Thankful Thursday: Great to be Alive!

Had not have the chance to do it on last Thu, so shall put up this gratitude post on my Lunar Birthday instead. Though not sure if anyone really bothers to read through this lengthy post which extends from my original Instagram post. 

Last year was a "happening" year, where I met up with 2 serious accidents consecutively.

Got into a 4-vehicle chain accident in April when cabbing home from work, injured my face with swollen eye and nose bleeding non stop, and bruised knees. Never did I expect, I ended up with affected vision and a slightly crooked nose which I need to choose to do a procedure ASAP, else an operation in the future. However the doctor has highlighted that the procedure may not ensure 100% restoration to my nose original's condition. As it is not obvious under the specs so I choose to leave it as it is, and live with my imperfect nose that gets blocked easily. But at times when I looked myself at the mirror, I still can't help feeling sorry for myself...  Looking back,  I may have first hurt my knees then!

Then I tripped over the kerb at the Esplanade Roof Terrace with my DSLR in May. Not only this cost me my DSLR (which now on and off works as the mechanism already spoilt and my tamron lens also on and off can't focus properly), but also my biz trip to New Albany and personal trip to New York (has to forfeit the trip due to on full backslab).  It also cost me my bank balance as the accident insurance only covers up to 30 days medical expenses. I thought it was just a sprain, but ended up in full backslab for near 2 months and walking with crutches for 1 month. The first 3 months are a real torture for me, as days drag past like years. The journey to healing took me about 1/2 year but I need to live with a bad knee which can never fully recover, as well as rheumatism.

Whatever it is, I'm glad that I managed to pull through the difficult times. I thank my family & friends who have been supportive & showering me with all the love. Without you guys, I will not be the ME today.

Thanks for the love & I love you guys too! 

This year, I consider it a turning point for myself. Bidding farewell to the thirties and bidding farewell to the misfortunes.  I considered myself quite lucky this year, to have won 2 trips. A single ticket to Wuxi through SGIG/Tigerair contest, where I get to venture Wuxi/Suzhou/Shanghai with a group of Instagrammers, I do not really know well most of the people in the group but we build our friendship from the trip and glad to remain in contact with some. Then I also won a pair of tickets to Los Angeles and get to have a private tour at the Dolby Theatre which I will share about it later.

Small achievements unlocked when my Instagram followers hit 1K just before my birthday.  This is probably nothing much to be proud of, but my followers have been hanging at 900+ for the longest, and I've been hoping to hit the 1K followers to participate in more campaigns.

While I'm not eager to compete with others, I do set some target to challenge myself when I started to be more "serious' about my Instagram account. Majority of my personal friends either do not own Instagram account or are very inactive in Instagram.  I do not really curate my gallery, nor have a specific theme or super outstanding/creative photos, neither do I do giveaways to get people to follow my account, which explain why the slow growth in my Instagram followers. With that said, I'm not giving myself excuses, but rather, the need to constantly question myself how I can improve my gallery to make it an more enjoyable to gain organic growth, without sacrificing my own enjoyment in photography.  

Knowing own weakness, then will one be able to improve himself/herself and excel. I'm lucky to have a great pal, Justin (@xjieke),  who will tell me straight to my face, what went wrong with my photos, though the truth hurts at times, but this really made me learnt and improve much. Step by step, I hit my own goal of getting an average 50 likes per photo and had my first photo with more than 200 likes, meet my 1K followers goal. I certainly have Justin to thank to, but I do put in a lot effort too.  But I know I still have some weaknesses to overcome, I tend to be too "kan cheong" (anxious) at times, so I often overlook the minute details. I need to constantly remain myself and hope I can overcome this soon.

Now is the beginning to a new stage of life, I hope for myself to have a smooth sailing year, and hopefully, I will pass the interview for Singaporean Citizenship application in coming Oct.  Wish me good luck! ;P

Photo Credit: @xjike