and so i turn 22 today, turning 22 feels much.. simpler than turning 21. when you're 20 and turning 21, you tend to be really excited cos 21 is the age where you're supposed to be able to fully take charge over your life. so today feels very much like any other day!

bummed around at home, studied, and before 12am today i was actually stressing over my honours thesis :/ how great haha. but the highlight of the day was going with b to Ku de ta at Marina bay sands! the food was really expensive and all, but he still insisted on getting more dishes.. the ambience nice, and the service great. it was pretty intriguing haha. we actually had individual clip-on lights that clipped onto the menu, cos the restaurant was rather dark. and the most amazing thing that got me WHOAAAA AWESOME! :D was when the waitress came up to me, took my white coloured napkin and said "let me change this to the black napkin for you, it matches the colour of your dress".

LIFE OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS hahaha. great service :p except the problem is that b was also wearing a long sleeved black shirt, but was given a white napkin HAHA.

in all, it's a really simple day, but i do find joy in simplicity. to be honest i think i'm a generally happy person, especially these few weeks (after the influence of positive psychology, which i shall elaborate below). so i'm just glad for everything that i have; everything. thank you b for all that you've given me and for truly accepting me for who i am. i love the (surprise) present and dinner!

on positive psychology:
as humans, we have been taught from young (be it by the society, education system, or our parents, or all of the above) that in order to be happy, you have to be successful. so we're constantly told to work hard so that we'll achieve success; and after achieving success, we'll be happy. but it's been found that our goalposts of success are ever changing. when we achieve what we once defined as success, we'll form another goalpost of success. apparently Harvard undergraduates (who most of us think must be really happy about their lives since they're from.. Harvard, no less) are initially very happy about entering Harvard. but 2 weeks into school, they'll forget about the joy they felt when they first got admitted and just dwell on the stress of school work, competition and so on. i think that's generally true, at least for me. i get my internship, and am really happy, but one week into the internship and i'll start focusing on all the negatives like having to wake up early, having to deal with office politics and so on.

so is it really true that one will achieve happiness after achieving success? could it be the other way round - that when we're happy, we will be successful? it's been found that that's true - happy people tend to be more productive and etc.etc. and hence tend to be more successful. if you're happy with what you're doing, you will naturally achieve success. i think that's a very powerful message.

in order to wire your brain to think more positively, you should: exercise, do a good deed a day, and record down 3 things that make you happy everyday. i've been trying to exercise, have a balanced diet and record the 3 things that make me smile daily. and after doing it for 21 times, it becomes a habit. so do try it :)

:)
11:50 PM