How was your 2017 ?

I can’t quite decide whether 2017 is a good or bad year. The market around the world has hit a record high, the economy across the board is doing fairly well.  Yet, the world seemed to have moved further apart. The world leaders behaved like triads and there seemed alot of bottled anger among the civilians that resulted in unexpected election results and breakups. 

Personally, 2017 has been a year of indulgence for me. I ate well, slept well, travelled slowly and intently, had zero stress, zero targets, met up with alot of old acquaintances to reminisce good old days. The only hiccups this year was me breaking up with Starhub due to dividend cuts. In general, 2017 has been really kind to me.

I thought the year was going to end stunningly with an energizing concert from my favorite band mayday (五月天) last weekend. I loved listening to their songs when I was feeling abit out of the weather. My favorite songs for rainy days are 

• 疯狂世界 – when I get alittle irritated with the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDKYLmsJv08
• 倔强 – when I need to remind myself to stay hungry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WzR8jAtRCQ
• 憨人 – when I need to remind myself to stay foolish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNxjaPw0KCA
• 人生海海 – when I need a nudge to move forward despite the challenges and hardship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zHcWvVeu_Y

I was heartbroken when I read the parting note of the korean artiste who committed suicide this week ! https://www.allkpop.com/article/2017/12/dear-clouds-nine9-reveals-jonghyuns-parting-letter-as-requested-by-jonghyun-himself. I was never a fan but I have always been curious about what goes on in the minds of a person suffering from depression. When I reach midlife, I have more friends coming to me confessing that they felt depressed or are having anxiety attacks. I never quite knew how to console them. It seems like no matter how you try to get them to look at the positive side of things or encourage them to find activities that they enjoy to distract themselves from sinking further into the emotions, they cannot seemed to stop victimizing themselves. In the end, our conversations always ended up alittle awkward. All I could do is to offer a listening ear and hopefully pass on some positive vibes to them.

Digging into the works of the artiste, you will notice that alot of the songs he wrote, he was writing to console himself  or he was screaming for help. It’s a pity no one could help him see the light at the end of the tunnel.

• End of the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB-83xu4_4
• Breathe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xbVLnUx_A
• Lonely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU_c1Ronbmc
• Let me out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFK_T3yhzk0

The lyrics in the song “End of the day” resonates with me ->  “at the end of a tiring day, you did a good job today, you worked so hard”. It reminds me of a chinese variety that I watched lately called “爸爸去哪儿5” where the dad and kid will tell each other “辛苦了“ at the end of each recording day. I thought that was a really powerful acknowledgement than someone trying to give advise on a rough day. 

So how was your 2017?

辛苦了!

You’ve worked hard, you’ve done well this year!

🙂