Can’t believe today is the last day of 2018 already! It feels like just yesterday I packed my stuff back from Bali at the beginning of this year and last New Year’s Eve, I spent it in Bali.

2018 has been a good ride, just the way I wished it would be in last year’s post. Many things happened and some milestones achieved in this year. Here’s how my 2018 has been so far:

• 1. Had the best last two months in Bali (Januari – February).

I lived in Bali for almost 6 months since the end of 2017. My last two months in Bali were so special than the first months. I’ve had more friends and got more familiar with the people and the area. I’ve been convinced that this is where my soul belongs to (at least in national level). I hope next year will go as planned and I can stay more permanently in Bali.

• 2. My first fashion collection launched.

My first step to establishing myself as a fashion designer! I know my way is still long and far from success, but everyone has to start somewhere. I started with my first bridal collection, some of them have been sold out and I’ve had some custom-made orders. I’ve been evaluating my fashion design path and want to shift it from bridal to technical fashion design for apparel manufacturing. For someone who does not have a formal fashion education, I’m proud of myself!

• 3. Travelling overseas to three different continents!

This year, I travelled like crazy! Out of 12 months, I travelled at least once every month for 11 months. The wicked thing is that I’d never travel abroad before in my life and this year, I just nailed it to three continents in a row, Asia, Australia and Africa and 4 different countries; Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore. Travelling experiences has given me new perspectives and knowledge, I love seeing the person I’ve become after every travel experience. Whoa, this world is soo so so big and diverse and I just can’t get enough of it!

• 4. New skills learned: Digital Drawing & Graphic Design

I know that I’m still doing many things right now even though I really want to niche down my specialization. I just can’t choose one (at least for now), I love both fashion and graphic design. That’s the narrowest I can get my niche for now. I also have to do both for now so that I can still make money because each skill back up each other. I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator and make my hand-drawings into digital products. I wish in the near future I can live off my drawing skills (graphic and fashion). Also I’ve dived into graphic design more to be able to be a better designer. I just love everything about design, the more you learn about the theory and science in design, you’ll be amazed by how this field is really all about understanding human.

• 5. Another new skill learned: Social Media Management

I just can’t sit still until money comes to my lap, so I always think and look for ways to make money faster if my first plan doesn’t go as planned. Yes, I do have have a stable day-time job for now, but I don’t actually really enjoy the job because I think my time will be more appreciated financially somewhere else. And it seems like the easiest and fastest way to make money is by doing social media management. It’s because I charge in dollars while my expenses are mostly in Rupiahs, so I don’t really need to get and work to too many orders. I feel optimistic that my income target for next year will be achieved, at least in the end of next year.

• 6. And still another new skill learned: Web design

This is epic! I’ve never thought I would be able to design a web from scratch! Well, what I mean here is not totally the nerdy web development thing with HTML code whatsoever, it’s just a simple WordPress site. I’ve been helped with the existence of Divi builder which is though still not as easy as Wix’ drag-and-drop feature, but still been a big step for me! I realized that not everyone is as fast as I am in learning it, and I’ve seen how it could help me to make another income stream by combining with my graphic design skill.

• 7. I’ve got a remote day-time job.

I now work full time 8 hours a day from Mon-Fri. The good things are:

1. This is a remote job, I can work from home and I don’t need to spend on transportation nor make-up expenses. I can work straight from my bed with my pillow face.
2. The pay is higher than most jobs for Indonesians in general that require them to go to offices with sleek attires. Though it’s still far from the pay I used to earn in my previous job.
3. I work with an international network and we actively communicate every day.
4. I work from 5 or 6 am to 2 or 3 pm, so I still have time to do other things.

The cons are:

1. I don’t enjoy the work, possibly because I feel I could be economically more valued somewhere else.
2. Even though I still have time to do other things after work, in reality it’s not easy because I always feel drained after doing 8 hours of the thing I dont enjoy.

However, I’ll hold on to it a little longer before I quit. At least it’s helped me to get the knowledge and money to achieve other things. I hope that my online freelance career will kick out as soon as possible so that I can totally leave this job.

• 8. Electricity purchases: Pen tablet and a new smartphone!

Big purchases this year, a new smartphone and a graphic display monitor! Both are Chinese products and very very good quality. I’m happy I chose them. I’ve converted from an Iphone believer to a Xiaomi believer.

• 9. A new family member: my baby cousin!

My parents’ house has been noisy with kid’s laughs and cries this year with my baby cousin spending a lot of time in our house due to some circumstances. We’ve never had little kids in our house because my parents kept waiting for me to give them a grandchild. Lucky now we have her, my parents are kinda distracted from the grandchildren thing. I really love my baby cousin, she is very cute and likes to imitate me. She likes to sing and every morning she wakes everyone up with her singing though she cant really speak words clearly.

• 10. Youtube milestone: 5,000 subscribers!!

At the beginning of this year, I celebrated my first 500 subscribers on my Youtube channel. Fast forward to 11 months later, I now have 10 times that number, which is 5,000 subscribers! This is unbelievable for me! I know it’s probably still a small number for many youtubers, but I dont see them as merely a number, they are people who chose to spend their time watching my videos. I know I should’ve been more focused into making videos regularly seeing stats have been doing very well for a new channel!

• 11. I snorkelled in the best marine biodiversity site in the world, Raja Ampat!

I can’t be thankful enough for the views I’ve experienced in Raja Ampat, and I can’t forget the amazement I felt the first time my boyfriend taught me to snorkel and he held my hand. That is so so so amazing! All the colorful fish and corals, they have their own kingdom down there. My boyfriend has taken me to many beautiful places and I cant thank him enough, South Africa was, of course, memorable because I met he his family and friends there. But this is the most beautiful place he’s taken me to so far, who had known it’s gonna be underwater!

• 12. My brother came home to Indonesia.

My only one brother has been living in Australia for 2,5 years and he’s never been able to come home during those years because it’s fricking expensive and we’re all struggling with the education fee (even though it’s already reduced by a 60% off scholarship). But the storm must be temporary, now that he’s been accepted to a full tuition Ph.D scholarship, we can breathe easily and he came to Indonesia. My dad had not seen him in those years because my dad cant travel that far due to his condition. It’s nice having him home at least for the time being we can feel how it was when we were kids and all the kids were home. At least for the next 1.5 months, we’ll have meals in the same table. You know, after high school, this is rare as we already left home.

• 13. I just registered myself to two whole new trainings!

This is my next big thing for 2019, these two training programs will help me to get the best of 2019 hopefully. The two help me to get more money in two different fields and one of them is Yoga. Already sounds interesting, right?? This is a big investment for me!

• 14. I’ve started earning in dollars.

I cant believe why I waited this long to finally took a chance to make money in international level with an international currency. I totally just started out, but I’ve been slowly growing. I feel that even if sometimes I got gigs that I don’t really enjoy, at least I feel happy because the pay is good in the end. Actually, the salary I got now from my job is fine for Indonesian standard, but I’ve been surrounded with people that are making in currency higher than mine (my bro, bf, friends etc), so I feel the pressure to also earn in dollars, otherwise I will never be able to pay back what my Boo has given to me, I want to be able to give him a fancy gift someday, it will be hard for me if I just earn in Rupiah as rupiah is very low.

• 15. Meeting the family

This is one of the most important events happened this year! Both me and my BF had the chance to meet each family for the first time. I was nervous to meet his family because we’re from a totally different culture. I always felt confident when my ex BFs (locals) introduced me to their families, I always nailed it because I know what Indonesians like (if I have to fake, I at least know how to fake, lol.). But this time I totally had no idea, even though I’ve had friends from all over the world, it doesn’t mean I understand their western culture. What if they misinterpret what I do or say and many what if questions I had in my mind. But I knew I could not be anyone but myself, even though there were some awkward moments that I realized, haha! I’m glad that I could learn more about the factors that made him who he is today, now I understand where the habit of giving compliments and thank yous come from and many little things that they probably didnt realize that I was observing and taking notes. Just recently, he also spared a time to meet my family, I cant describe how meaningful it is for me!

• 16. My relationship, I just love him more and more!

I just love my boyfriend SO MUCH and my feeling for him grows stronger each and every day. I hope that he feels the same. Looking back at how things started, I didn’t even know we could make it this far. He’s been the most important aspect of my life this year (after me, of course. Because I’m a narcissist, LOL!), if I look back, many beautiful things that happened to me this year involved him and I’m looking forward to many years to come with him!