Route 66

The start of another new year. It always boggles my mind how fast time flies.

Procrastinated a little on writing a year end post last week, so here's one to bridge the year end and the new year.

2014. In reference to Jul, 12th's post. Update.

Graduated University with an Honours Degree.
Officially a driver without her "P".
Found a Job.
Fulfilled a wish on the invisible bucket list: Treating my one and only Grandmother to a meal with my very first paycheck. Unfortunately my maternal grandmother couldn't live long enough for me to show her my milestones and achievement thus far.

I suppose that is as much as I can top to the list in regards to that previous post.

It was a great year. Never thought I would get to see the end of University. Most would think it's a given because well, it's me. However, that's just your perception of what I had portrayed for you to see.

"Nahh, you're rachel. The one that will graduate high school, university and find a good job."
"You're ambitious, that's why."

Stereotypical. When someone says that to me, it adds on to the pressure to live up to that expectation. So far I have, up to the point of finding a "good" job.

We spend our entire life trying to figure out what to do with our life, thinking we already know what we want to do that will make us happy but that's just the hardest thing to do.

After submitting thesis, all I wanted to do was take a good long rest, away from journals, away from reality. Just a few days into it, I was already pressured to find a job. And by that, "any" job. My parents were supportive in nature but yet there are times, they are "forcing" jobs onto my plate with the notion of "Just go for the interview".

That sounds awfully preposterous to me. I don't want to just go for any interview and then decide if I want to accept the offer or not. I think my parents were throwing jobs that I was "looking" for at me thinking I wasn't actively searching for one but I did, I was just looking for the "right" one that I believe will propel me further. Needless to say, graduating with a psychology degree in Malaysia restricts us from applying for jobs that we believe suits us because employers just won't take us as they are looking for people graduating with a certain other popular degrees that will probably understand that position better than us.

After a month of searching, I found "the" job which I've been in for 2 months now. One that I was looking other than clinical options which there aren't many to begin with. I believe 2015 is going to be an exciting year filled with opportunities for growth. Intimidating as it is, but it's all about adapting, so here goes.

A family friend, an uncle told me that my "stars are aligned". True, I too see that but no matter how aligned your stars are, if you don't prove yourself worthy of it, then it will all just go to waste.

I believe in working hard for what you want, although there are times no matter how hard you work, there are just external factors that restricts you, but that doesn't mean you should falter, instead stand even taller because someday, in some strange way, you'll get yourself there in one form or another.

"New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change."
- Sarah Ban Breathnach