I can't believe I'm starting 2017 with so much uncertainty. I'm just keeping my faith knowing there's a plan. While I was reading my devotional for the day, it mentioned that He has designed us to have no sufficiency of our own. That for me saids a lot because it's true. We are not sufficient on our own and we need His guidance to help us go through life.

When I was in college my professor told us his story of how he didn't have anything. No income, no food etc but then God provided him with everything he needed. And he parted to us with this "God always provides" and he does. So that's what I'm clinging on to despite all this.

I wouldn't say 2016 flew by as quickly as 2015 but hey I had the most fun this year and met the most amazing people. Though I've done more in 2015 (lots of minor things) and a couple in 2014, this was the year I traveled the most and explored veganism. So what have I done this year?

1. Attended my first indie music festival (Laneway)
2. Traveled to Canada, New York, Rawa, Hong Kong, Bintan, Taipei and Tai Chung
3. Taken an online creative writing class at Gotham Writers
4. Partied endlessly in Hong Kong (First time. Yes. Lame. I know lol)
5. Explored veganism

So what's my conclusion? 2016 has not only been the most fun but it thought me a lot about myself of what I'm capable of and how I should be moving forward. I think this realisation is very important as I step on to the new year.

A couple of my friends said 2016 has not been good for them but I guess it depends how you look at it. For me I feel blessed to have such an amazing year and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

It's that time of the year again! This year I've read a total of 18 books same as how I did back in 2015.  No shame on that because clearly it wasn't my top priority nonetheless I've read some pretty awesome books. If you want to know my top 5 books of 2015 and top 10 of 2014 you can check it out over on that link.

This year I'm ranking them in order, 1 being my most favourite. So which books made the cut?

1. Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (OMG this book is just my FAVOURITE. I love the characters so much that I can't believe it's a stand alone. I can't wait for her next book to come out which is The Upside of Unrequited due on April 2017.)

2. The Plant-Based Journey by Lani Muelrath (This books has helped me A LOT. She doesn't only give you information why we should eat a plant based diet but also she maps out how you can incorporate it into your life, from prepping at home to eating out to strengthening your mind to overcome challenges as you begin your transition, this book is just a gem)

3. November 9 by Colleen Hoover (There's definitely an unexpected twist but if you've read Colleen Hoover's books for awhile you know that's her writing style. Luckily for me I don't read much of her works so it was a good surprise.)

4. This Modern Love by Will Darbyshire (This book reminds me that there's love in the world despite heartbreaks and false anticipation that we tend to have when we're beginning to love someone.)

5.  Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas  (It took me a while to finish this book but what makes it interesting is the love triangle between the characters.)

And oh! How well did I did on my 2016 reading challenge? I read 14 books out of 40! LOL barely half but it was a good challenge!

Yup that pretty much saids it all. I cannot not be in shape anymore.

If you don't act on it nothing will happen. Simple.

Doing this whole veganism thing makes me want to contribute to society. Something that would help and inspire people. I gotta think of something.

SaveSave

Yesterday was the last Friday before the Christmas holiday and it was a blast. Lots of wines, food and good company.

My body is upset, clearly I feel sick after eating all that meat yesterday. From lunch to dinner, OMG it was meat overload. You might be surprise why is it reacting this way when I just changed my diet recently. The truth is for the past year or so I haven't been eating that much meat because I'm just too lazy to cook it and I LOVE my vegetables way too much. It was then that I feel like hey, I can become a vegetarian. Note to self, ain't eating that meat again.

There's a lot of things that I have my mind on recently such as being part of a community (I've signed up for a meetup), being minimalist (selling my stuff in a flea market) and veganism (thriving on day 5). Stuff that are of good. I just hope I keep moving forward and not lose sight of why I intend to do it in the first place.  

This morning is just baffling.

I woke up at 4am.
Workout at 4:30am.
Cooked and ate breakfast at 5:15am.
Read The Plant Based Journey at 5:30am while multi-tasking on preparing lunch.
Did my morning pages at 6:00am.
Cleaning the mess I made in the kitchen at 7am.
And now writing a blog post at 7:30am.

WTF. This is just way too much. I haven't workout at home in a long time so this is really messed up. I need to create a better system because right now I'm ready to snooze.

Little do most of you know, my attempt to veganism started a while back but failed a couple of times because I wasn't educating myself properly. I don't know why chickens are not meant to be eaten or why people could eat more calories on a vegan diet and still stay slim. (There's a science behind it.)

During that process, I learned a couple of things about myself that I could act upon to help me stick to the diet.
1. There's a lot of other foods aside from broccoli and spinach.
2. I can't eat a vegan meal more than 2x consecutively. I need variety.
3. I can't plan my food a week in advance because even before I reached mid week, I already change my mind.
4. Reading about veganism daily is like having a teacher with me that sees my progress (sees my progress I meant myself)

Everyone leaves at some point right? And don't I envy those people who leaves because I always thought they are moving ahead to something far greater than where they are now? But now that it's my turn, why am I scared? I doubt if anyone isn't but truthfully, sometimes change needs to happen.

The road can be bumpy and sometimes it hits us when we least expected it but whether anyone is with you in the process or not, know that this is part of the plan, that you are strong and that you are far more capable that you think you are.

SaveSave
SaveSave

I find this very important when it comes to any interest. Whether you're into art or fitness, it's good to know that someone shares the same sentiments as you. Lately as you know I'm delving more into becoming a vegan. It's a slow transition and I'm doing it meal by meal. I have my reasons why I wanted to change to this lifestyle and one of the biggest struggle for me is what to eat.

I wasn't sure if I was ready to tell people I was leaving. I kept waiting for the right time but I don't think there ever is. They will know it eventually and besides I have about less than a month to go. To be honest, I'm sad to leave. These people made my year one of the best I had in a long time. Though my next move might not be as fun, I know I'm doing it for myself and for where I see myself in the long run.

This is pretty much the plan till Saturday.

I'm getting so worked up worrying but I know I shouldn't. I remind myself to keep faith that things will fall into places at the right time. It will be.

These 2 words is something I need to keep in mind if I want to progress with what I wanted to achieve. It's not easy like most things in life but I need to work this towards myself in order for change to happen.

Transitioning to veganism is a lot harder than I thought it would be even though I've already cut dairy on my diet for the most part. For someone who drinks Starbucks every single day, drinking black coffee was a big switch. In fact I drink espresso 90% of the time now because I realise I only need that dose of energy. Meat is easy for me to cut out because I don't eat it most of the time anyway. So why am I still struggling? Because I crave for it on occasion and it sucks. To be honest, I just want to live a good healthy lifestyle without having to think about it all the time.

So just this morning I purchased The Plant Based Journey in hopes that I will learn a thing or two about  this whole transition and educate myself again on why meat and dairy is not good for the human body. I will update more on that later.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to share this but perhaps it will keep me accountable. Posting my morning pages here helps me to do just that and I'm hoping it will do the same with my diet and fitness. So I will start this off tomorrow. Yesterday I stumble upon a very powerful quote and I couldn't agree more.

One of the things that came up on my morning pages is being consistent. A lot of the times it's easy to start something but to be consistent it's a hard long battle. That's what I'm trying to do with my diet and exercise. I have fallen off of it and it's gonna be a struggle to go back into it. But hey, if I manage to start and be consistent with my morning pages hell I can be consistent in those 2 as well. I realise it helps if I blog about it because then I can be accountable. Perhaps I should do the same for both?

I'm so excited that I finally got the chance to sell in a flea market. WHHATTT? yes! I'm downsizing my closet and a lot has to go. I'm just thrilled because usually it's difficult for me to participate in a flea market where I live because I need to be a citizen and I'm not so when this opportunity arises I had to take it. It's gonna be so much fun.

I'm blessed. I really am and I can't be more thankful. Indeed there are far greater things ahead and I must not lose sight of it. I'm moving forward to a new beginning and a wonderful journey.

I remind myself that what I'm facing now is just temporary, that there are far better things ahead I need to look forward to, that it's okay if I put in the effort, it will only be for a short while. It won't last very long.

I don't know why I'm getting so worked up but this week has gone by so slow and things aren't moving as fast as I want them to. I'm just ready to close this chapter of my life and start a new. I'm ready to bid farewell to a wonderful year, to the amazing people and to start moving forward.

This is what I remind myself on days where I start to wonder why things aren't happening to me while it is for other people. It will just happen I guess at the right place at the right time.

With so many things I wanted to do, I need to remind myself to just pause and priorities things. Not everything is a priority and this applies to all aspects of my life. That's kind of where I'm at really. It's really just about focusing one thing at a time.

I've always wanted to be a vegan for a number of reasons and it was this year that I tried to change my diet to embrace this new way of eating. But I wasn't very consistent as I find it difficult in a social setting. Most guys I asked won't even date me if I'm a vegan. It is that bad. Then again their opinion doesn't matter as long as I'm true to myself and my beliefs. I'm trying to practice veganism again and see how that goes.

I was just thinking about how the people I have in my lives now are around for a reason. How I suddenly became close with someone because he was the only one around when things didn't turn out well. How he pushes me to stop moaning and move forward because nothing good is going to come out of me ranting about it all day.

There are things we already know but we needed our friends to remind us that we are not alone, that we have them and for that I'm thankful.

Sometimes it's good to be scared of experiencing new things because it only means that you're getting out of your comfort zone and you're living a richer life. That's what I'm trying to do now. I feel like my life has been mehhhh lately and I need to be doing more. Maybe I will.

One of the things that came up on my morning pages is to frugal up. Knowing me this is something not I'm very good at but worth trying anyways. I've been good for the past couple of days but I need to be consistent if this is what I'll be focusing on the coming months.