Hello there!

The previous day was challenging, to say the least. Many of my juniors and friends had been stressing their heads out over picking their tertiary education path, and it got us thinking about how stressed we were back then as well. It was an evening of giving advices and help to our juniors anyway. Here's to making wiser decisions about our future!

Also, I'm going on a Bangkok trip with my #nomoreexams plus one after graduation and I honestly can't believe we settled everything in one evening. It's crazy, but I'm so glad to be doing it with the girls who have seen me cry, scream, rant, pull my hair out, sleep on the floor, and give up on life at 5am in the morning at Cheryl's house.

Thank God those times were over.

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Recently, I was talking to a friend about the importance of education and a stable future and all that rubbish your parents nag at you about when you're somewhere in your late teens. It occurred to me that I never once dreamed of having a stable future, despite Singapore being such a safe society. Therefore, it inspired my Instagram post yesterday, with the caption "Maybe I'm just a girl who's trying to get out of this fish tank of a lonely city."

Singapore is a crowded city, and sometimes even in this huge crowded city we get a little lonely. It seems vast and beautiful, but it is really just a fish tank where we're fed and kept like pets. For people who yearn the vast ocean and true company from people who understand you, Singapore could be suffocating at times.

Today, I decided to address the things (personally), I feel like will make the best out of life versus a life that is, well, stable, but not happy to say the least. I do hope that it makes a certain friend of mine feel like studies/stable future isn't always everything. This is for you, Daryl.

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Yes, financial security is always a concern when it comes to life. We need money to buy houses, cars, clothes, and to actually provide for family. Many asians will tell you that they would want to earn enough money to repay their parents for their upbringing. 

But money is usually earned from working. So actually, the main issue here is the career path in mind. A famous person once said that if you do what you like for a living, you never have to work a day in your life. I find that to be extremely true, because you're just having fun doing what you're passionate about.

For example. For a dancer, to be able to dance on stage for the rest of our lives is not working, it's fun. Confining a dancer into a 9-5 office job is restraining her wings, holding her back from that spotlight she so deserves on stage. Yes, being a dancer doesn't pay well. Indeed, it is a very unstable job with no financial security whatsoever. But we choose so, despite knowing the consequences.


People often nag about the lack of financial security, but honestly... These dreamers have had those thoughts a million times. The instability and money concerns would have run through their heads more times than you can imagine, and still they choose to pursue something they are truly passionate about. Why? Because even in the million times they have pondered over this issue, they chose what they love. There was no doubt, this was what they were meant to do in life.

Whatever you would want to nag at these people about, they would have had those thoughts too. You reminding them of these thoughts, wouldn't waiver them from their decisions. Rather, it will further convince them that their decisions to pursue the unconventional path was right.

When passion is stronger than your desire to earn money, you'll make the choice that makes you the happiest more so than the one that makes you the most money.

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Happiness is not always Prada bags or the latest collections from Alexander McQueen. Happiness, could be sitting in a limousine watching the crowd huddle by in the cold. But happiness, could also be hugging in the cold subway train because that winter was extremely cold.


Happiness is a feeling that is highly subjective. This is why, what works for someone may not work for another. Happiness can be eating the best steak in a rooftop restaurant. Happiness, could also be her burning the steak she bought from the supermarket and him buying Chinese takeout to comfort her.

Happiness can be getting promoted to the manager of a big company with a lofty office facing the city. Happiness can also be sitting in a damp changing room alone, doing your own make up, to prepare for the spotlight shining on you as you dance on stage.


Happiness can be coming home to a family of children scoring As on their exams and a husband who looks gorgeous in an office suit. But, happiness can be coming home to her falling asleep on the couch in your oversized tee because she was so tired waiting for you to come home from your job that ends way past 10pm.

Happiness can be you winning the championship medal for her, and watching her jump in joy when you give the medal to her. Happiness, can also be her buying you comfort food at Mcdonalds' and showing you the amazing photos she took of you on court even though you lost the game.

Happiness can be you living in a condominium with a beautiful swimming pool and a view of the ocean. But, happiness can be complaining about living in a 3-room flat everyday but choosing to come home to your family anyway.


You see, happiness can be a lot of things. It works different for everyone, and leading a successful life can vary from individual to individual. Chanel bags and a stuffed teddy bear you won from the machine at the arcade can both be horribly romantic to a girl. A $10,000 9-5 office job and a $3,000 job where you work 8 shows a week can both be the dream job to someone.

So long as we can define success on our own terms, and work towards it, it does not matter what other people think of us. For success in our own perceptions, will bring happiness to our lives. And so long as we're happy, who cares what happens tomorrow.

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People may have very different ideas of what I just said, and I'm sorry if you feel that way. But for someone who would choose the unstable arts career path over a stable business career path any day, you have to understand that my idea of happiness and success is highly different from the average young adult.


We don't need to be successful in others' mind, as with we don't need other peoples' opinions to validate our worth. We validate our own worth, with the goals we set for ourselves. Our only competitor is ourselves, and our only stepping/stumbling stone is ourselves as well. So long as we can convince ourselves that we're successful, maybe the world will start seeing us that way too.

Life, in all aspects, is subjective. It is defined not by Dictionary.com, your family or peers. It is defined by yourself. If we can just keep telling ourselves that, we'll have the courage to pursue our dreams, however impossible they may appear. If we can just keep convincing ourselves of that, the world will believe in us too.

Honestly, in my opinion, that's all we need to be sure/confident of our choices. However stupid they may appear to others.

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Here's to the dreamers out there who may have lost their way somewhere. Here's to finding our dreams again, even when we think it's too late. Here's to never ever ever losing ourselves.