[Live list] Here is a laundry list of the things I've realised about myself as I turn 28 this year:

• I was selectively smart i.e. acquire the innate ability to absorb things quickly. On topics I have zero interests, they bore me to death but to get great results, I had no choice but to work hard
• I did not work hard in my undergraduate years, because I was ungrateful and I did find macroeconomics theory a chore
• I was forced multiple times by my mum to take up finance, which I absolutely hate. The pressure was there until I forced myself to take up CFA. It took me a very long time to convince her that finance has never been my thing.
• I am enduring my current department because I knew how it was like to be in an absolutely boring, lifeless job. I knew how it was like to also be in a fancy, prestigious job, yet have no interest in the core work. This time around, it takes an arduously long time to get promoted, but I am working with the smartest people I've met. I feel small here, even worse, there are undeserving people who managed to infiltrate this system, but still find joy with the work I do. 
• I realised I do like Economics, and I regret not studying hard in my undergraduate years, 
• Being able to storytell has yet been my forte because I am a big yapper. 
• I don't have enough bargaining power because I am not smart, if we're talking about my department's standards
• The real reason why I stay on in this job is because I know I haven't fully learnt all that I need to from this job, and that perhaps there is more that I can do, I haven't utilised my own capacity yet.
• My strength will forever be swimming.
• If only the world cares less about pacing, running would have been less daunting
• My body, despite of what people, or myself, say about its weight, can do a lot more than it thinks.
• God probably thinks it takes someone like my mum to break my delusion, hence I am no longer a lovergirl.
• the only thing stopping me from getting a hot bod is my food intake (and controlling my addiction to matcha, chocolate and thai tea)