Mini Life Update

Hi everyone! I just want to give you all a small update on my life after 3 months away from blogging; Helping me to reflect on what I’ve done in the past few months and the direction I want to take this website towards, hope you enjoy :)

Where I’ve been

As boring as it sounds… The sole reason for my sudden disappearance is school. After the World Cup and the absolute blast that I had (see my Qatar post!), I had once again fallen into the deep pit of feeling guilty about all the fun. It’s something I’ve worked on and is still very much working on, but I made the decision to wipe away any types of ‘distractions’, drowning myself in a sea of work on a daily basis, trying to improve every aspect of my school life. The first 3 weeks were rough, juggling between assessments that fast approached and trying my best to re-adapt back into my normal routine; I was suffocating and tried my best to hold my breath, as if I kept telling myself: Just a few more days… Then I can finally relax.

The CNY holiday came at a perfect time (I mean, who’d say no to holidays?) since I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of tasks I set for myself after school and like an athlete trying to run 10 km after stopping for 6 months… It didn’t work out very well for my mental health. During the holiday, though, I felt that I maintained a better balance between studying and working! I went to Japan to learn how to snowboard for the first time and the adrenaline, the liberation you feel when riding the board is unlike anything I’ve ever tried; I highly recommend everyone to give it a go. Of course, it comes with the pain when you fall!

A comical little compilation of me snowboarding that I put together, enjoy! (It’s my first time, still getting there..!)

On top of the fun, I resumed playing badminton and basketball on a weekly basis for 4–5 times a week after continuously cancelling my sessions, either because I was too exhausted to train or I had tests the next day and had to focus on that. I have noticed it for a while, but it’s clearer to me now than ever, I feel so much more confident and perform better mentally as well as physically when I exercise consistently. I understand how important it is to love your body, no matter the shape and size, but it feels so rewarding to hear compliments about your body and level of fitness. After a day at the desk, all I really ask for is a 30-minute run on the treadmill (Those stitches KILLS).

What’s next?

After the CNY holiday, I headed in for another round of assessments and am still in the process of some, but I think for the future I hope to take a slightly different approach after conversations with a good friend of mine sparked some more reflections (June, this one’s for you!). In the future, what surely wouldn’t change is my dedication to academics and my level of engagement during class, but I’m proud to say that I’ve stopped placing so much emphasis on getting that one extra mark on a test I know that was based on how well you are able to memorize past paper mark schemes. I won’t settle for a ‘decent’ mark, but I also wouldn’t base all my revision on doing past paper questions, and I encourage no one to do so as well. If you ask me, I do slightly regret sticking with that method for a long time, since I now have to recap those topics to ensure I understood everything without the help of a mark scheme any more. Anyway… Wish me luck for my chemistry test…

As for this website, I’ve never changed my mind about its intentions: To help Winnie record and discover her purpose along the hectically eventful journey. I will admit, though, that I didn’t expect Year 10 to be so excruciatingly competitive when I started this site back in the summer of 2022, constantly pushing me to up my game. I haven’t proactively sought after new opportunities or experiences as much as I would’ve like, and I feel like that this will unfortunately be the case until my Easter holiday —in which, I will have to start preparing for my end-of-year exams— but any epiphanies I do have, I will surely document them on here. Sometimes I reflect on the education system in our society and the hedonistic lifestyle students have to lead… It’s truly sad but, like many things in life, you suck it up and move.

To end, here’s one last reminder for myself and anyone that’s reading this to take a chill pill once in a while, find your source of comfort (food, music, gaming, anything) and be patient with yourself. Good things take time.

Thanks for reading, and see you all in a bit.

-Winnie 11/03/2023