Noelle Mikazuki

The Awesome One

Dec 31, 2020

20X2 - Year Of Rest

Once again, the time of year has come.


2020's highlight to most would be Covid-19. 

And to most, it would be a horrible and unfortunate year - Loss of income, change in lifestyle due to shop closure/restrictions/regulations.

But for me, 
It was the perfect year to take a break and rest.

Before, I was always hustling and busy with work, dating, live gigs, live streaming. I barely had time to take a break to catch a drama, read a book, zone out. But in most of 2020, I was literally resting - not working, just taking things slow, chasing dramas, reading books, taking enrichment classes. I'll cover more on that later!




As for many that lost their income this year, I did suffer my fair share too.

I left my full time in Nov'19 to pursue music and start my own business venture in 2020.
Things were going pretty well in Jan-Mar : Live gigs, positive balance sheets, live streaming.



Then, everything went crumbling down.



In April, Circuit Breaker happened. Pubs closed. That immediately cut me off my first stable source of income from live singing. And for my business ventures, it had to be put on hold as well (tho we eventually managed to find an alternative way to operate under regulations). 


In June, I was abruptly admitted to hospital for spontaneous pneumothorax for close to 2 weeks (Click on pic to find out more about my admission lol). That cut off my last source of income - live streaming. I was not able to sing due to obvious reasons and I was mostly resting after my discharge cause my body was healing. 

In July, I had a follow up operation for my condition and the subsequent 1-2 months were spent resting instead of singing - that explains why I didn't really sung/did covers much this year despite trying (also, I might be a little lazy after I recover lol)



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I was pretty much defeated by life in almost every way possible but despite that,

I'm thankful for the year.
It gave me an opportunity to slow down in life, take a break, appreciate many things better, and have a very different perspective to many aspects in life. 



1. My Dream Room!


Finally own my OWN room and designed it to be the way I wanted it to be - you can click on the image to link to IG to see the features in my room. But namely, movie theatre; recording/livestream area; galore of my fav figurine area. The newly added gaming station is for M when he comes over (you can see his uncle game screen capture lol)



2. Baking


Using the skillsfuture credit given by the government, I took up baking courses with my mum and learned how to bake. I was ambitious and baked Christmas bento cakes for my friends and families, and a humongous birthday cake for M, lol. 

https://www.instagram.com/noellemikazuki/



3. Different Experiences


In 20x2, I did vlogs; game-streaming; teaching in schools; and many ad-hoc things that I don't/won't usually get to do when I had a full-time job. Other than baking, I also took up courses to learn how to draw and produce music. So, hopefully I'll get to be more efficient in 2021 to put what I've learnt into good use.



4. More Time with Family & Friends


I mean, I don't meet them on daily basis or even weekly. 

BUT, comparatively to the previous few years, I've had more time for my friends this year and I've been meeting them up a couple of times more than before - whether to MJ, shop, HTHT or just eat & relax. AND as I'm writing this, I realize that we don't actually take pictures together when we hang out on a norm basis LOL! 



5. Le BF


I can't be more grateful to be going through 20x2 with M this year. 

Deliberately driving to stand-alone/unpopular marts to do groceries shopping, cooking, wfh, hunting for open boba shops during circuit breaker was one of the most romantic and memorable moment that we wouldn't have the chance to experience this year if it wasn't for Covid'19. During my first-ever-in-my-life hospital stay (which was terrifying and traumatic btw), it was very comforting to know someone is there for you and that you don't have to worry about anything other than healing up. I've got a personal delivery bf during (and even after) my hospital stay whenever I have cravings for food or need anything. 

Instead of traveling, we got to go on cruise and staycations. Instead of heading out for dates, we got to nexflix and chill during food (we still head out for dates once in a while!). We started playing com games and spent more quality time together, and I'm thankful for that. 



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Moving on to 2021, 
I'm really unsure of what to expect considering Covid.

But in this upcoming year, I would like to strive harder than before and achieve greater things in the following aspects:


1. Music

Now that I've learned how to produce songs from home, I really hope I can commit to posting at least 1 cover/original a month. And that my passion for music will never die away as I grow older and blend in to society.


2. Career

Guess this is kinda personal to discuss but I guess I'll just summarize it enough for myself to understand - stability.


3. Focus

I realized that over the years of setting resolutions, I've been too ambitious. And during the process/year, I end up doing TOO many things and lost focus of my goals. I'm kinda like a bit of here and there yet not really anywhere. So for this upcoming year, I will most likely stop any forms of streaming and focus on producing music content while working. I believe these 2 will consume most of my time and energy. With that, I'll also probably need time management to manage between these 2 and dating/family/friends.


4. Health 

I know I say this every year but, I REALLY NEED TO START WORKING OUT for health reasons and not because I need to lose weight or look good or what. I need to have a healthier lifestyle before it's too late to save whatever's already left. Let's start with aiming for ONE day of exercise a week lol.


5. Save

It's crazy that although I'm not earning this year, I've been spending as much as the past year. I won't say I regret the spendings cause I enjoyed the process and the things I got for myself/others. Especially when this year is the year of rest/self-care. Just that I NEED to save up for future plans and I hope I will be busy enough next year to not have time to spend LOL!



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And yes, just 5 simple resolutions.
Easy to list, hard to achieve.

But I'm pretty determined this time round. Let's see.

See you back here 365 days later!