And so it’s pretty much nearing the end of year 2013 already. Just 2 more months to close this year. I guess for me, this year had been a rollercoaster ride – falling out of love, losing a best friend and well, finding a new love again, not to mention that there are great opportunities for me in terms of my future career even though I will be graduating a year later than I’m supposed to. It was a hell of a ride I must say, losing important people in my life. I guess you may say that in life, it’s all about choices, it’s all about choosing your paths wisely, but to be honest, when situations come, you just don’t know what’s the best way to react and well, you do stupid things that make you regret.

I never was someone who could express all my thoughts freely to people and that caused me to not have many friends in my life that I could talk to. I never found the need to have a social circle to keep, perhaps because of my partner I used to have to tell everything to, I didn’t and never found the need to confide in any of my friends. And that’s when I thought it was okay, it wasn’t. Having a social circle of friends is indeed very essential not just because you are lonely you need company, but even with a partner, social life plays such an important role in your life. Because when you depend your everything (emotions, loneliness etc.) on your partner, you will start to engage in fights and quarrels when he/she isn’t around. So because I never knew the importance, I made mistakes of focusing on myself and my relationship, neglecting my friends, especially the 2 most important friends I have.

I didn’t know how to properly maintain a friendship with my best friends when I was in my lowest period and all I did was make stupid and rash decisions that caused pain and hurt to myself and especially them (I’m sorry if I hurt you, my besties. It never was my intention and I would’ve listened if I could redo this). Looking back, I could’ve done this a million times better, I could’ve picked myself up and listened to proper advice given to me and none of these would’ve happened. But well, I guess it’s just too late to push the blame, apologise and all those things and probably moving forward is the best way to go now. I learnt to pick up and change to be a better person. I started to focus on my career path instead. Well, you could say that I was looking for distractions but immersing myself in a world of never-ending projects and case challenges did help me beef up my resume to prepare myself for the real marketing world and of course, moulded me to be more patient and toned-down. It wasn’t all for my resume, for some may say. Going through case challenges forced me to think critically and always consider the big picture and I must say that I have been applying these learning points to my latest projects and assignments.

Well, having said all these, I just want to highlight that even though people make mistakes (clearly I made a lot), the vital thing is to really learn from it and listen. Stop yourself right there when you aren’t in the best state of your mind to make decisions, and listen. You’ll find yourself benefitting more than you ever could have just by observing and listening. I learnt it the hard way, and trust me, you wouldn’t want to go through this, so don’t forget to stop, reflect and listen amidst chasing the stars and all the things you want to achieve/do.

The world is in your hands. You decide your own fate.