Hello 2021! What shall I do this year, then?

Now that I have my own platform to capture my ramblings, I can force myself to pen down what I would like to focus on for the new year and make it public so I can be pressured to meet my goals. 😜

In all seriousness though, at the beginning of the year, I like to spend a little time working out focus areas so that my foggy mind can be brought back to clarity whenever it needs.

I have a tendency to get distracted by opportunities to explore new skills and learnings which is good and bad.

After all, if I had insisted on sticking to my focus areas for 2020, I would never have ended up writing and singing and releasing songs with my hubby for our music collective, Buddha in the Balcony.

But of course, I think there are many things I started in 2020 that I want to hone my skills at, so I really do see 2021 as a continuation of what I started in 2020 as opposed to great, new beginnings.

Ok here goes!

I want to continue improving my mental and emotional health.

• I still have knee-jerk reactions to certain people and situations… need to breathe before responding!
• Old resentments still plague me, would really like to let go. Not for the benefit of others but for my own emotional balance.
• Speaking of balance, I worked quite a bit to focus on self-care last year, now I need to strike that balance between being there for someone in particular and prioritising my own needs.

Water the seeds planted in my mental health advocacy work.

• I plan to build on the seeds I had planted with various organisations and hope to work with them in my advocacy efforts. Specifically, I want to raise awareness of the “invisible” well child, how mental illness in a family has far-reaching impact on everyone, not just the sufferer.
• Last July, I wrote two songs about mental health, but I have not released them yet, because 1) I wanted to improve my singing so I had classes last year and 2) I want to time the release with the upcoming World Schizophrenia Day in May.

Get down to business.

In 2020, I placed a lot more focus on mental health stuff, and anyway business was slowing down due to Covid-19, but now people have had a year to deal with it, make the necessary adjustments, I am hoping that I can kickstart business development efforts and get new projects.

Mais oui, je parle couramment français!

I still want to work at upping my proficiency level. Managed to spend a little time here and there last year, but the singing got in my way, so I’m thinking, I will just make it a daily habit to watch French content on YouTube and Netflix this year (so I can swear in French with more flair).

No guarantees, maybe this year?

I keep saying I will write the play that, in 2016, Adrian Pang, the co-artistic director of one of Singapore’s top theatre companies Pangdemonium, had seeded the idea in my head, but I just have not been able to do this. I don’t know if 2021 will be the year that I will make some headway, but, well, in the spirit of balance and taking it easy, I will just see how it goes.

Next year in 2022, I will come back to this post and see just how far I have gotten. My attitude is I will do what I can, I will try, and if it happens it does, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

How about you? What are the areas of focus and goals for this year? Are you also building on what you planted last year or do you have a grand, new discovery headed your way? Or maybe both! Let me know in your comments below!

Happy New Year!