Category: Blog in English

Start-up Story – 3 Things I’ve Learned at Very Early Preparation Stage

2 Comments

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I’m currently working on my own start-up. Just finished the blueprint, business plan, and of course, vendors hunting.

Here are 3 things I’ve learned about building a start-up at this very early stage:

  1. How to choose vendors and the traits you should consider before awarding the projects. You don’t need to hire super expensive vendors but you can’t always choose the cheapest service just because it fits your budget. At this point, you will realize the importance of chemistry and belief in your business partners. If you don’t feel clicked since the very beginning, it they don’t share the same passions as yours, and if it takes ages for them to response your inquiries, then you’re just not meant to work with them. There are plenty of good vendors out there, but not everyone will work well with your business;
  2. How to do free marketing. I’ve learned a lot from a couple of successful business founders. Free is not always bad, it can be as effective, it just requires more times to figure it out and a lot more times to work on it. Your apps is not yet live anyway, you have plenty of times to do it yourself. I’ve chosen not to accept any investor’s funding and free marketing (or cheap marketing to some extent) is the only choice I have at the moment; and
  3. I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t have all features I want to have in the first development. I should be able to distinguish “the must have” against “the nice to have”. It’s better to have a few well developed features rather than a lot of troublesome features on your apps. Go live as soon as you can, new features can be developed later on.

I’ll write more about my start-up later on! I’ve created a new category in this blog named The Lens Story and a new tag named The Start-up Story.

And yes, my start-up is named The Lens Story. The web apps is going live in the next three months (insyaallah).

Stay tune!

5 Things to Do Before I Die

2 Comments

A couple of months ago, an old friend from high school passed away. She was just 30 years old, yet she died from a heart attack. That day she said that she was tired and took a nap in her office, and she never woke up.

That news was somehow beyond shocking to me. I came to question my purpose of life. It reminded me of my forgotten dreams; all the things I wanted to do before I die, all the things that I sacrificed for mornings to nights in the office. I always thought I had plenty of times, but what if I didn’t?

It was also shocking to me because the day my friend died, I also felt pretty much the same symptoms as hers. I didn’t think I was sick, I just felt extremely tired and I always craved for a long nap. I still remember the nights I fell asleep in the office, with a cushion in my arms, and then I’d woke up just to go back to my laptop again.

I finally asked myself, “Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?  And from all the things I wanted to do in life, what did I want the most?”

I want to run my own business. Turning my biggest dreams to a reality. I want to run a company that makes the employees a better person; the very best version of themselves. I want to see my ideas becoming a brand. And I want to prove myself that I can really do what I thought as “the impossible”.

I want to take further study. I miss reading thick books and worked on my exams. I miss the butterflies in my stomach everytime I was expecting my grades came out on the screen. I missed the excitement, the joy, and the pride knowing that my hard work was paid off. I really really miss to be a student again and to learn from someone else again.

I want to write a book. Any book. A novel, I hope. I’ve always wanted to become a real writer ever since I was a little kid. I want to be able to see a book with my name on it displayed in a bookstore. I want to have some legacies, and the book I write should be one of them.

I want to travel around the world. One or two countries in every continent on earth only in one trip. I had been working too hard even before I finished my study and I really want to take a long break.

And of course, I want to finally meet my Mr. Right. I’m sick of feeling like I’m not good enough. I’ve had enough of restarting over and over again. I’m done with wondering and waiting. I want to be able to tell myself that I have finally found someone to share a lifetime with.

Right after all those thoughts, I made up my mind. I should not wait any longer. So there I told my boss I would only stay until end of year. I wanted to spend more times on my own start-up. I also eventually reduce my overtime to have a lot more of me times. I continued writing my novel and I started to look for the best business school in town. And the best part is that I finally moved on from my latest heartbreak and all the dramas that came with it. What about traveling the world? Oh well I can’t do everything only in a year, but least, I’m starting to get my life back to the track that I really want for myself!

I hope, I really hope, I will still have enough times to do at least, to pursue all these 5 biggest dreams of mine.

Amiin for me, please? 🙂

What Makes People Unhappy?

Leave a comment

Three days ago, my boss invited me to join a non-technical training in the office. Before the session was begun, he asked us to open menti.com (an online voting tool) to answer this question: from scale 1 to 10 and 10 is the happiest, how happy are you?

There was no doubt, I gave it an 8. It would be a 9 or 10 if I already sorted out my career and love life drama. If you asked me the same question one year ago, I would definitely gave it a 9 to 10. My life was at its happiest moment back then. I was so much in love, my career was beyond exciting, and my best friends hadn't bailed on me. But well, 8 is not that bad, is it?

And apparently I was right; 8 was not that bad. It was not bad at all. It appeared that the average score of almost 20 people in the room was only 5! If I gave it an 8 and the average score was 5, it meant some people only scored it a lot less than 5! In other words, so many people in that training were unhappy with their life.

That training was not intended to make us happier; that was not even the main topic. But that one vote about happiness really consumed me. I know many people in that room and apparently, some of them are not as happy as it seems.

I looked around and I wondered, "But why?"

And then it hit me. If I got the same question twenty years ago, I would only score it at 3. Ten years later, it was 5 or 6. It kept increasing with up and down in between, but in the past one decade, it's never less than 7 even in the hardest moments of my life as an adult. It feels so amazing and I'm grateful for that!

The question now, what did I do to make myself happier? What made me unhappy and how did I deal with that?

Twenty years ago, I only went on with the flow. I had no ambition, no purpose in life, no good reason to wake up in the morning and start a new day. And then I evolved. I started to write a wish list, I started to dream, I started to work hard to make it all happen. Pursuit of dreams were never easy, but it never ceased to make me happier than who I was before.

Along with my determination to have a better life, I had also learned on how to have courage and how to fight for everything that I believed was right. I was no longer silent everytime people were unfair to me, I spoke up my mind and I stood up for myself. I've won so many battles to overcome my own fear and from all of my achievements in life, this is what I'm proud the most!

Also when I was younger, I didn't care so much about friendship. As long as I had someone to have lunch with was more than enough. And then I started to make some good friends. I started to build a friendship that lasts for decades, and for lifetime, I hope. We didn't always get along in all those entire years, but we always found our way back to each others. And it always makes me happier knowing that no matter what happens, I will never be alone.

Nine or ten years ago, I was never really into my own hobby. I simply did what I wanted to do and that was that. And then I eventually did a lot more of it. I purchased this domain for my blog, I started to travel the world frequently, I read more variety of books, I also gave myself some specific budgets to shop all the things that I wanted to buy every month! I still remember how happy I was the first time I bought my authentic leather bag. It might sound artificial, but I'm happy that I've worked so hard that I'm able to reward myself a life I always dreamed of.

And finally, apart from the broken hearts, I have to admit that I'm happiest when I'm in love. It can instantly scale up my happiness score from 9 to 10! It always makes me happy to see someone I love trying so hard to make me happy, or to comfort me in the little things. It's always lovely to know there is someone else care so much about me that he always puts me before himself. That's the reason why I was happier after I knew how it felt to fall in love. The downside, it's also the reason why once I lose it, I also lose a little bit of happiness that I used to feel.

At the end of the day, I've come to learn that happiness is a work. A hard work. You can't just sit at home hoping that happiness will come along! As much as it's important to be happy with the little things, it's also important to conquer the big things to make us happier, to make us fulfilled with joy and pride. And of course, great things in life are never easy. But then, the happiness you feel after all the hard works you put into will be the greatest happiness that make all those sacrifices are just worth it. So maybe, if you feel unhappy, that's only because you're too lazy to make yourself happy.

Life is too short to be unhappy. From all people on earth, you are the only one who can make yourself the happiest version of you. Find your way to evolve, then happiness will be no longer a myth.

When You Really Love Somebody, then Go and Get Them!

Leave a comment

A few days ago, I told one of my colleagues, “If you really like her until that much, then you should go and get her. So long she’s not taken, you’ll still have a chance. Do it if you don’t want to wonder or regret for the rest of your life!”

And then I also told him a long-time story about how I used to lose someone who meant a lot to me. Someone who took years for me to move on (and that was only because I knew he was getting married soon), someone whom I adored, looked up to, someone who made me want to be a better person like he was.

Sometimes I wonder if I should have tried harder before it was too late.

Sometimes I think I should never listen to anyone else, I should just believe in him and me.

Maybe, I should never let my doubt consumed me. I should accept the parts of him that didn’t seem fit to me. I should be more patient. I should have more courage to fight for us, and bold enough to ask him where we stood back then.

I know that people would just say that it was not meant to be. I know that if we were meant for each other, we would somehow find a way regardless all the obstacles between us. I know all that, but I also know that I didn’t try hard enough. Knowing that I didn’t put my very best effort only left me wondering, over and over, if there was anything I could do to make us happen.

The irony is that, having said that I’ve moved on, the truth is, the memory of him never really went out of my mind.

In the lowest points of my life, I sometimes look at his happy life and I’ll wonder, “What if we tried harder? Maybe, if only I tried hard enough, that life could be my life now. A life with him in it.”

What’s even worse, I still tend to compare the new guys in my life with this one guy from the past. I often say to my best friends that it’s impossible to find someone like him. And everytime I got disappointed by someone new, it was only anoher justification how right I was: I’ve had my chance and I have let it slipped through my fingers.

Believe me… it’s definitely true when people say that it’s better try and fail rather than never try and always wonder. I’ve also tried and failed, and it was indeed a lot better than the regret of letting that one amazing guy walk out of my life. At least when I tried, I didn’t have any “what if” as I already had all my questions answered. I’ve put my best effort and if the very best of me was not enough for him, then I had no doubt to let it go. 

Some people in our life may randomly happened for some reasons we don’t even remember. In some cases,  we look back and we laugh at ourselves: how could we be so crazy about all those guys? But some other people are unforgettable. They are still our favorite stories to tell, and the memories just can’t seem to fade away. They are the ones who make us learn how to define a true love, and they are the ones who will always have a little piece of us. If you have someone like that, after reading all this, I hope… you should know what to do.

The Art of Forgiveness

Leave a comment

I’ve learned that not all people who looks forgiving are actually holding no grudge. And not all people who speaks the ugly truth having the hard times to forgive the others’ flaws. Forgiveness is not how it seems, it’s how it really feels inside our heart.

Sometimes, forgiving is easy. Sometimes, it’s hard and it takes times. And sometimes, we’re not even sure if we can come back from the pain they put us through.

On the other hands, asking for forgiveness is easy. Sometimes, it’s terrifying. But then sometimes, we don’t even think we have something to apologize.

Forgiveness is getting more complicated as we grow older. We don’t always want to, but we have to. It’s not always asked for, but we still have to. And I believe, that’s Eid is all about: to forgive and to seek for forgiveness.

I know that it’s always easier being said than being done. Some pain is just too much to take. Not everything requires apology to make things right, but in the same time, not everything can be solved and fixed by an apology.

With that being said, somehow I found my way to forgive the people whom I never thought I’d ever forgive. They never ask for forgiveness, I never say they are forgiven either, and it’s not like I’m willing to live a life with them in it like it used to be. But still, I forgive them, in my own way.

I hope, they forgive themselves for everything they did. Or if they still believe they didn’t do anything wrong, I hope that someday they will wake up and learn from it. And on top of all that, I sincerey hope that God will forgive them for all the wrong said and done. I hope, God will help them to be a better person, and help them with a light at the end of the tunnels. Apart from all the nightmare they put me through, they used to be the people who meant a lot and whom I cherished the most.

Forgive people even when they don’t ask for forgiveness. Or even when they don’t deserve any of it. Forgive them not for them, forgive them for you, for your soul and your peace of mind.

Finally, if I ever hurt you with anything I said or did, please do forgive me with a chance to restart all over again. I’m no pure angel, but I’m no pure evil either.

Please forgive me for being a straight-talking.

Forgive me for fighting for what I believed was right until it hurt you along the process.

Forgive me when I’m not always capable of controlling my own anger.

And for the people I care about, please forgive me for the tough love and for not always being nice all the times. When it comes to you, I’m not being mean, I’m being myself who wants nothing but the best for you and your life. Maybe, I just don’t know how to do it right.

As usual for all my blog readers, please forgive me if I ever wrote something offended to you. Wish you all a blessed Eid and a new beginning for you and the loved ones. Happy Eid mubarak and happy holiday!

My Whole Life is a Lesson to Love the Others

Leave a comment

Recently I realize… I’ve been learning how to love others since the day I was born thirty years ago. I’ve learned how to love as a daughter, a sister, a friend, a colleague, or as a girl who falls in love.

I’ve learned how to tell people how I feel, knowing that silence is in fact not always golden.

I’ve learned to accept that I’m not perfect, and neither is anyone else.

I’ve learned to fight for the people I love, I even fight myself just to keep that feeling alive inside my heart.

I’ve learned to never give up easily on the people I care about.

I’ve learned to not forget someone’s else good deed just because one mistake they did.

I’ve learned that to love is to take and to give, equally, and to love is to be less selfish than I once was.

I’ve learned to give people their second chances. 

I’ve also learned how far I should go knowing that I should also love myself enough to walk away everytime I realize I deserve better.

I’ve learned to forgive, to let go, and be okay with it.

I’ve learned to heal myself from a heartbreak and to love again. To believe in humanity, again.

I’ve learned how blessed and loved that I really am. And I cannot ask for more.

When Was the Last Time I Cried?

Leave a comment

Last night, I had a headache when I still had to work on something in the office. I decided to take a rest on the couch for a while. Right when I closed my eyes, in between of asleep and awake, I asked myself, “When was the last time I cried?”

I couldn’t find the answer. It’s been a day and I still can’t seem to remember the right answer. It must have been so long time ago and somehow, that surprises me!

I’ve just gone through what I call as the hardest months of my life and I didn’t shed the tears, not even once!

My best friend betrayed me and so did some other people I relied on. Someone whom I thought I had something with surprisingly told me that I was wrong and that he only admired me as a person. Endless long nights in the office and many other real life dramas I never thought would ever happen to me.

As I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I wondered and I asked myself, “How could I be so strong?”

I can’t really find just one good answer to that question.

Maybe, it’s because I’m happier with my life so that I refuse to let anything take the happiness away from me.

Maybe, I’ve come to learn a lot about life, about people, and about myself. I know that just because I made mistakes, it doesn’t mean I deserved all the disappointments. I don’t need to be too hard on myself.

Maybe, it’s also because all these events have helped me to find out who really matters in my life. It helped me to distinguish the best friends and the enemies. It even helped me to build a stronger bond with the people who trully care about me.

Or maybe, it’s only because I realize, and I’ve accepted, that my life will never ever be perfect. I have so many things to be thankful. I’m living a life I always wanted for myself. And I’ve worked so hard, so damn hard, to be who I am right now. I’m not perfect, my life is not perfect, but that’s okay.

So maybe, just maybe, all the reasons above have made feel like I didn’t have any reason to cry. I will cry when I lose my real friends and families, but the people who didn’t even care about how I feel? Are they worth crying for? Well, I don’t think so!

Some people I know are too scared of growing old. But me? I enjoyed being a 30’s! At the end of the day, it’s the life experience that teaches me how to survive and to stay happy all along. And it took times until I got it right! I’m glad that I’m no longer a young lady crying alone in an empty office in the middle of the night! I’m glad that not only I’m getting older, but also that I’m growing as a person.

Pick your problems. Pick your reasons to cry. And you’ll be just fine. Insyaallah.

The Next Big Thing: My Dream Life!

Leave a comment

I’m grateful with all I have. Really. It’s just that at this point, it feels like I’ve reached the end. If God permits, I do have chances for some more promotions at work. I will still travel the world; one new place in a time. I will still do what I’ve been doing since the past years, but that’s that. I’ve spent too many times in between of my office walls, the same walls, day and night, over and over.

But don’t get me wrong. It’s not about my job. It’s my life in general. I really need to do the things I never did before. I want to pursue all those forgotten dreams. I want to start a new life, a new challenge, a new set of stories to tell! I know that I’m living my dream but I want to start a new dream!

What do I want precisely? How do I describe the next dream life of mine?

I want to travel to work. Go somewhere and make business out of it. I want to expand my business meetings from the high rise building walls to somewhere out there. A business meeting by the beach? That would be lovely!

I want to make a living from something that I really love, inside out! I want to do the things I’m always passionate to do! I want to have not only a dream job, but also a dream career!

I want to wake up in many beautiful places on earth. In some days, I only want to sit with a laptop on my lap, writing my novel until late at night. I can picture myself sitting on a deck with a mountain view right in front of me!

I want to have enough times to pursue my study. I’m craving to learn. To compete with who I was yesterday!

I want to meet a bunch of new people. Expand my networks and hear more varieties of life stories. A lot more than just a corporate drama!

I want to have enough times to pamper myself. To be who I really want to be. I want to make sure that I’ll have it all done before I die!

Does it sound too good to be true? I don’t think so… And I hope it’s not too good to be true! This time, just one time in my life, I want to challenge myself to do the impossible. And I hope, this time too, God will bless my path along the way. Like He always does. Hope He always will.

My new dream life: here I come!

Just Because He Was in the Past, It Doesn’t Mean He Was a Mistake

Leave a comment

A friend used to tell me, “You should really get rid of him. He’s gone, he’s in the past, and he’s not worth the wait! You deserve way better than him.”

It was actually nice that I had a friend who looked out for me and I can really understand her point of view. With that being said, it doesn’t mean I entirely agree with her. Just because he was in the past, it doesn’t mean he was a mistake.

Why?

Because if I said that he was a mistake, it also suggested that I was making a mistake. That I was a mistake myself. And I refuse to think of me that way. I refuse to think of him that way.

There was a reason why I fell for him in the first place. I saw his very best back then. I saw a quality that he probably didn’t even realize. I saw something in him, and I really liked what I saw. Even when he turned to break my heart, I was still holding on just because I knew that the bright side of him was surely still there; right inside of him. And when I finally gave up, it was not because I gave up my faith on him; it was merely because I realized that his very best just unfortunately not belong to me.

So again, he was not a mistake. He was just a lesson that I can’t always get what I want to have. Just because I can see the very best of him, it doesn’t mean he can also see the very best of me. So there I learn how to have a big heart and get moved on with my life. And that’s that.

What Kind of Traveler Am I?

1 Comment

What kind of traveler am I? Sea girl, city, mountain, or what? I would say; I’m down with everything.

I always love the blue sea, the corals surrounded by colorful fishes, the sounds of the waves and the clear blue sky! The best sea I’ve been? No doubt: Santorini Greece! The best white sandy beach? I’d still say Phi-phi island, Thailand. And the best underwater? Menjangan and Belitung, both in Indonesia. I can barely wait for my upcoming trip to Gili Trawangan next week!

I also love the mountain breeze. The sounds of the river, birds, and the crickets at night! And I’ve never been in any place compares to Ubud, Indonesia. It’s just the best!

Now let’s talk about the cities. The skyscrapers, the exquisite architectural design, and of course, the shopping town! My favorite? Singapore. Tokyo is too crowded, Seoul’s smell is a bit too strong to me, and Hongkong is good, but it’s hard to find decent halal food (not to mention the affordable ones). The next big city I’m planning to explore is Paris. Not only the cities, I’m also planning to live and explore the villages in France too!

Other than the modern vibes of the cities, I’m also enjoying the heartwarming traditional and religious sites. The best one is of course Kabah in Mekah. Being there somehow made me feel like coming home! Umraj is definitely different with any other trip I’ve ever had. The mosques in Turkey are also lovely and I love them too. From other religions, the golden shrine in Kyoto is beautiful and the monasteries in Meteora Greece are mind blowing!

What about the activities? Oh I love doing so many things a trip has to offer.

I can spend all day in an amusement park. I’ll be there before it opens and I’ll only leave after it closes. The best amusement park? Universal Studio, Singapore. Disneysea Tokyo at the second place. I always love every amusement park I’ve ever been though. I’m even a big fan of Dufan Jakarta! Can’t wait for my first visit to Disneyland Paris end of this year!

Next up is shopping. It’s common to me to spend one whole day just to shop from one place to another. From traditional markets (the best one: Ladies Market, Hongkong and Damnoen Saduak, Thailand) to air conditioned shopping malls (my favorite: Platinum Fashion Mall, Thailand), and of course, the outlet for branded items: one in Johor Bahru Malaysia, Gotemba Japan, and Citygate Hongkong. Now I look forward to visiting La Valee Village in France!

Now let’s go to the museums. I’m that kind of person who takes my times in a museum. I enjoy reading every passage in Andrea Hirata museum, Belitung Indonesia, or reading all stories behind the heartbreaking pictures in Saigon war museum. And one more thing: the cutest Teddy Bear museum in Jeju (speaking of Jeju, it reminds me to other museum for adults, hehehehe). I love museum so much I’m planning to buy three days Museum pass in Paris! I’m pretty sure it will be the greatest museum experience ever!

And not to be missed: watching the live show! From traditional show in Greece (the Greek wedding live show!) or Japan (you know, the geisha apprentice show), until ladyboy cabaret show in Phuket. The funniest I’ve watched: Nanta Show, South Korea. The most breathtaking: between The House of Dancing Water in Macau and Phuket FantaSea in Thailand. Coming up next: Moulin Rouge cabaret show in France!

Finally, here’s one activity that I always love to do wherever and whenever I go: taking pictures and having fun with it. At first, I only loved to let someone else taking pictures of me, but lately, I also enjoy taking selfies and many other random pictures with my phone. It’s really the best camera phone ever!

See? There is no short answer to the question I wrote in this blog title! Or if I really have to describe my traveling type in a few words, here is my answer: I am simply a happy traveler 🙂 And by the way, I know that I mentioned France a couple of times in this post, and that’s only because I know that I’m gonna love every day I spend in that country!

I’m still looking for a travel mate by the way. Join me? Hehehehe.