This year has been especially difficult. Amid numerous trips abroad, several key events underpinned the year. To say that 2019 is tough is an understatement. Even as I celebrated some of the highest points in my friends’ lives, I was caught up in some of the lowest of my own. 

I lost my Ah Ma earlier this year. No words can describe the loss. In mourning and grief, I gave many events a miss, including a good friend’s wedding. Ah Ma was like a second mum to my brother and me, a matriarch of the household in her golden years, and home has never felt quite the same since her passing.

On the work front, things weren’t smooth-sailing as well – I got involved in projects I weren’t interested in that quickly spiralled into time sucks. This left me little time to pursue anything else. It was, and still is, one of the biggest push factors as I contemplate leaving my role after more than five years on the job.

If there’s a silver lining in the clouds, seeing some of my closest friends get attached or hitched has got to be one of the biggest positives this year. Despite busy schedules, I’m also grateful for friends who made time to travel together after years of not doing so, however short the vacations were.

Between these jaunts, I took two solo trips, revisiting places I’ve been to and exploring new ones. It dawned upon me after these pilgrimages that I’ve grown weary of travelling on my own. While I still enjoy the freedom that comes with unaccompanied travels, I’ll be laying off them for a while because too much of something isn’t good for one’s soul.

While 2019 hasn’t been really kind to me and certainly wasn’t the best way to sign off the decade, I’m thankful for the people who have stuck around in my life and given me support since its beginning. As the Maroon 5 song goes:

Here’s to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way