keziamelody

[keziamelody]

coffee shop

a place that gives you a little space to be alone without feeling lonely. a place where you can have a quality time and deep conversation with your loved ones. a place where you can get lots of inspirations and ideas. a place where you can be productive. a place to daydream, chill, contemplate.

and also to have a cup of coffee (of course!) - latte, flat white, mocha *you name it ☕

What's on your mind when you hear the word ‘coffee shop’?

ST. Paul Islington 

[keziamelody]

Just a short self reflection ☺️

Have you ever felt like you are really in the right place? When you doubt nothing about where you are today, when you feel the universe really wants you there. 

I think that is how I feel right now. I can say that this past year is the best time of my life. How can I be so sure about that? I have to admit that when I moved to Newcastle for the first four months, I felt a bit lost, unsure about everything around me, and vulnerable.  

However, 2020 is a blessing for me. Even though there are lots of chaos, problems, and uncertainty, I would not be who I am today without everything that happened this year.

Somehow, this tough year gave me some space to realise all the beautiful things around me—the beauty on every side of the city, and the people in it. I feel that 2020 has brought me closer to the city and to the souls I consider as my family now.

Have you ever heard someone said ‘You're in the right place when it leads you to the best version of yourself?’ or maybe it is just me talking to myself? (lol)

But that is how I feel right now. I feel like my surroundings here played a big role in my personal development, led me to know myself better, showed me new perspectives I had never known before, and helped me embrace the light within me, which I wasn’t aware of before.

Through this wonderful journey, I have learned to be more true and honest to myself—my feelings, desires, and dreams.

Maybe I’m still figuring out what I really want in my life right now, but during my time alone here in London, I really want to contemplate and reflect on myself, and hopefully, I could be a much better person when I’m back to my hometown later.

So, to anyone reading this, when you are not sure where you are today, look closer. Maybe you need to pay more attention to see all the beautiful things around you.

I’m forever grateful <3

pics: Newcastle Upon Tyne <3

[keziamelody]

Things self-quarantine has taught me

I never thought that I could be in this situation. I hated when coronavirus started to spread all over the world, including my home country, Indonesia, and where I am currently living now, England. Who isn’t annoyed, right?

Back in September 2019, I was very excited to study abroad in the UK to pursue my master’s degree. Besides the study, my purpose in studying abroad is also exploring new things as many as I could. I wanted to see new places, new people, new environment, new cultures, new perspectives, and experience new things. Unfortunately, my study period is only about one year. I don’t have much time. Thus, I want to make the most of it. 

I planned many things in my mind, but this procrastination and anxiety of mine impeded my plans. I was too scared to explore in my first semester in England. I made excuses. I always told myself back then: “Kez, I think for now we just need to learn, observe and adapt to your new surroundings. Then, we can explore and travel in the second semester. I bet you will be much ready at that time.”But I was saying that out of fear and anxiety, not because I can’t. As usual, we tend to assume we have plenty of time, and "later" becomes our favorite word.

Yes, indeed, the time is going nowhere. But now? I am the one who can’t go anywhere. I have to stay at home. My classes had finished earlier before it supposed to be. I am not allowed to go to my uni or the library. I am not allowed to hang out with my friends. I am not allowed to explore.

At first, I was mad at this pandemic situation. But after I reflected on myself during my first week of quarantine, I turned out angry with myself. Why I wasted my six months here by not doing things that I wanted to do? Why don’t I value time? 

Day after day passed, and I am writing this in my fourth week of quarantine. During my time alone, I have been thinking about many things related to this situation and trying to find what’s good behind all this because i believe that difficult times will bring goodness. 

Then I came up with these reflections : 

1. Don’t procrastinate. Value your time. 

I learned that procrastination only led me to regret, and nothing good from procrastination. I remember whenever my friends and i talked about places that we were interested in going, we always said : 

“Let’s go there later”

“Let’s go there next week”

“Let’s go there when the time is perfect”

“Let’s talk about that later” 

And in fact, we didn’t go to those places until today, even though the location is reachable, and to be honest; we were not busy at that time. We just too confident that there will always be another time. 

These days, we are not allowed to go anywhere. In the UK, we are only allowed to go for groceries, health treatment, exercise, and go to work for people who can’t work from home. From this, I realised that we should appreciate the time. We should not waste our time by procrastinating the things we want to do. We have to value our time. So, just go for it. 

2. Gratitude in everyday life

Seeing the news about covid-19 cases, families and friends who lost their loved ones because of the virus, people who lost their jobs, people who lost their income, and living in this challenging situation have taught me a lot about gratitude. 

As simple as waking up in the morning and find myself healthy and being able to breathe without any difficulties, make me feel so grateful. I am blessed that I can still catch up with my family and friends via the online platform, I am grateful for my food, I am grateful that I can have my ‘me-time’ during this pandemic. Even now, just going to the grocery store has been a very exciting thing to do! I am grateful that I can still see blue skies and sunset. 

There are many things that we can be grateful for each day, even in this unpleasant moment. But sometimes, when we were in our normal days before the pandemic, we often forgot to be grateful. So, be grateful, friends! This too shall pass.

3. Be kind to our mother nature

We often forget that the earth is also our responsibility, it is our home. We often ignorant and do not take good care of the environment around us, such as throwing our trash in a place we shouldn’t and excessive use of plastic. We have mistreated our nature. 

I noticed that three weeks after we started the self-quarantine, the skies look clearer and brighter. 

Then, I realised, maybe this is what the mother nature needs for now, which are to heal, rest, and to have its ‘me-time’. Be free from humans for a while. 

After this pandemic is over, let’s treat our nature better and be mindful of our actions, which could affect the environment. 

4. Being more considerate of others

We human beings are social beings. We love interacting with others, meeting and hanging out with our friends and family. But this pandemic situation forces us to stay at home and do physical distancing with other people to prevent virus transmission and keep each other safe. Even though it is hard, but still we have to lower our ego to protect other people and our loved ones. From this situation, I learned to be more considerate of people around me and to control  my ego. 

5. Learn something new and improve my skills

Thanks to the internet and digital platforms, I could learn new things and level up my skills through online learning during the quarantine. Since I have plenty of time at home, besides doing my assignments from uni, I can catch up on things that I wanted to learn before. I have been learning some courses from LinkedIn Learning and Skill Academy, which help me so much to keep my brain awake and to develop myself. I also started to learn to cook, which is super exciting!

6. Get to know myself

These days, most of us are not as busy as the days before the pandemic. Therefore, I think it is a good time for us to take a moment to get to know ourselves better. Say thanks to yourself, to your body, and to your mind that has been working hard for you all this time. Let’s self-reflect and evaluate ourselves so that we can be a better version of ourselves in the days ahead. 

Lastly, let’s keep support and cheers each other up. Being not fine about this condition is totally okay, take your time. But then, let’s not lose hope. We are stronger together, and I believe this pandemic will end soon. 

Stay strong, everyone! you all are awesome :)