Monday, 13 June 2011

Why write?




I have once typed a blog using the iPhone but this will be my first attempt at blogging from an iPad.

I'm sitting at a Starbucks cafe, sipping a cup of cappuccino and daydreaming, looking at the Rainbow bridge. Last night I had a headache and did not sleep well, I think this morning I must have looked terrible with a swollen face. Haha. Somehow these days I don't feel hungry at all, if i'm by myself I would even skip meals. Funny, huh, because if you know me, I eat a lot and was always hungry. I used to wish I could lose just 1-2 kgs and tried so hard to work out but now I don't even have to worry anymore.

I don't know when I'll stop this habit of wandering around by myself or sitting in coffee shops alone. I was thinking of retiring from writing, but there are friends who said they look forward to reading my blog, and a little girl I don't know said that she felt better and life more meaningful after reading my blog. So as long as my blog still has a purpose, I will keep writing.

You know, a person's writing and their outside expression can sometimes be completely different. Many of you must have experienced of loving a writer's work and imagining what that person is like, but then being disappointed when meeting and interacting with that person. Well, we are all human. So that's why I'm really scared when someone knows me from reading my blog before meeting me. We cannot be so beautiful, charming and romantic as our writing. We have our ups and downs, good days and bad days. But I can assure you, deep inside us is the person we expressed in our writing. But it takes just a little bit more time and understanding to see this.

Why do we write? For me, for many reasons. To indirectly talk to friends who I don't usually talk to. To record memories and dreams to later look back. To release stress. To record what I was thinking at a certain time, because one day we'll change so much and forget who we used to be. Sometimes when I'm sad or lonely and have no one to talk to, the only way is to write, hoping that somewhere out there, someone is reading and knows how I feel. I don't delete my posts, even though some posts now are quite embarrassing or depressing or plain desperate. But I just hope one day looking back, I could laugh and say "Young, naive and stupid".

Do people feel happier as they age? I guess so. Because happiness is a state of mind and the way you look at life. Life does not get better as we grow older, but the way we look at things change. We learn to accept what we can't change. We think less and save ourself from self pity. We also appreciate what we have and do not compare ourselves with others as often.

Me? I've changed a bit, and I hope for the better. I've grown a bit more patient. I'm getting better at controling myself. I enjoy the moment and the present more instead of worrying about what's next. I stopped criticizing myself but at the mean time will always try to be a better person. And I started to learn what true love is.




Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you!

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Lessons on love














This is a story about love. Not a love story.





I stumbled upon a series of short stories about modern love on the New York Times and couldn’t stop reading. They really hit close to home. They are not novels of beautiful love stories or tragedies. They are stories written by real people of our times and the relationships they have gone through. Stories recalling the real experiences most of us have had in our lives: falling in love, hopeless love, heartbreak, betrayal, disappointment, regrets etc. Some stories gave you hope, some made you smile, some brought tears to your eyes.





Anyways, the other day suddenly I thought of my college ex-boyfriend. And ironically the next day he called me online just to catch up. I said sorry to him again, one of the many times I have apologized to him since we broke up. Our relationship was a rocky one, full of criticism, tears, fights, anger and breakups. But that’s not to say that we didn’t have good times together. Now only by looking back can I realize the things I took for granted: the IKEA furniture he lovingly assembled for me in my new apartment, the meals we had at our favorite Belgian restaurant, the times when he helped me with Physics homework while it wasn’t even his major, the many flights he took just to see me for a few days. As time goes by, recollections of a relationship fades, what is left is just one or two memories that make it all worthwhile. I was young, stupid and ambitious. He was young, naïve and hot tempered. Sometimes relationships need a combination of the right person and right timing. If we had met each other at a later stage of life, when we have grown up and knew how to behave, to value what we have, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out that way. I left him and the city we both loved. I broke his heart. In between the begging and pleading that came afterwards, he also called me a selfish bitch and said, “I’m the best shot you ever had at happiness. But you ruined it.”





It took years and many disappointments later for me to realize I was really a selfish bitch and that he had to really truly love me to be able to put up with me. However, he wanted me to be the person he hoped for not for who I am. Only by being so cruel to him could I later learn my lesson that to have a real relationship, you need to learn to love another person wholeheartedly more than yourself. From then on, I vowed to never make the same mistake and to become the best girlfriend I could be in any relationship I would commit to. I learned to make sacrifices, to compromise, to be dedicated, caring and loving. I would never cheat or lie or take someone for granted.





But maybe that was not enough. Fast forward to the future. I met a guy who was the complete opposite of my college boyfriend. He was smart, successful, and wise enough for me to look up to. He loved me for who I am and accepted my childish pursuits (or appreciate the red nail polish). He was old and mature enough for us to avoid all the silly fights. But being older means he has had a few years of experience more than me. And I was too young and unprepared for how complicated life or someone’s past could be. This time he broke my heart and left me shocked and devastated. I desperately wanted him back. He did come back, but each time I pushed him further away because I could not get over the pain and hurtful feelings he left me with. In the end, we have come to an irreconcilable place full of regrets of what could have been.





I have had a lot of time to think since then. I have come to understand that, loving someone is not enough. You have to learn to forgive that person and forgive yourself. Or else you will never move past the point of hurting one another for past mistakes. Life is complicated and unpredictable. A relationship is a rocky journey. People make mistakes. Things happen. In order to survive the many tests and make it through together, we need tolerance, trust and forgiveness. It is because we love someone that we have faith in that person. Not because we have faith that we love them. If only I have learnt to forgive and forget, I could have saved myself and the person I loved from our self-inflicted pain.





When looking back at our past relationships, there are so many “should’ve”, “would’ve”, “could’ve” but it is impossible to turn back time. And given a second chance, would we have acted differently or would we make the same mistakes all over again, just because we are human, I wonder?






Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you!


Câu hỏi khó
















Hôm nay bỗng dưng bạn hỏi mình một câu hỏi khó sau một thời gian dài không liên lạc.





“Cuộc sống là gì? Hạnh phúc là gì?”





Mình đã trả lời bạn “Cuộc sống là một cuộc hành trình. Và hạnh phúc là khi ta biết tận hưởng quãng đường thay vì chỉ luôn nhắm đến đích.”





Hồi xưa mình và bạn vẫn thường hay ngồi bên bờ biển suy ngẫm về cuộc sống và hạnh phúc. Nhưng thú thật với bạn, từ ngày bạn phải ra đi, mình đã thôi không còn tìm cách định nghĩa cuộc sống hay hạnh phúc nữa. Thay vì đó, mình đã học được cách sống hết mình và cảm thấy hạnh phúc hàng ngày dù không có bạn.





Bạn nói là mình là một cô bé không biết cảm nhận, làm việc gì cũng không có đam mê, và cái gì cũng kế hoạch hay công thức. Bạn nói đúng, mình đã suy nghĩ rất nhiều, và hiểu tại sao bạn không thể yêu một robot căng thẳng như mình được. Từ trước đến nay, mình lúc nào cũng gồng mình cố gắng để mọi thứ hoàn hảo, để vừa lòng tất cả mọi người và chẳng bao giờ cảm thấy vui vẻ thực sự. Từ khi bạn ra đi, mình đã biết sống chậm lại. Mình không còn lên quá nhiều kế hoạch cho cuộc đời, không còn lo nghĩ về tương lai. Mình đã tập quan sát, cảm nhận cuộc sống xung quanh và hiểu người khác hơn. Mình tập cảm thấy tự tin và bình thản, tĩnh tâm để có thể kiềm chế cảm xúc và sự nóng tính của mình. Mình thôi không suy nghĩ phức tạp lung tung nữa. Mình học cách cầu nguyện và có niềm tin trở lại. Mình biết tận hưởng những giây phút vui vẻ bên bạn bè. Mình mới nhận ra, từ trước giờ mình có quan niệm thật lệch lạc. Mình cứ nghĩ như hạnh phúc là một cái đích đến phải đạt được. Rằng cần tìm được một nửa của mình thì mới hạnh phúc được. Đến bây giờ mình mới biết, điều quan trọng nhất là phải thay đổi chính mình thành một người tốt hơn và thay đổi cách suy nghĩ của mình. Và cuối cùng mình đã cảm nhận được hạnh phúc thật sự. Đối với mình, mỗi ngày mới đều là một điều kỳ diệu đem đến những niềm vui mới.





Bạn và mình giống nhau, thích ngồi trầm tư suy nghĩ lung tung trong thế giới riêng của mình, say mê với những trang tiểu thuyết về những nỗi đau khổ của đời người. Nhưng nhiều khi mình tự hỏi, bạn và mình có cùng một cái bệnh “suy nghĩ phức tạp” khiến chúng ta không thể hạnh phúc được không? Bạn thì luôn tìm kiếm một cái gì đó và không bao giờ hài lòng với hiện tại, có một sự hoài cổ và tự giới hạn cho mình những cái không thể và có thể. Mình thì luôn dằn vặt tự làm khổ bản thân.





Hay chúng mình cùng bỏ bớt những tiểu thuyết và bài thơ buổn, thả lòng mình cho thanh thản nhẹ nhàng, cứ sống thật vui cho ngày hôm nay hả bạn? Có lẽ như thế thì mình mới thật sự sống và đạt được hạnh phúc. Và cũng có thể tự viết thành cuốn tiểu thuyết với kết thúc có hậu của riêng mình. Cuộc sống vẫn trôi, đâu chờ đợi cho chúng ta định nghĩa nó hay đi tìm lời giải đáp phải không bạn? Hạnh phúc chính là sống có ý nghĩa và bằng lòng với những gì mình có, bạn có nghĩ thế không?




Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you!