Atomic Habit

    Before the pandemic, I felt like I was floating through life since I started working my first job, I was going through the routine of living, but not with any enthusiasm, or curiosity in my job. I did not actually get closer to the person that I want to be. It usually happens around the weekend, I was going to binge-watch a lot of movies or mingle with friends and party so much.

    For me, COVID-19 is a blessing in disguise. At the beginning of the pandemic, I struggled with depression while missing home in Malaysia. I adhered to the stay-at-home and social distancing orders. It was difficult for me to see family members and friends suffering from an infection from afar. On top of that, there was a continuous worry about my health as well as the health of those we cared about. Life was too short to just continue churning away.  I felt adrift in my work life and needed direction. Last year, I was reading an amazing book, named “Atomic Habits”, it changed me a lot.
    Exercising social distancing and functioning from home, some good things come out of the pandemic. Positive effects of it are seen in less traveling, reduced party, and no community actions. Now, I am bound to online chit-chat with foreign friends from around the world in my basis daily routine. I broke free of the bad habits of making parties with friends or binge-watching movies or TV series at home. I was trying to convince myself that massive success is only possible through massive action in any goal I am pursuing. It is the tiny improvements every day for a year, there are not even noticeable at first, that create incredible change after a year. Good habits compound for me in the form of things like knowledge, productivity, skills, and relationships. Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. 
    Not only did the pandemic and the response efforts allow me time to rediscover my passions, but it also forced me to take time for myself, reset my goals, and reevaluate what was really important to me. In fact, I found myself rediscovering my passions over the past year, unrelated to what I did at work. My passion is mental health growing and helping myself to think more optimistically about my life through writing something about myself and reading a lot of books on bookshelves at my room. I made some big promises about what I am going to accomplish. I shared my bloggers with anyone I know or who will listen. I probably told over 20 people about it. I handed out my blogger link and asked for help if someone could help to correct the grammatical mistakes in my essays. I am not afraid to make mistakes, I give my word to myself that I will move from thinking into action, and I will get motivated. I take risks to learn and discover something else that does.