To wrap all the South Korea posts for 2018 (because unless it’s a free trip, I probably wouldn’t be heading back to Seoul for the rest of the year), here are some highlight reels from both trips! I honestly enjoyed putting the clips together because it truly felt like reliving our trip memories. Seoul have truly made a mark on my heart, and I guess it will forever stay a magical place for me. While it wasn’t my first snow experience, it was C’s first time and our first snow together. It was also my first out of the country trip with friends (that wasn’t school related). And while I already ticked off bringing my siblings to a vacation with my own money, this was the first foreign trip that I got to do so without my dad chipping in. I guess you can say it is Seoul special. (Ok, moving on haha)

I’m writing this post right after I got alerted by Facebook that my graduation from university was *gasp* six years ago. Six years ago, I was worried sick about not finding a job. Now, I’ve been quite busy the past few weeks, and my workload is ramping up as an important milestone for the project I’m working on is nearing. We’re almost there, and I’m hoping that in a couple of weeks, I would be less busy and I have more time to really sit and sort out my thoughts and feelings. One thing I know for sure is that, no matter how toxic and hectic my job can become at times, I’m still grateful for it. All the jobs I’ve had, I gained different things (apart from learning so much in the field that I’m in). The first one gave me my Schengen visa and fulfilled a dream to set foot in Europe a year after college, while also helping me pay for my mom’s hospitalizations. The next one gave me the flexibility of being able to attend to my mom’s needs, while that flexibility was carried onward even as she passed and as we got acquired by a multinational company. The one I’m currently is a big leap in my career, and while stressful (because I have bigger responsibilities, project-wise), is also quite fulfilling (until something goes wrong, but this is IT, so something is always bound to go haywire lol). I find that it’s easier to be negative, and yet, far harder to be grateful, because it is when things are hard that you notice how easy you’ve had it before (especially job wise). However, I still keep in mind that I’m lucky to be employed when the unemployment rate in this country is shit. And that my day job has taken me places I never thought I’d be in the past 6 years of being an *adult* in the “real world”, and has enabled me to give the best that I can afford to the people that I love.

Back in 2012, I imagined that I’d still feel as complete as I did. But as I lost some people I loved, they took huge chunks of me along with them. I’ve also had to deal with some mental health issues that manifested in a decline of my physical health. As I grow older, I realize how much background noise I’ve let drown the most important voice in my head – mine. And now all the decisions I make is how to improve me and my life, and the ones that surrounds me. Everything else is unimportant, just senseless background noise.

While there were downs, there still were definitely ups. It’s been quite humbling, if I say so myself. I truly was young, naive and a bright eyed fresh grad in 2012. I felt quite invincible, and that I could take on the world. Fast forward, to where I’m constantly exhausted and the world has proven that it is not for the taking. But it’s also proof of everything that I’ve survived, and the experiences I’ve conquered. The past six years have been far from easy. But definitely worth it.