17 October 2017



3 years ago when I first started university, there were not much things going on in life. Usual life routine were simple, such as spending time with family and friends by going out for meals, movies or simply spending time together. It doesn't have to be an expensive meal or a fancy environment because any activities that you spent with love ones are great. As a full time student in the first year of university, I only had to attend 12 hours of classes per week to learn content that doesn't involve much complexity. There were not much things to worry about such as money, career or dreams. Things were simple. Life was easier.

A year later I decided that it was time to have some changes in life. I guess it is not a good thing to have same kind of lifestyle for too long as it does make people lazier and tend to stay in their own comfort zone. It is acceptable if you are in your 50s or 60s near the age of retirement and life is simply about having fun and working to have some extra money. However it is usually not the same if you are in your early 20s as some said that it is the "most important decade of your life". People believe that young adult needs to be able to think critically, converse and act smartly, dress presentably and not spend your time on things that are less important at that stage of life if it is irrelevant to what you plan to do or become in the future. This is the way of thinking that we were always brought up by. When some of us do things differently, they became the odd one out.
To be a better individual, I decided to transfer my studies to Melbourne, Australia, to study in the top university in Australia to see what's the popularity was about. Turns out, things were actually really different.

First of all, moving out of home was not easy and I was moving out of the country where I had been living in for the past 20 years. However, I do get more freedom in life to choose what I want to do on a daily basis, rather than having someone to ask me where I'm going, who I'm going out with or when will I come home. University life have also been pretty interesting, There can be moments where I am so grateful of everything I have in life but there are also times when I just hate my life so much that I wish I can die once I walk out of the apartment. There was one time when I heard a phrase that says "if you also always happy, then you can't actually feel happy because you never know what happiness is if you don't experience sadness in life". Everyone has their down time and it needs to be appreciated so that when life is good you know they actually are. I tried to do what I'm supposed to do as a student, I try to meet people through events, join some clubs and societies, work as a part time waiter and try to find some happiness in between. I guess I'm not doing too bad myself? Why do I still feel that I'm not doing enough as compared to the rest of the people in university?

Question is, what exactly is the right thing to do? We live in the society where people tend to show to the outside world that they have it all figured out. For a student, they do well in their studies, involve in 3 other clubs and societies and also have a part time job. For a working adult, they have a fulfilling jobs that are able to pay their rent, mortgages and also afford to dine at expensive restaurant everyday after work. Everyone seems to be doing well in their lives and that's also the part of them that we see on social media every single day. When you go on Instagram, we always see pictures of someone wearing all branded clothing standing in front of a tourist attraction all around the world or someone holding a cup of coffee with the background of their BMW steering wheel and Rolex watches. It seems like social media has quickly became the platform where people show off great thing that they own in life or they experience to their friends or strangers. When you go on Twitter where people write posts in word, it then involves much more feelings and thoughts that are not normally expressed through visual social media like Instagram. Everyone has different side of them that we are able to find out through social media, even though you don't actually know them well in person.

Well here I am judging people based on that, when I am actually not much different to them.
I wish life is simpler.