a letter to life

Spend Less and Save More

Workout Daily After Work

Set Aside at Least One Hour to Read

Declutter and Aim to Live with Less

Get Enough Sleep

Cut Down on Sugar and Eat Healthily

Being in my 30s makes me want to have a truly peaceful life — less drama, more good vibes. Having a small circle is a bonus, so I don't need to worry about cutting people off except for strengthening my boundaries and protecting my inner peace. But that doesn't really matter cause I am focusing on myself more. I am trying my best to simplify life, which I started way back in my late twenties. The realization kicked in when I was struggling to find happiness in my life. I wrote a post about of thing about happiness last year, and being in that retrospective mode has changed my life.

Slowing down life helps me enjoy the present moment and reduce stress. Here are five things I do to simplify life and make me more at peace. It is just a teeny tiny change, but it still works wonders for me.

1. Practice mindfulness. 

It is the act of paying full attention to the present moment without judgment. Live life as it is. This is quite difficult since I tend to reflect on the past and worry about the future. Keep trying until it allows you to focus on the here and now. This will reduce our tendency to rush things through life; in return, we will find ourselves smiling at the end of the day.

2. Simplify your schedule. 

Reduce the unnecessary activities in your daily routine by doing fewer things. Manage your time well to accomplish your tasks. This is why I am so into minimalism, especially when it comes to space—home, room, etc. Less stuff means less time to tidy things up and more time for hobbies that bring me joy and fulfillment.

3. Unplug from technology. 

Easy peasy tips! Constant connectivity on social media can lead to stress. Take a break from the screens and do something more happier. Don't waste your time reading gossip or commenting on someone's wall about things unrelated to you. It's not worth the time to be a busybody. Your own time is ticking!

4. Engage in slow hobbies. 

This one depends on the individual itself. My only slow hobby is reading. I can't do gardening or knitting, so yeah, do what you love and immerse yourself in the process. Don't rush. Let the things you do give you a sense of calm and fulfillment as you enjoy the journey. (but readers dont really go slow when reading, right? :P)

5. Cultivate gratitude.

Learn to acknowledge and appreciate the positive aspects of your life, even the smallest things. It helps you shift your focus from what's missing to what you have and encourages contentment. We tend to ignore the small, treasurable things and be ungrateful, which ends up putting us in a stressful situation. Try to reflect on each thing and unfold the hidden gems.

Simplifying life can lead to greater clarity, less stress, less drama, and more enjoyment. Let's live a life full of balance and be more peaceful. 

₊ .・✧.・。.・.°˖ ✧.・。.・.✧・. ₊

Would you simplify your life to be more at peace?

Last Sunday, my siblings and I were having some dim sum at Canning Dim Sum, Imperial Palace Hotel Miri. My sister saw the recommendation from people on Facebook and said she wanted to try them out so we went there around 1130am. Upon arriving at our destination, I'm quite impressed with the place. It has a pleasant and soothing ambiance which is definitely suitable for everyone; a good spot to have a morning breakfast with family, friends or that special person.

The ordering process, however, was somewhat perplexing. We had to wait for another waiter to arrive and bring us a few dim sum suggestion boxes after the waitress who was serving us had taken our drink orders. We chose few dim sum from what he brought us on the table and then my sister and I got us a caramel pudding, mango pudding and four steamed buns with different fillings from the display case.

The dim sum were all good and tasty. But it was quite disappointing when it comes to the steamed bun. Let me tell you, steamed bun are one of my favorite thing in the world. But sad to say all that I've tried here were kinda underwhelming. It may be perfect and tasty for others but for me, I kinda dislike the filling except the bun itself, its extremely soft and I super like it.

The caramel pudding was excellent. I like the sweet bitter-ish taste of the caramel sauce and the silky soft texture of the pudding. I would definitely go for it again. As for the mango pudding, my siblings finished it all before I even had the chance to taste it lol. 

On top of all, I would still love to have my dim sum session at this place again and absolutely will go for their caramel pudding since I have yet to find another restaurant that serves the dish this well.

The weather today is extremely cozy to the point of making me wanting to lay down on my bed and wrap myself in the velvety super comfy blanket. I keep yawning endlessly! The cold breeze, the sound of the raindrops and the humming melody of the car on the wet street, damn so perfect. Living in Malaysia, the weather are mainly hot and humid all the time, so when it rains, its like winning a lottery. Everyone will be happy and gratitude feelings are thrown away like a confetti.

I am much happier with my blog setup now. The color shade, the theme itself, it's warm and feels like even more a safe place to spill my thoughts. I have made few changes especially in the categories section which is fully inspired from other blogger and I love it! Here what you can browse around if you ever stumbled upon my tiny little site.

Little Joys — Mainly focus on my gratitude list and will be update every Friday.

Serene Sunday — Let's chill and spill everything from the brain inbox before you forget kind of day.

Travel — I love travel and I gotta write where I left my footsteps for the sake of memories.

Books — Sharing session about books I have read.

Journal — Daily diarium of what I did, what I feel etc.

Musing O'Clock — The aftermath of self-reflection.

Foodgasm — Foods and foods!

Self-Care Center — Grouping everything here; haircare, skincare and any personal care stuff.

100 Tips — Sharing the tips and hacks that is tested and personally approved.

Playlist — Sometimes I forgot what is once my favourite music, thus why this section exist.

I will try my best to commit on the writing as blogging used to be one of my hobby. It has been almost 15 years since I start blogging for the first time. I never stick to one name and keep changing them severely. I named this blog 0029am; a letter to life because I often drowning in thoughts at midnight and have a trouble to sleep, and yeah, it's where the idea come from. This blog probably will be here even after 10 years and by that time I will go down memory lane to read how was my life before. The reminisce moments would definitely be priceless. Till here then!  

It's almost the end of the year and I am feeling frustrated with myself more than ever. This blog is still empty. The domain was supposed to be out in June since I am planning to completely resign from this blogging world but apparently, the domain has been renewed automatically for two freaking years by the domain hosting company that I subscribed to. I don't want to continue it actually but I guess this blog still wants me to be part of it so yeah, I will try to start writing again and turn this blog alive and not dead.

Life has been pretty good despite a few times I feel like drowning. The act of appreciating and embracing the little things around me has changed me a lot. It calms the endless chaos in my entire body and keeps my sanity intact. I love staring at the blue skies more than ever now. At the same time, I will play a little search-a-rainbow game and it levels up my dopamine whenever I spot one. It makes me realize that we actually don't need much to make our happy hormones go crazy, instead, we need to be grateful and cherish whatever is in front of us. It is the greatest source of happiness and a peaceful mind. Seek no more.

I'm turning 30 real soon which is unbelievable how fast time flies. I am wondering what the future holds for me; will it be good or will it be another bad series? I know I'm not supposed to worry about it for everything has been written for us but life kinda scares me. It's full of surprises. You don't know if you will laugh your head off or cry your heart out. But yeah, que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.

I will try my best to make another update soon. I have *ahem* a good feeling about it this time. Till here then, bye! 

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

I was on a four hours train journey from Yogyakarta to Surabaya when I got myself into a retrospective mode. The entire ride was a soothing one -- full of the green rice paddy field view with warm weather, not that scorching hot but cozy enough to look outside without getting my eyes hurt by the sun. I took the opportunity to let my thoughts wander around and find any topic I could write about as my caption on Instagram. Yes, it's my kinda trick to keep writing. It's not something I do as a forceful habit, but I feel like I need to do it.

So I was thinking about happiness. I used to question myself, is happiness too much to ask for? Is it damn expensive that no matter what I do I will never be able to get it? Or is it entitled to some specific people only? Gosh, only god knows how much I've cried for that damn question. I have no idea why I often feel like I don't deserve any of it, even a glimpse of it and sometimes I feel like maybe my life has been cursed. But actually, it's not. It's simply my thoughts and the way I define happiness itself. 

But hey hey the wiser me is here. I believe that happiness is flexible and can vary from person to person and even within a person's own life. What brings happiness to one person may not bring happiness to another, and what brings happiness to someone at one point in their life may not necessarily bring happiness to them at a later point. Thus why I realize that we cannot follow anyone's standard of happiness. We have to create our own based on how we feel about things and our surroundings.

Happiness is also influenced by external factors such as life circumstances, environment, and social support. For example, a person who is going through a difficult time may find it challenging to experience happiness, while someone who has a strong support system may find it easier to cultivate happiness even during challenging times. Life events, personal growth, and shifting priorities can all impact a person's happiness.

So the answer to my forever question is no, happiness is not too much to ask for. It is a fundamental human desire to want to feel happy and fulfilled in life. But we all need to learn that even little things can give us a bunch of joy. We hold the power to decide and choose what will make us happy. It may cost nothing at all or maybe an entire star in the galaxy. Learn to be grateful as well since gratitude and happiness are closely linked to each other. Once we feel enough, surely the content heart will follow. 

Photo by Vladimir Vinogradov on Unsplash

So I would like to write about this garden of uncertainty. Actually, I know nothing about it, I have zero ideas about it until I befriend a stranger from Tinder and he shares the quotes below with me. 

“If you can’t do anything about it then let it go. Don’t be a prisoner to things you can’t change.”

Sadly our perkenalan was a quick one and he left after a few conversations. His quotes basically put me into curiosity mode. I read the quotes many times and wondered am I a prisoner? If I am a prisoner, what kind of crime Ive committed? Fikir punya fikir I finally got the answer. Indeed, I am a prisoner and the crime I've committed is keeping a bunch of false hope and I am unconsciously creating a garden of uncertainty in me. I am making myself a hostage and it steers me into complete chaos.

Do you know why and how it is related? It starts with an authentic hope but ends up being something toxic that infected the mind. Keeping a false hope means keeping something rotten in you. It's the easiest perumpamaan and paling mudah difahami. I tend to do it all the time. Though I know I won't be able to change anything about something, like that thing has zero possibility, I still wanna keep it in me and believe that one day it will eventually change when the fact that it cant. Dasar bengkeng sik bertempat. Sik kira lah tentang apa sekalipun, I always have it bottled up in me and end up hurting myself. Letting go is harder thus why I refused to do that.

The funny thing is, sometimes we exactly know the answer we seek but we are in complete denial, refusing to admit the truth. The more we keep the habit, the bigger the garden grows. So what's the point? I imagine myself strolling around the garden I've created, seeing all the things that hurt me everywhere like wilted roses, do you think it makes me happy? Of course not. That's why I chose to burn the entire ground and plant something better. I want something more pleasant, lively, and full of butterflies. It will be the core of my entire system as a human being and I really need a change. If I don't, it's not only the inner me but the whole me that will be wrecked.

The garden of uncertainty is something we all cannot have in life. Learn to let go of something we can't change and believe that there's more for us out there that we still haven't discovered yet. Don't waste time on something worthless. x

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Lamak gila dah sik bukak blog tok. Kamek rasa mun blog tok sebuah rumah, confirm dah jadi salah satu property yang berhantu. Life has been good lately (ada juak yang not good but i choose to be blind and deaf about it hehe). Banyak yang mok diceritakan thus why im back here. Harap idea penulisan ya sentiasa ada jak lah. Lelah juak mun mala kenak writer's block. Padahal bukan cerita rekaan tapi susahnya mok polah ayat rasa macam jawab kertas spm jak heheh.

I'm going to update about my travel journey to Jogjakarta and Surabaya, my personal growth progress, books I've finished reading, my thoughts about uncertainty and other things which i ada update the quick version on instagram, about what's going on with my life (i ada kenak scam abam pulis uolls) and everything that I could remember. Banyak juak yang mok di share dalam blog yet i don't know why i couldn't make it until here. 

I am writing this while listening to lofi playlist and its already midnight. A new day has started. Raya is just around the corner. And its already mid-april. Phew lajunya masa. I gotta fill my days with more good things, more positive things, and just everything good. Though I know its impossible to be happy and feel good all the time, but its not a crime to try my best kan. Sikkan lah mok sedih ajak. Boringnya hidup. Sik dapat polah real outdoor activities, sik apa. Kita camping online, berbasikal online, mandik sungai online and so on hahah. This year I really wanna spend more time with nature and do more outdoor activities. Tapi sik ada geng. I need a new circle but how? Ada ka yang maok kawan dengan amateur macam saya tok? What a sad question!

It's okay. I will try to figure it out myself later. Jangan jak mood introvert datang balit. Bukan main jak semangat kelak dah diajak benar alu rasa menyesal. Biasaaaa diaaa. Tapi hakikatnya seketul introvert memang macam ya. But I'm trying to change myself at least lah to ambivert. Middle range homosapiens. Till here then. x

I no longer want to correct people. Even though they might be right or wrong, I will not say anything and just gonna keep my mouth shut. I am hated for correcting people when I know they are doing something incorrectly. I have been told as someone who thinks I am perfect enough that I can fix their mistakes. That was absolutely not the truth and I never said that I am perfect. But just because I spit out the truth, I become the toxic person.

It makes me think again whether my action is toxic or if they are the ones who are toxic and refused to admit their mistakes. It reminds me of being gaslighted and that my words are being twisted and manipulated. Knowing that I might experience the same thing again and gonna trigger my trauma, I decided to leave the thoughts alone. I definitely not and don't want to be in the trap again.

I'm glad the Wednesday film is out and grateful that I spend my time watching it. I've learned something from the main character. Don't give a fuck about people and just do your things. Let them do whatever they want as long as they don't break into your privacy. Well, I think that is clever enough how to deal with humans. I also realized that talking to people like that actually won't affect them and I am just wasting my time trying to fix or correct others.

Rather than having a stupid argument and putting me in agony while the other side is being effortless, I might just do the same and ignore the ignorance. That's it. I hope I can be more resilient and adapt to my new character traits. I don't want to deal with humans anymore. I will just do me and let them do theirs. Enough.

Image by Angela Lo

I finally learned how to respect my feelings and boundaries. It has been a tough journey but now, knowing that caring about something worthless is really a waste of time and energy, I choose to completely ignore it. Some people often say that I am too sensitive and fragile and weak, so I unequip and get rid of my emphatic traits for them. I bet they have no idea how much it would affect my personality. Telling a person to be less sensitive means telling them to be heartless. The truth of excessive emotions means we all just feel a little too much and everything goes straight to our hearts. And logically, it's not our choice but it's naturally running in the vein.

Now that I am ruined and become total heartless, the feeling is quite a blessing, To turn myself into a winter cold person ain't that easy and it takes time. It's the same as when you try to move on from your ex-partner but keep on remembering your sweet moments together, or that you said you want to have a healthy lifestyle and wanting to lose some weight but still cannot throw away your bad eating habits! When you were being treated badly and someone disrespects your boundaries, stop giving them chances. You don't give them chances to appreciate you but you simply give them chances to rip your soul off. There's a fine line between patience and stupidity. Don't be stupid.

Some might argue that it's not a good thing to do. Like when they say, kalau orang berik bunga, kita berik bunga. Kalau orang berik kita taik, kita berik bunga juak. But it's just ridiculous. I'd rather give them nothing in return which is buat bodoh and distance myself. I'm being kind enough not to start a silly fight. Being heartless doesn't mean I'm turning myself into a bad person. But it means I am having enough and I no longer have the energy to deal with the toxicity or things that hurt me. x

Image by Kristine Wook

Salam aidil adha. Due to this still-crazy pandemic, today hari raya can only be celebrated within family members. No cousins, no friends. But still feeling grateful for the small gathering and the meals! Now let's talk about my covid vaccine story cause this post is purposely created for that experience.

I am the last person in the family to get the vaccine shot and I am honestly anxious that my name is not being selected yet lol. When the AZ vaccine application was open for all Malaysian, we all tried our best to register our names. And my little sister, the first to get the vaccine is helping us out. But none of us were lucky as the application has been fully booked.

Even though we could not squeeze in our names, my siblings and my parents finally got their registration approved after a few days. So they all got their first AZ vaccine while I was still putting on the hope that I would get it. I kept on refreshing my MySejahtera and updating my profile yet nothing, no vaccine offer, no notification.

After a week or maybe two weeks, my friend told me to just walk into one of the vaccination facilities where her friend is working. She tried giving her my name for registration but unfortunately, it was fully booked too. Haih malang sungguh. Pun masih tak dapat. Then I got another text message from my friend asking for my personal details untuk diberikan kepada staff yang kerja dekat vaccination facility tu. And my stepmother also asking for my details to forward it to her friend yang ada kenalan di pusat vaksin tu jugak. I think the next day or perhaps after two days both of them asking me if I got a call for a vaccine shot or not. I jawab tak ada punnnn! 

But my stepmother's friend told me to just go to the vaccination facility that she mentioned cause my name has been registered. I was quite unsure since I got no phone call from them. Nanti tak pasal-pasal kena maki dan kena halau pulak. That time I was working and baju penuh tepung sebab seharian buat kuih and I got no time for a change so terus ke pusat vaksin. Bau peluh pun bau lah ~

By the time I reached there, tak ada banyak orang pun. I just walked in and follow instructions given by anggota rela yang berkerja disana. It's finally my turn! Akhirnya penantian yang ditunggu-tunggu. I've been given a pfizer vaccine and macam biasa since my family all got their AZ, silly thoughts came playing in my head. No offend but I'm kinda scared with the side effect lol. And the funny thing is I even imagined what if we will be separate based on what vaccine we got just like those in Divergent series. Scary!

Disebabkan i sorang dapat pfizer, they are all dengki with me lol. I honestly don't care what vaccine i got and i don't understand why comparing vaccine has become a big deal. Yang penting dapat vaksin kan. I will get my second dose next week and hope that everything will be fine. Dengar cerita second dose will be quite heavy. As for the first shot, I tak demam or tak ada rasa apa-apa. Just that tangan lenguh dan penat lepas kena cucuk.

So this is how I got my covid vaccine yeay. Moga kita semua dilindungi dan dijauhi dari penyakit bahaya macam covid ni. Stay safe and take care semua! x