LIFE: 2017 Reflection and 2018 Resolution

2017 ended in few nights away. I always think that time flies so fast and we cannot do anything about it besides enjoying it while we can. Well, life is not always full of joy, but everything that happened in life is something we should learn from it. My life in 2017 is not full of joy, but I’m still grateful for everything that happened to me this year. Moreover, I’m blessed to witnessed how God’s plan worked over me and His unconditional love for me and my family and friends . Here are some few lessons I learned from 2017 (and mostly I got it from my favorite Korean dramas and songs! Oh check out my longest video ever about my top 10 K-dramas of 2017 here!)

Nothing lasts forever

As I got older, I started to realize that there is no such thing such as forever in man’s time. The word forever was meant for God’s time. We got old as time passed by, people do change, and we won’t live forever in this life. Take example, this year, one of my favorite girl groups, Girls Generation, made a hard decision to break up their long-lasting relationship as an idol group. This news breaks my heart and wake me up at the same time. Most of older K-pop groups (2NE1, Miss A, SISTAR, KARA, etc) found their own paths this year and it made them to drifted their ways. Life is like a wheels, sometime at the peak and sometime at the bottom. That's why nothing is going to stay forever. You will not facing problem forever, but there will always problem you might face. Pain is always there, but you won't suffer it forever. Life is not a monotone, but it is colorful. Everything is not going to be the same in life, so nothing will lasts forever. If you are facing problem right now, just keep moving on, cause soon or later it will turn into a beautiful lesson. So, I came to realize that everything can change and there is no such thing that last forever beside God’s love toward us. 

"Nothing ever lasts forever

In the end you changed” 

- Crooked by G-Dragon

You cannot change the past, but you can shape the future

I learned this from the drama Manhole and While You Are Sleeping, where both the dramas highlighted this theme in the storyline. Yes, people you cannot change the past. Because past is the past. Even though maybe in the future there is such a technology that can bring us back to the past, but you can’t really change the past. What you can change is the future. So, don’t regret about your past, because you are given a chance to change it in the future. Learn from the past and fix it in the future.

"It can’t be helped

Don’t try to hold onto what has already left” 

- Can Be Better by HIGHLIGHT 

As the future is important, but living in ’Now’ is very important

Most people are worrying about the future, but personally I think that living in the present time is more important. Because I think life is short and you don’t know if the future will ever come. It is all by the Grace of God to us. Near the end of this year, my family faced a financial crisis, because my dad had to leave his work because the company removed my dad’s division. My mother who is living an enjoyable life for the past few months, suddenly stressed out. Then she start worrying about the future days, starting to questioning a lot of things. She cried a lot, but my aunt who is a strong believer, told her that to not worry because God will provide. I have a same opinion with her and I do believe it. Enjoy life while we can. Do everything you wanted to do. This year my main theme is to enjoy the present and not to worry the future. Because man can plan, but it’s up to God. And that’s make much more bearable, guys! Let’s not add more problem to ourselves.

“My dear, don’t worry about anything

Let’s sing together

Bury all the painful memories

Deep inside your heart”

- Don’t Worry by Lee Juck (Reply 1988 OST)

Make time for everyone you love

This year lots of my friends has graduated before me. Many of them move out of the town or country and also got stuck with their work. It was a hard thing to have a 2 hours meal or even a 5 minute chat. So whenever they have time, I’m always ready to meet them. Because when you don’t have anything to give, time is the best thing every person needed. It sounds creepy, but you don’t know when will be the last time to see them. Kim Jonghyun’s sudden death really wakes me up. When we feel that we will always see each other again, we will tend to think that there is always another time. Well, actually we don’t.

Little bit of behind the story. If you follow me on my social media, I watched KBS Music Bank in Singapore because the setlist are much better than the one in Jakarta. Not saying that Jakarta’s setlist are bad or what, but in Singapore my favorite groups gathered there. I'm almost didn’t get the ticket to the concert, but there is always a second chance and I finally got it! I’m excited to see my favorite groups, but then it turned out it was my last time seeing Jonghyun on stage… It breaks my heart when I heard the news about him. I can’t believe the most exciting concert I went to this year was our last meeting.

As I said before, there is no such thing such as forever. So, always make time for everyone you love! I actually have failed for several times at this, but Jonghyun’s incident wake me up.

“You can be unhappy but still feel happy when with others”  

- Rap Monster (BTS)

There is always a positive side from every bad things

My friends and surrounding said that I always see positive point from everything. And I hope everyone do the same too. Because we don’t always know the story behind every thing that happened. Take example, Jonghyun’s death. Depression has been buried by the society as a not serious illness, but actually it is. Through Jonghyun’s incident now everyone took very seriously about depression. It may be a very sad thing happened to his family and fans, but it could prevent more people who decided to end his or her life and gave warning to us the seriousness of depression. Keep in mind that there is no rainbow without rain, which shows that there is always a positive side in everything happened.

“Don’t blame yourself. Blame yourself but keep it short and remember it for a long time.” 

- Choi Dam Dong (While You Are Sleeping)

Do everything that makes you happy

The drama Fight for My Way and My Golden Life showed me this point. As I’ve mentioned it above, we don’t have much time so you must do things that makes you happy. Even when your parents or surrounding didn’t seem agree or support you (well in the positive manner), go fight for it. What you must remember is you have to be responsible and show them that you are happy. Happiness is one of the simplest thing in the world, but most people in this whole world rarely realized it.

“… you only live once too, okay? Isn’t that right? You should live happily just once too. 

Isn’t that right?”

 – Ra Mi Ran (Reply 1988)

Don’t compare your life to others

This was the hardest thing I’ve ever learned so far. There is always a slight envy whenever I saw my friends or people I follow on social media (social media influencer included!). Seeing people went to beautiful places in the world, wearing branded cloths or bags, get to meet famous people, living in a beautiful country, and much more are things I’ve always see on my social media timeline. As a normal people, it is natural to be envious. But, one thing I tell myself over and over again whenever that envious strike is “it is their life, don’t compare yourself Jennifer. You have your’s and be happy about it.” Whether you compare it to someone better or someone worse than you, it is not a right thing. The right thing is learn from them, not comparing them.

“Living our way is winning. Who cares what others say?” 

- Go Dong Man (Fight for My Way)

“I think that there’s no need to live your life based on the standard of others” 

- Rap Monster (BTS)

Don’t underestimate the power of TIMING

All things happened in this life is because the power of right timing. Maybe what you did now haven’t show any progress or results, but think that now might not the right timing. Few scenes in Fight for My Way showed that timing is like an enemy. We might have tried the best, but it was a bad timing to do it, it will not work out. So, timing play a big role in your life event. I watched a survival program of debuted idols (The Unit) but didn’t got popular, where showed that they didn’t got popular not because of their lack of talents, but mostly because of bad timing or bad strategy. There is one group that debuted in the similar time with BTS (the most popular K-pop group now) with similar name. This group didn’t get popular because partly because of the bad timing. We can’t control about timing, but we can always stay faithful to what we do until it got to the right time. So, don’t give up easily and always believe that if it is God’s plan you will get it some time. In His time.

“In the end, fate and timing do not happen, out of coincidence. They are products of earnest, simple choices, that make up miraculous moments.” 

- Jung Hwan (Reply 1988)

So I think that’s all I can share for you about life lessons I learned in 2017. I hope you this help you to get some new energy and live 2018 happily. Because you deserved to be happy!

“Instead of money you should think about your dreams and heart. 

And give your best shot at life” 

- Coach Jang Ho (Fight for My Way)

I would like to share my few new year resolutions in 2018.
 So here I present you my 2018 Major Resolution:

I wish you a HAPPY MERRY JOYFUL NEW YEAR guys! Know that I’m always ready to cheer you up. I may know or not all of the readers of my blog, but I always try my best to create post that will help you enjoy a little happiness in this big bad world. Thank you for reading till this far! I love you all. God bless! :)