A year that was

Por Thomas Feng

31 de January de 2016

2015: big year, big ambitions

Write your story here. (Optional)

2015 was a big year filled with big ambitions. It was my final year of achieving big goals like securing full-time work; it was my final year of being a teenager, my final year of university, my final year of volunteering at Oaktree (for a while), my final year chess coaching, my final year of student freedom; and it was the first year that I began enjoying to wear t-shirts that were unrelated to the latest concert attended.

It was a year that I added grandma to my chic and a year where I put myself out there emotionally for the first time in three years. I was constantly vulnerable and this was not helped by the fact that I critically questioned myself at a greater scale: becoming a vegetarian (now vegan), questioning the hetero-normative gender binary, strengthening my passion on racial inequality and more generally social inequality overall.

I became closer to my parents despite being further away more of the time and I felt like for the first time in a while they accepted that I was pursuing my own path away from what they originally had in mind for me a few years ago. I was happy to see them relax more often and travel to compensate for decades of hard work and sacrifice for my brother and I.

And now it’s already the end of January 2016. I’ve moved out to a new cosy place in North Melbourne, I’ve been dating an amazing human being and I start full-time work tomorrow. On paper, it sounds like I’m supposed to be a responsible adult now. Honestly right now I feel like I’m still six years old swinging along the school monkey bars, making silly decisions and not ever taking myself too seriously.

I am enjoying a life that doesn’t require me to travel hours on public transport each day. I love how I can buy fresh local produce at a reasonable price at the markets; I love how much closer I am to my friends and the places we love to hang out. Where 2015 was big, 2016 will be quaint and I can’t wait to do the little things I neglected these past few years; wonderful things which will make me jump back on the monkey bars yet again.