. The top three list of my favorite beverages are Delfi's hot chocolate, Pickweek's forestberry tea, and Max tea's lemon tea. I've always loved chocolate, especially Delfi's so there should be no question why I pick it as my first choice of beverage. I could talk about how beneficial chocolate is to our health, but I'm afraid it would be biased, so I'd rather not.

The Pickweek tea, I've known just recently. It's an English brand if I'm not mistaken, and I 'found' it during my visit in Denmark. We were in the Indonesian embassy and the ambassador served us tea of various choices. My friends chose to pick forest berry, and after that they told me that it was really good. So we searched through supermarkets in Denmark for the tea, and after I tried it, well, it was really good. I really like the smell, it's kind of sweet. It's a good way to relax in Sunday morning I think.

Talking about tea, I also like Indonesian tea, especially the traditional ones. I grew up with tea for breakfast, and though it's not a hard habit to break, it's always nice to be able to drink one in the morning. It feels like home somehow. And beside forestberry and traditional tea, the lemon tea is my favorite for both hot and cold beverage. It could be refreshing and relaxing all at once. I like Nestea as well as Max Tea, but Nestea is not really good to be served hot.

What about coffee? Well, sometimes I have some craving for caffeine, but grabing a can at minimarket is enough. I enjoy coffee, but I'm not addicted to it.

Well, whatever drink of your choice is, grab one when you're feeling down. Trust me, some hot beverages could help you relaxed and make you feel better. They might not help you with your problems, but relaxing can help to clear things out, and who knows what great ideas might come out of your relaxed head after that? So grab a cup now, see the world, and relax...

#What Makes Me Happy (2)

First things first. I know I should have posted this in February, and post another in March, but, I'd been calling my disciplinary to write but it just disappeared. Maybe some other business and priorities blocked its way to come back too. But anyway, I plan to repay them in this two-week holiday (I've just finished my national exam. Yeay!). So, the first thing that makes me happy is...

To sleep in my own room at home.

See? Happiness does not always come in extravagant package like winning lottery or achieving an award. It could be as simple as this. Or, is it really? As a student who stays in dormitory, to be able to sleep in my own room at home is a kind of luxury. I, eventhough go home more often than the others, still think it is. I'm comfortable with my room in dorm, yes. I like the position of the room, I like my bed in the top bunk, I like my roommates. Still, none can match my own room at home. My room is not big. The furnitures are rather simple too. Bed, wardrobe, bookshelf, and table. Just your common room. Though the air conditioner might add a thousand additional point to it. The decoration? Well, I lack sense of art, so I never really try to decorate it. The only decoration comes from a poster hung on the wall. Collections of post-its with birthday wishes from my friends in TOBI (thank you guys, I still read and read it again everyday ^-^) for my seventeenth birthday. There are some souvenirs from around the world and a night lamp decorated with shell too on my table, if you can count it as a decoration. And anyway, I always prefer purpose over beauty.

What make me happy to stay in my room, are maybe the sense of belonging and privacy. Everytime I get home, the first place I go to is my room. I open the door, turn on the light, and inhale the scent that somehow, never really change. I feel safe here. And I know, wherever I'm going, this is my room. My room in my home. This is where I will come back. It's always good to know you have a place to come back. A place you can lock yourself in, and be the real you. It sounds like a paradox, to have your own freedom inside a 3×5 meter square room, not in secluded forest or tranquil beach. But no judgement please, there are so many varieties of people out there.

So, right now, if you are still reading this post, think of one place that can make you happy. One place that makes you smile when you think of it. One place, not the one faraway, not the one hard to reach, that you can call your heaven. Whatever and wherever it is, I hope you will be able to be there for many times. And again, if you are still reading this nonsense, I would like to say thank you and whoever you are, I wish you happiness in the very place you are right now.

This is the first thing. Nine more things to come...

P.S. I might add pictures of my room someday. I might not.

#What Makes Me Happy: a Project

People all over the world are chasing for their happiness. Most chase after money, because they think that's what happiness is. Some chase for fame, some chase for adventure. Everyone is trying to interpret happiness in their own way, and pursuit it. So this year, I'm going to write a list of things that makes me happy. I plan to post it every month, the first one start in February. I want to do this 'project', not only because I want to train myself to be more discipline in writing, but also because I hope I could make anyone who read my post aware that happiness, don't always come in an extravagant package. I want people to realize that we can find happiness in the simplest things in our life. What I'm going to write might not be the same as yours, but it's not a problem. The most important thing is to realize that in our pursuit of bigger happiness (if there is any, because I personally think every thing that makes us happy is equally important, nothing is bigger nor smaller) we shouldn't forget of the smaller ones that we 'effortlessly' get everyday. Of the little things that shape us and make us who we are.

And I hope today, as you read this post, will also be a good and happy day for you :-)