My favourite time of the year is December all the way to February. It kicks off with the holiday season, a new year, and the lingering holiday mood that comes with it, then goes onto Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, anniversary and birthday. Pretty much some of my biggest celebrations in life all rolled into one (and sometimes I do turn into a spoiled girl with presents)!

My sentiments from 2019 to 2020 taught me that self-care is essential; you cannot fight battles for other people if you do not take care of yourself. It’s ok to want to feel important once in a while, and if I ever decide to treat myself to something, I should go for it without feeling guilty. This is why I had taken several days off work to really celebrate this year. We did home-cooked Korean barbeque, explored some excellent restaurants, and had Japanese izakaya-style (because nobody has been to Japan in over a year). My dad even made me my favourite comfort food before we headed off on a staycation.

A few years back, birthday milestones were about celebrating adulthood at 18 and 21. Yet somewhere around the corner, it became announcing a quarter-life crisis at 25; now, I’m looking at turning 30 a couple of years down the road. I’ve started looking into anti-ageing treatments and supplements, thinking about moving out and what to do with my finances. To put it explicitly, I hope I adult faster than I age physically. So that by the time my thirties hit, I can say with certainty I saw them coming and am ready to herald my adult status with measured indulgence.

By this point in life, the things I wish for are… pretty much the same every year. And after living one full year without travelling, it’s clear that there are some things we can live without when prioritising others, because like everyone else, there is nothing I want more than health and safety for the people I care about (ok I also want world peace and equality and democracy but that’s harder than it sounds). We barely missed a major Covid outbreak in a shopping mall, which is already pretty scary.

Sometimes I wonder, do people look forward to birthdays more because of the celebrations and attention that comes with it, or do people dread it more in fear of growing up and its responsibilities? The latter is certainly a sentiment I relate to. While I’m not religious, I still look upon the Serenity Prayer from my student days: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

The trick has always been to discern between the two and pick your battles wisely. Amen.

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