Category: Blog in English

The New Year’s Eves

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Jakarta, December 31, 2014

One year ago, something terrible happened to me. It was definitely the worst new year’s eve I’ve ever had. One devastating event that I may never forget for the rest of my life. It was so heartbreaking that I couldn’t stopped asking myself, “How could this happen to me? I’m only trying to do the right thing, but why did I get this in return?”

That night, I didn’t curse. That night, I hoped nothing but the best for me in the year to come. Deep in my heart, I only had one big wish for myself: I wish for a better life, I wish that I’ll be somewhere I’ll smile and laugh a lot more, I wish that I find a place where I belong.

One year later, here I am… writing this post, in a peace that I finally found. God granted my wish to move forward and leave all of that pain behind. I had my new life, a better one. It’s a better life which I believe that I deserve.

Today, if I look back, I finally understand why that terrible new year’s eve happened to me back then. It happened so that I moved on. It happened to bring me here, to the place that I belong.

In 2014, I met so many great friends along the year. Caring friends who texted me and told me to go to the hospital when I was sick. Lovely friends who gave me one of the sweetest birthday surprises I’ve ever had.  And genuine friends whom I never doubt their sincerity to me.

This year, for the first time ever, I work with colleagues with various nationalities. I’ve counted that I work with colleagues from 23 different countries! A few months back, a conference call always terrified me. But now? It’s a piece of cake! 😉 Some of them did come and go in no time, but it’s always a pleasure to have them along the way.

Again this year is also another year of achievement to me. An unexpected promotion was granted to me three months ago. I never thought that I would go this far by now. I’m so blessed and of course, so proud of myself 😀

Finally this year, I did learn to love again. After three years passed me by, I finally found someone new. It was not a happy ending, frankly it was only one sided feeling, but that’s okay! It made me learn how to be a big girl with a big heart. Whatever happened, I’m still glad that I met him. It was such a reminder how falling in love can be so beautiful to me 😉

And you know what… all of that beauty would never ever happen if that terrible night did not happen to me one year ago. It happened because it had to happen. It was not only a wake up call, but I have to admit, it was also a reminder to me to control myself. A part of it was indeed my own fault. It was harsh, but it was necessary to make me learn how to be a better one.

2014 is about to end. For sure that I can tell… I have a great, wonderful, and happy year. Forget about the hard times, the downfall, the heartbreak, it was still an awesome year to me. Yet of course I still hope, 2015 will be also an awesome one. I’m hoping to live more, love more, and I just can’t wait for the surprises in the year to come!

Happy new year for my blog reader. As written in my new year’s resolutions, I hope that in 2015, I can write for you much more often than before. I love writing and I simply want to do more things that I love in this new year. Thanks for reading, for the warm and supportive comments in my posts, and I hope, you guys will never get bored, hehehehe.

Have a great year, everyone!

Never Ever Regret for Falling in Love ;)

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Have you ever felt so unwanted just because of falling for someone who turned out didn’t feel the same way about you? Or feeling super stupid for falling in love with the one who belongs to someone else?

I’ve been there, but now I simply think that actually, I have no regret. I’m even grateful for ever felt such a genuine feeling to someone else.

Why should I regret if my feeling for him used to make me smile a lot back then?

Made my morning so beautiful just by waking up and knowing that I would see him soon.

Made me very much cherish every moment I shared with him. The laughter, the chats, even just a simple hello could bring me so much joy.

Not to mention the butterflies in my belly. The heart that skipped a beat. The warmth in my heart and the smile on my lips… I was the one who felt all of that beauty, NOT him. So what should I regret anyway?

Yes, at the end, it was not a happy ending. It broke my heart. The sorrow. The sleepless night. The thought of never seeing him no more…

But think again! Even a heart break has made me a better one!

I learned how to be strong. I learned from my mistake. I learned to let go and live with a big big heart. And I learned how to appreciate the ones who sincerely love me for who I am.

Again, it was me who learned all of those priceless life lessons, NOT him.

I read a few cool quotes about it a few weeks back. Everything in life is temporary. Love it when you have it! But if it’s not meant to be, then let it go. No need to regret, just let it go. Because when you sincerely let go, you actually give God some space to work.

Let go, have an awesome life, and happy holiday! 😉

Top Three Reasons Why Good Employees Leave the Company

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In the past few months, I’ve been observing the reasons why good employees decide to leave their companies. How do I define a good employee? The smart one, a fast learner, the problem solver, the major contributor, the game maker, the agent of changes, and of course, an excellent leader to their team. They may have so many flaws, mostly personality issues, yet most of them tend to have all of the good qualities I mention before. The good qualities in one package that makes them extremely hard to find.

Different with employees on average, I rarely find a top achiever leaves the company just because of stress, crazy workloads, fed up of bosses’ high demands, or just because of those nearly impossible projects. They have much more complex reasons to leave the company. Based on my personal observation, I’ve narrowed down those reasons into three top categories.

Lack of challenges

Most of the time, the good employees have more capability to deal with stress rather than dealing with boredom. They can’t stand repeating the exactly same task over and over again. They also set a very high standard for themselves. It’s not easy to make them feel satisfied with their own achievement. They’re very competitive even when there is no competition at stake. They hate the idea of being left behind their own families and friends.

That’s why when they find themselves stuck, not well developed, nothing new to learn, or when they get bored until 8 hours at work feels like forever, they will start to wonder whether it’s already time for them to bring themselves to a higher level. Until finally, finding a better opportunity out there has become a new challenge for them. For some of them, it’s like proving themselves that they still have the capability to achieve something better for their futures after going nowhere in their previous job for a while.

Lack of appreciations

The good employees have much lower tolerances of being unappreciated. They don’t do much positive thinking about the reason why their bosses made them feel that way. They know their values and they will never let anyone make them feel anything less. I know many great workers who are able to deal with their crazy workloads, who can survive the crazy deadlines, who can forgive their annoying bosses, but once they find themselves are not appreciated, they will start to ask themselves, “What the hell am I doing here?”

How do they define the lack of appreciations?

  1. When they find out ‘the average guys’, ‘the do nothing guys’, or ‘the do not understand anything guys’ are paid higher than them;
  2. When they hear their own bosses keep telling everyone about how great those ‘mediocre ones’ are but those bosses ‘forget’ to mention the same thing about them who have worked much harder than those bosses’ baby;
  3. When their bosses do not say anything about the great jobs they’ve done, but those bosses are over-reacted once they do just one mistake, especially if it’s only a very small one;
  4. When they are not well rewarded, especially if they do know that the company has a capability to give them rewards that they deserve.

Overloaded BUT underpaid

Based on my observation, most of top achievers are burdened with more workloads rather than the mediocre ones. Everytime there is a very difficult task, the boss will give it to them. Everytime there is a colleague fail to finish another difficult task, the boss will give it to them again. They’re actually okay with that; they love challenges, remember? BUT, it’s a completely different story if their increasing burdens are not in line with their income.

It’s funny how bosses always have many random reasons to not reward their best players properly. At the end of the day, the good employees will end up with a thought, “This company wants me to work super hard for free.”

Most of the time, being underpaid is not only about money for this type of employee, but also highly related to their self-satisfaction or maybe, it’s also about their own ego. They can’t live with the fact that their company ‘use’ them, ‘fool’ them, or any other bad thoughts which make them feel bad about themselves. Once again, they know their value and they know it for sure when they deserve better.

My Birthday Picts

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This year, once again, I have another unforgettable birthday. A fancy dinner in Four Seasons with my families on my birthday night, a small reunion with my high school best friends, a nice surprise from my team at work (I thought they would only give me a cake with candles on it, turned out they gave me a customized birthday cupcakes, birthday cards, and shopping vouchers! 😀 ), and a Friday dinner with my team to celebrate my birthday (again!).

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After so many long days in November, my birthday was such a refreshment to me. I still have a little kid inside of me who gets excited with a nicely wrapped gift, I’m touched knowing that I have many friends willing to come up with a plan to surprise me, and I’m glad that wherever I work, I work with the people who end up as my friends.

Now my birthday is over, I simply think, “I can’t wait for my next birthday! Hehehehe.”

My Birthday Note

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Today is my 28th birthday. And today, I only want to write about how grateful I am with the life I live in.

Not much things to say. I simply want to thank God for all of the ups and downs in my life. For the dreams those do come true, and for the downfalls which make me stand even higher than before.

I also want to thank everyone who stays here with me; with all my flaws, with all my imperfections. For always having my back in the hardest possible time. For the supports, for always listening, for always understanding, for always finding a way back to me with their sincere forgiveness for all my faults.

Finally, I want to thank myself for learning, for finding, a true happiness in life. For accepting myself, for being the best that I can be, and for surviving every lowest point in 28 years of my life.

New age is always another new beginning for me. A new start, new hopes, a new finish line to run into. I really can’t wait to see how life can surprise me even beyond my imagination. Happy 28 years anniversary for me! I wish nothing but the best for me 😉

Girls, Stop Falling for The Wrong Ones

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Girls, at some point, we should stop letting ourselves fall for the wrong ones.

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Don’t fall for a guy just because he told you that you look pretty that day.

Or when he keeps telling you how smart you are.

Or how different you are.

Or any other pretty things that anyone can say.

He may have that super charming smile.

He may always say hello and asking how your day is going.

He may always make you feel special.

Feel pretty.

Yet again, don’t fall for him in a blink of eyes.

Remember girls, talking is easy.

You may be not the only one.

He may just enjoys being friendly.

Or maybe, he just enjoys being the center of attention.

Hey may only say things and forget.

Hey may never really care to every word you say back to him.

Don’t fall for him, until you know for sure, that you are his center of attention.

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Don’t let yourself fall so easy to the gentle man.

The one who holds the door for you.

Who gives up his seats for you.

Who never lets you carry those heavy stuffs.

Who always makes you feel like a queen.

Maybe it’s true that he’s a gentle man, he’s a good man.

He’s harder to find these days.

But that’s it…

Maybe he’s just being who he really is.

Maybe he’s just being used to be polite.

Maybe that’s just the way he was raised, to be a gentle man.

So girls, don’t fall for him, until you know for sure, that you’re indeed the queen of his heart.

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Finally girls, don’t fall for a guy just because he’s always there when you’re in need.

Don’t let your heart melted when you saw him trying so hard just to help you out.

Don’t get him wrong when he’s being such a great listener for you.

Don’t think too much when you find he’s always around.

Because maybe, he’s just trying to be a good friend for you.

Yes, a good friend.

He may only does the things that the best friends usually do.

He helps you.

He cares about you.

He always listens while you speak.

Because that’s what a friendship is all about.

So don’t fall for him, until you know for sure, that he wants you to be his girl.

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Again girls, at some point, you may want to stop wasting your times for the wrong ones.

However sometimes, it’s not about the wrong ones, it’s the wrong decisions instead.

It’s our own wrong decision instead.

We fall too fast.

We fall too easy.

We fall before knowing what we’re running into.

We are blinded with so many ideas in our heads.

We keep making the same mistakes, over and over again.

We keep making the same ending, for ourselves, over and over again.

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In the beginning, it’s the mistake which made us learn.

It’s the wrong ones who made us know what we’re looking for in the right one.

However, at the end of the day, we’ve got to stop.

When it’s frustrating to feel a pain inside our heart.

When it’s exhausting to pick up the pieces for the hundreds times.

When we’ve started wondering what we always did wrong.

Then it’s the time for us to stop making obvious mistakes for ourselves.

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We are too valuable to feel rejected.

Life is too valuable to be wasted for more broken hearts all over again.

Learn from our past.

Learn from our mistakes.

And when we are about to fall for another wrong one.

When we are about to fall so quickly.

Just remember one of those days when a broken heart knocked us down.

Just remember that we are a grown-up, who have a total control of ourselves.

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Don’t fall too fast, until you know for sure, that you are running to your final stop.

15 Habits to Make Your Life Easier at Work

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Learning from my own experiences, I’ve noted down 15 things which have significantly helped me to get things done at work. If it works for me, who knows it will work for you too?

  1. Tell people exactly how you feel. Put on that grumpy face or saying “I’m pissed” will never work to make people understand what they did wrong;
  2. Use “we” instead of “I”;
  3. Ask one same question to more than one people to get complete pictures accurately. But of course, make sure you don’t get caught, hehehehe;
  4. Asking is always better than assuming;
  5. Teach your team, make them as knowledgeable as you. The smarter they are, the more they’re capable to help you out;
  6. Learn to delegate to your team. Doing stuffs alone will only make you get overwhelmed;
  7. If your team makes mistakes, teach them how to do it right instead of correcting the mistakes on your own. They will never learn and it will only put more burdens on your shoulders;
  8. Be brave enough to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’
  9. Reduce manual work. Spend some times to do research about how to apply technology into your works;
  10. Manage your files (both of softcopy and hardcopy) properly so that you won’t spend too much times searching for your old files;
  11. Take a note, write down every knowledge you’ve just earned at work;
  12. Reread your e-mails before you send it out as well as rethink your words before you speak it up;
  13. Read carefully and reply your e-mails as soon as possible;
  14. Put off the fire when it’s still small. It’s much easier to solve small problems rather than waiting until it gets bigger; and
  15. As long as it’s not an urgent matter, try to finish one task before you jump to another one.

The Chances

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There’s a recent event which made me think about chances. About chances that we never give to the people we know. To the people who might be the best thing in our life, if only we ever gave them a chance to be a part of it.

Sometimes, we shut people down in the first place. When the first impression becomes everything to us, we don’t give them a chance to show us how good they can be. We divide people to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ right in the first sight. We just don’t care about the fact that it takes times for people to show their true colors. It takes times for us to see their true colors.

Or maybe… we do give them a chance to be a part of our life. As our friends. As our favorite colleagues. BUT… we never give them a chance to be more of it. We keep trying to convince ourselves that it’s not worthy. That we don’t really want them to be more than who they already are to us. We keep making excuses while in fact, we’re just scared. We’re just scared of the risk that we need to take just to be with them. We just don’t care about the possibility that they may be the best thing that ever happens to our life.

This thought finally reminds me to the people whom I pushed away. The people who sincerely wanted me to be a part of their lives. The people whom I easily judged as the wrong ones. I just realized that some of them, a few years later, have proven me that I was wrong. I was wrong to be afraid just to be with them. I was wrong for telling myself not to fight for them, fight for their presence in my own future.

Life is made up of choices. Somehow I still believe, even the wrong choices happened for a reason. It’s the wrong choices which finally lead me to learn how to do it right. Hence I know that I shouldn’t be drowning in regrets. Hence I know that all I need to do is starting to do it right: I should learn how to give people a chance. I should understand that when I give people a chance, I give myself a chance to get the best possible things to come.

Have you ever heard a quote that says, “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” And you will never know how good it can be unless you give it a try. It may work, it may never work, but one thing for sure… at the end of the day, you will only regret the chances that you never take.

Give people a chance, take chances, and see how different your life will ever be.

10 Things I Love About November

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November is always my most favorite month every year. Here are the reasons:

  1. I got the best, the sweetest, and the most touching surprises in Novembers;
  2. I got a lot of gifts!
  3. It gives me an excuse to buy myself a lot of presents! To spoil myself 😉
  4. I had the most memorable parties in this month;
  5. This month is so much fun. A perfect opportunity to meet up some old friends;
  6. So many old friends texted me or posted to my social media accounts;
  7. I had so many best wishes from families and friends;
  8. Many things happened which made me feel closer to the beloved ones;
  9. It’s always a right time to evaluate myself; and
  10. Why did I get all of those great things? Because November was my birth month 🙂 The best part of it, every year when I look back for the ages I’ve passed by, I always feel more and more grateful with my own life.

Can’t wait for my birthday this year! 😀

20 Random Things About Me

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  1. I don’t believe in zodiac, shio, and so on;
  2. I had a few nicknames from my friends: Ipeh (just because a friend couldn’t spell ‘R’), Uler (because of my last name), Riba (because we just had a chapter about this in class and he found that sounds similar to my name), Nenek, and Chiripa (because of Dulce Maria was such a hit);
  3. I hate sports and I can’t swim;
  4. I kinda hate it when people refuse to pose beside me while taking a picture just because I’m too tall to them;
  5. I also hate it when people says that I have what I’ve earned just because of luck. It’s such an understatement to me. I work hard for everything I’ve achieved;
  6. Back to junior high school, my life was very boring until someone came into my life and taught me how to dream big. I will always owe him for the rest of my life;
  7. I never cheated in the college, not even once. I studied very hard back then;
  8. I’m not good at numbers, but I ended up working as an accountant. I even used to hate accounting back in high school;
  9. My career milestones: started my first job when I was 21, got promotion to Senior level on 23, Assistant Manager on 24, Manager on 25, and Senior Manager on 27. I thought my achievement was awesome, until I found out that the CEO in my Company is on my age!
  10. It took me one year just to learn how to wear contact lenses;
  11. I’m addicted with dark brown eye shadow. I can’t leave the house without it;
  12. I’m a strong believer that beauty, brain, and behavior is not only in beauty pageant. Every girl can get it as long as she’s willing to try hard. We can’t be perfect, but we can be awesome 😉
  13. I’m not good at telling people how I feel. I never say “I love you” to others, not even once;
  14. I’m not good at saying goodbye either. Hug each other and say “I’ll be missing you” is just too much to me;
  15. I used to hate babies until my nephew was born. He’s the only one baby I’ve ever hold on my arms;
  16. When my cats died, I cried much louder than when I cried over the boys who broke my heart;
  17. I was still afraid of ghost until I was a teenager. I used to put an Al-Qur’an beside my pillow to encourage me sleeping alone in my bedroom! But now… I’m not afraid to work overtime alone even in a ghostly office, hehehehe;
  18. I often put something important in my own safe place but then I forget where I put that stuff. The idea of that ‘safe place’ is too extraordinary sometimes 😀
  19. I’ve started writing in a diary since I was a kid. That’s how I learned to write. My blog is my new diary anyway;
  20. I’ve started to write a novel since years ago and never managed to finish it. It’s always a part of my new year’s resolution over and over again. Well, maybe I’ll finish it next year, hehehehe.