MOAA: A Student's Happiness

MOAA is the acronym for the title of the blog I wanted to maintain at the time. I'll tell y'all what it stands for when I feel like it :P I wrote this particular entry during a rare sweet spot in my schooling life. Looking back, it's nice that I captured how I felt then. Goodness knows for better and for worse, I don't feel the same way now :)

If you're a student, you might have just scoffed at the title. Ha! What happiness... You think to yourself. But hey, coming from a Singaporean student myself, to feel happy about your current life is not impossible.

Yeah sure, with tests, grades assignments and never-ending examinations, life as a student (especially in Singapore) seems to be nothing but dreary. The apparent purpose of your existence is simply to study and get good grades. Oh and the stress is on, especially if you're in one of the branded schools of Singapore (you know what I mean) you are constantly being pushed to do better than everyone else.

Well, as much as I would like to, I can't change any of the above facts of life. Yes, the main purpose of your life now is to study. Yes, you should be stressing about getting good grades. But that's not all to your life. You may spend an average of one third of your day in school (two thirds, if it's a CCA day) doing mundane things but you still have time to do the things you like. In fact, some things don't take much time at all.

For me, I go to school with lightly painted nails and a bottle of green tea scented hand cream. How random... You might say, but let me explain. I think looking at my painted nails makes me happy, they give me a reason to influence my mindset that my school life does not dominate my personal life. If you can't risk getting caught (I'm in a higher grade now so the teachers aren't as strict as before), you can try using a crazy colorful hairband once in a while so that you can admire your hair every time you look in a mirror. In fact, go ahead and put on some light makeup if it makes you feel happy. This would certainly spice up the whole school experience. My hand cream serves a similar purpose, simply because I feel good when I smell good, and the scent perks me up when I'm falling asleep during lectures (which happens quite often...).

As a result of a few unforeseen circumstances (a story for another time), I ended up with two really slack CCAs this year in school, compared to the previous years. This resulted in me being able to go home straight after school almost every day (yes I'm really lucky). You might wonder, what do I do with all this extra time? The hardworking ones would say study! The lazy ones would say sleep! But majority of you out there will probably say go watch YouTube videos or drama serials! I'm glad to say I'm all three with a little extra... When I get home, I usually finish up my homework, scan through the next topic's notes, so, one to two hours is the average amount of time I spend on school work at home. Of course, this depends on the amount of work I have.

But this is my ideal plan, and it almost never ends up the way I want it. I usually end up dozing off when I'm doing work, only waking up when it's time for dinner (sounds more realistic right?). But at least I have a plan. Even though it always gets extended, I still finish what I wanted to in the first place. Thereafter I can spend the rest of my night watching TV or YouTube videos or other more interesting activities. Not bad for an average day in a Singaporean student's life right? On top of that, I am a firm believer of the fact that exercise makes one happy (endorphin and dopamine are released in your brain) so I make it a point to go to the gym at least once a week for about an hour or so. This is easier if you have a gym in the vicinity but otherwise, just download a home workout app (plenty to choose from). I admit I don't really enjoy the process of working out but I think the satisfaction and results that come after are totally worth the effort.

After all that, if you still feel like you're leading a very depressing life, your priority is to find the cause of depression. Is it that close but distant friend who's always saying things that unintentionally put you down? Is it that you are constantly struggling to keep up with your class academically or otherwise? Are you subconsciously hating something you are compelled to do very often? Confront your problems head on. There's no use letting a burden drag you down to the point of no return. Pluck up some courage and face the difficulty, confide in a friend you want to, for the moral support.

Confession: I actually used to think I was a naturally 'not that happy' person. I would just observe other people around me laugh at ridiculous things, having fun and being silly while the only reaction I had in my head was "Oh okay..." And I never thought anything of it. I used to feel that the only source of joy in my average day was TV and YouTube videos. I never did anything to change my situation. I lived like this for two whole years until I promoted to my current grade. It was only then that I realised how subconsciously unhappy I was in my previous environment. With a new environment and new people surrounding me, I felt so much lighter. As if a weight that had accumulated for two years was forcefully but finally lifted. I never had anyone to tell me how to be happier. All people said were "Smile more!" or "Have a positive attitude!" which in all honesty doesn't really help. You need a reason to smile. Having a positive attitude all the time is very difficult for a naturally pessimistic person (like me). You need to turn an opinion into an option. Stop thinking about what you want to achieve and start taking actions actually achieve it.

So here I am, proudly answering anyone who asks, I feel much happier now than I was for the past few years. And it was because of these few decisions that I made, and some that I wasn't really in favour of. You never know when something might just be a blessing in disguise. Just remember to start small and do more of what makes you happy. (Yup, I just summarized the whole passage into these two points)

Cover image from here, by artist Mmulligan828.