花样年华

It’s an auspicious day for thinking about the year to come.

It’s the sixth day of the lunar new year, but it’s the first day of the solar cycle, and officially the first day of the year of the snake.

I’ve been living with my grandfather for the past two weeks. In the new year period, no one uses the gregorian calendar. Restaurant bookings, the evening news, plans with friends, everyone reverts to the lunar calendar. The days have names, and each day has its own power. It is bad luck to clean on the first and don’t you know, if you go out on the third you will end up quarrelling.

The luck of each day also depends on the agricultural calendar, marked by 24 solar terms. Today happens to be 立春, the beginning of spring, and the best day in the whole year for making plans: 一年之计在于春 (a whole year is determined by its spring).

You’re supposed to wake up early (failed), face the sun (failed), and think about your aspirations for the coming year (aspirational).

I want to get better at knowing myself, and planning around my willpower and weaknesses. I often make plans while knowing that there is very little chance that I will achieve them, yet feel defeated when I fail.

Life is also made up of the small habits, the systems which push my days along, and the environments which shape my choices. There have been so many months where I’m just jumping from one day to the next, each day already packed with plans with no room for more. Those are the months where self-determination checks out and my systems kick in, and if my systems are good, I come out the other end a better person. I want to do a check up on my systems, because there are unhealthy habits that I need to kick.

And so, this post.

I finished the last episode of Super Vocal and I was gripped with a feeling that I’ve been trying to sort out ever since. Seeing other people work for their dreams makes me want to reflect on my own, and figure out what I’m doing with my life, where I’m going.

Ah, let me go back first.

Ahhhh, for exchange I only brought one suitcase so I had to stare very hard at my closet and pare down my arsenal to what is essential. I’ve settled down now and surprisingly, I found a lot of joy in just figuring out a new routine -- I also feel like I know my skin and products better because there's less of it.

makeup