my life recap from the start of this year till now 💜
i’ve been quite quiet these past few months and kind of disappeared from social media
not because anything not good happened
i just wanted to take my gap year seriously, spend more time with myself, rearrange my life and let my brain breathe a little
i quit my 9-5 at the end of last year and gave myself more than half a year as gap time
at first, i kept asking myself
am i resting, or am i falling behind?
but looking back now, i don’t think i wasted time at all
the very first thing i did was move to the outskirts to get away from the hustle and bustle of the capital city, and let my mind breathe again
then i started wanting to see more of the world
other countries, other places in my own country, different ways of living, different cultures, good food, new people, and small moments that could open my mind a little more
> travelled to Korea in jan
> travelled to Thailand in feb
> mar: went to Phu Quoc island
> apr: visited Japan
> may: had my solo trip to Da Nang and celebrated my birthday
> jun: studied for IELTS to improve my english, took the exam, and got C1
> jul: travelled to China and joined my ex-leader’s wedding in HCMC
> aug - dec: next stops are HCMC for Conviction, Taiwan, Korea for KBW, Singapore for Token2049, and hopefully a few more little adventures
i’m also learning chinese and planning to get my chinese certi in Dec
somehow i got curious abt finance and decided to challenge myself with CFA - a certi for people who want to understand investment, markets, portfolio management, and how money moves in the world
and spent many quiet nights researching universities, majors, and scholarships for my master’s abroad
this gap year somehow made me even busier than my 9-5, but in a way that made me feel more alive
it was about healing from burnout, learning how to enjoy life again, travelling with people i love, being alone without feeling lonely, and slowly finding the next direction for myself
i guess i’m finally looking inward and slowly figuring out what i actually want
maybe i was not pausing my life at all
i was quietly building the next version of me 🫶💜