30 Lessons I've Learned before I turned 30

Ah, the Big Three Oh, and what a wonderful time to be alive. I’ve been so excited for this day because personally I think 30s are the maturing and beautiful time of the life…. Never thought of it would be spent during a pandemic, a locked down, in New York! (Okay technically I’m in Jersey City) As much as I feel 21 inside, or maybe outside too, THIRTY is three decades, it’s 131,400 ish days (yes your girl just did the calculation hoping to get it right…) there must be some things I have learned right? 

Had to take off my mask and quickly snapped these shots by the Hudson River.

I hope by writing these down, I not only can look back and remind myself, perhaps, you will also find it helpful too, so let’s get to it.

1. Emotions. Practice different emotions, embrace them because they are going to come in handy. They enhance all our life experiences. All emotions are valid and important, just like all the tastes and spices in food, you might not like some of them, and relatively speaking, tasting the ones you don't like is only going to make you like what you like even more, and sometimes, you might learn to appreciate them all (like me and my spicy journey)

2. Reading is so so so much fun (learned this very later on when I was 26).

3. Express yourself, no one else will do it for you. And no one is a mind reader. 

4. Family. “Family is not an important thing. It is everything.” - Michael J. Fox

5. Good things take time. 

6. Take care of yourself.

7. How to love, to love God, love yourself, love an individual, love your family, love your friends, the love languages, express love when you can and before it’s too late, that love triumphs and love is all we need ❤️

8. True Confidence looks good on you. Yes, YOU!

9. The importance of discipline. If you asked me what it takes to be a good freelancer, I would definitely include "discipline" in my top 3. When you have all the time in the world, it is necessary to use them well and wisely to finish tasks and work, because no one is going to manage you. And it is also an exceptional skill to acquire for day-to-day life.

10. Backup all your shit that matters.

11. It's never too late to learn something new. I’ve self-learned many stuff, many enough to say that it is always a good idea to learn something new. I always pick one new thing to learn in my new year resolutions each year, I wrote down “Learn calligraphy” in 2017 but I didn’t start until mid-2018, I soon discovered that I was actually not bad at it? Then people asked me to do it for commissioned work, now a big part of my freelance work is calligraphy/lettering related and it opened up so many opportunities and other perspectives for me.

12. Be Kind. Be one of your kind.

18.  Treasure every little moment. There’s a book called The Power of Moments that I love and highly recommend, it talks about why certain experiences have an extraordinary impact. Our lives are consist of moments, it’s no lie that a lot of our defining moments are the results of chances and accidents, so we can learn to create them, create memorable moments. 

13. Being humble keeps you going. Allowing you to always want to learn more, to not be afraid of being corrected, to ask questions, to get better eagerly, and to accept different opinions. 

14. Trust and faith are fundamental.

15. The feeling of "I'm not enough" is normal, no one is perfect. This is also a reminder to myself, even I know this, there would be days or moments when I feel that. At the same time, I try to think about what I can improve, instead of being stuck in the “I’m not enough” thought.

16. Failures are scary. 

17. Forgiveness is a life-long lesson, it’s not just a decision you make once and for all, it’s a decision you need to make each day, and then it becomes a habit. 

19. True love does exist.

20. Respect is earned.

21. Happiness is more than a choice, it's a mindset. 

22. Accept your past, your scars, and your wounds, and take time to heal them. Accept all the goods and bad that make you who you are today.

23. We are all wonderfully and fearfully made. Every one of us is so equally unique. You are very very special, in case you didn’t know!

24. Be conscious of your surroundings and yourself, your behavior, your past. You start noticing many decisions you’ve made unconsciously due to your past encounters, identify them and know that you are in control of how and why things are the way they are, and how and why you are feeling and reacting certain ways.

25. I am a very very festive person - life is a big festival!

Month-old celebration with mama. Chiayi, Taiwan

The day when I turned 30. Jersey City, United States.

26. There are always new things you'll learn about yourself, have a healthy relationship with yourself, stay curious, do you!

27. But also, It's okay to not know where you stand yet, and it's okay to try to figure that out. It’s about that ~ B A L A N C E ~

28. Being thankful is a reset button. It makes every situation better.

29. Budgeting.

30. I want a life that is full of passion! I want a life full of magical adventures. So it is essential to make time to do things you are passionate about and be brave.

There are still many things I want to include, I guess we will have to wait till I’m 40 to conclude again haha! Right now I’m working on a post for 30 things I want to do before my 30s. Leave a comment for me if you have any good ideas and maybe I will include it on the list!