Quiet Little Transformations That Shaped Me in 2019

I recently saw an article that said:

“I feel like every day is pretty much the same now… but to say there’s absolutely no change wouldn’t be true…”

My belly grew bigger, I learned how to eat shrimp properly, I gave up trying most 19th-century novels, I cried more easily while watching movies… I became less prone to fantasy and gained more peace.

The changes he listed reminded me of how I once described my situation after graduation:

“I feel like I’m still the same person, but something seems different.”

Although it sounds like a truism, I wonder if you feel the same way. Subtle changes are happening to us.

If you also feel that life is too mundane, perhaps these subtle changes can become a reason for you to remember 2019.

We often send out updates in the middle of the night, and listening to everyone’s emotional changes has become a regular occurrence for us.

But some changes, when seen, bring a smile to our faces.

Sometimes, when people in the editorial department are arguing with their boyfriends or girlfriends, watching it makes me want to apologize.

@welch

I will reply to every message from my parents carefully now.

When I was working in Guangdong, I always felt that Guangxi wasn’t far away and I could see them anytime. But after I came to work in Beijing, I truly realized that leaving them meant a departure that was difficult to see again.

In the past, when my family had a group chat with three people, they would ask me what I was doing, and I would usually just reply with “busy” and then not reply.

But ever since I’ve experienced this true sense of distance, I’ve started to respond to what I’m doing seriously. Even when they send me some overused, funny videos, I’ll watch them and reply with “Hahahahahahahaha.”

I interact with my parents much more than before, and I feel that our relationship has improved a lot.

@ Pineapple

This year I fell for a new guy. When the first snow fell, I bought a bunch of dried buckwheat flowers and, imitating a scene from the drama “Goblin,” confessed my feelings to him.

In the end, that boy became my boyfriend, but the act of “taking the initiative to confess” was just as meaningful to me as starting a relationship.

Compared to my past self, I actually had a crush on a boy for two years, and finally gave up when I saw him constantly dating new girlfriends and my fantasy was shattered.

In 2019, I finally started to take the initiative in a relationship.

@ all

I dared to cry in front of my boyfriend when we were together.

Whether it’s during my internship or at work, many people have told me: ” You seem very calm, and I feel very at ease when you’re around.”

But the last time I saw my boyfriend, the thought of us breaking up made me cry without saying a word. When he saw me, he clung to me and tried to comfort me over and over again. But I still didn’t stop crying.

He started wailing and talking nonsense: “You’re ignoring me,” “You don’t care about me,” “You don’t want me anymore.” My attention was diverted, and after my tears stopped, he said, “I have a tip for calming kids: if you cry louder than them, you’ll scare them into stopping. “

It turns out that I can be a child in front of him. I guess people who dare to cry know that there’s someone willing to comfort them all the time.

In this year’s late-night messages, besides expressing their feelings, there has been a noticeable increase in people telling us “I can’t sleep.”

For many people, at a certain stage, falling asleep becomes a difficult task.

But there are always more solutions than problems.

Some people have found the right methods when it comes to sleep.

@ momo

I’ve found a way to make myself more comfortable falling asleep.

I suffered from insomnia for a while because of “job anxiety”. During the day, I would attend job fairs and feel anxious and uneasy. At night, I would close my eyes and lie there until one, two, three o’clock, feeling anxious and irritable. I tried ASMR and counting sheep, but I still couldn’t fall asleep.

One night, I sprayed my favorite coconut-scented perfume on my pillow before bed, and that night, I had the most comfortable sleep I’d had in months.

From then on, spraying a little of my favorite scent before bed became my sleep habit. After a few weeks of good sleep, my insomnia also disappeared.

@Whale

I’ve learned to sleep in airplane mode, refusing to be controlled at all times.

My job involves project coordination, which means I receive no fewer than 20 calls a day. October has many holidays, and the calls from my boss, clients, and spam texts wake me up twice almost every night.

Since then, I’ve always turned on airplane mode before bed. But I make sure to reply to all my messages before sleeping and check and process them as soon as I wake up. This way, I can handle my work efficiently while also ensuring my sleep quality.

At first, my boss was annoyed that he couldn’t reach me in the middle of the night, but later he realized it didn’t affect work, so he let it go. My life was completely improved by such a small thing.

I remember when I first moved into my current house, I was so used to sleeping in a different bed that I had to rely on a steam eye mask to fall asleep for a while.

It’s been six months now, and I no longer feel like a stranger to the house, but I can’t remember which day it suddenly became familiar with me.

Often, change happens silently, just waiting for you to suddenly notice it.

@ Jess

When I’ve been complimented on my eyebrows for what feels like the umpteenth time this year, I finally realize that I’m getting better and better at it.

The first cosmetic I ever received was an eyebrow pencil, and this year marks my third year of learning how to draw eyebrows. Every morning, it only takes me three minutes to draw arched, upward-sloping eyebrows.

Drawing eyebrows that people will compliment has become a skill that has given me a little more confidence this year.

@ Fri

My savings have finally reached their first five-figure sum.

From childhood, I always thought a five-figure sum was a huge amount, something that would take a long time to accumulate. But in my third month of work, the money in my savings account suddenly became a five-figure sum.

It was around that time that I realized a five-figure bank account wasn’t anything special; a colleague’s computer cost five figures. The only change it brought me was that I no longer had to agonize over the decision when going downstairs to buy Häagen-Dazs. What solidified my resolve was that I wanted to save even more five figures in the future.

@Ah Xian

I forgot the birthday of someone I’ve liked for a long time.

One day, while scrolling through my WeChat Moments, I came across a birthday post from someone I’d liked for four years, and that’s when I realized it was his birthday.

I never intended to remember this date, but from the first time I heard it, it was etched into my mind. For six whole years, every year on that day, I would suddenly wake up, struggling with whether or not to wish him a happy birthday, or what time would be more natural to say it.

But this year, I didn’t remember at all. It wasn’t until I realized I’d forgotten the date that I suddenly realized this part of the past was over. It seems I’ve finally stopped considering him any important person in my life.

If the changes in the people mentioned above happened without them even realizing it.

The two people below, on the other hand, actively brought about this change after trying it out.

@ LaiKe

An electronic scale appeared in my kitchen this year.

After we started dating, I didn’t want our breakfasts to be unhealthy, so I started making my own soy milk at home every morning.

I bought a scale that’s accurate to 0.1 grams, and while reading the recipe, I kept repeating: “50 grams of soybeans, 800 grams of water.” To make the soy milk thicker, I specifically used the scale to measure out 49.9 grams of soybeans and 700 grams of water. In the end, I successfully made fragrant steamed soy milk, which was truly delicious and made me happy.

@ Bruru

This year I’ve fallen in love with the feeling of hugging.

I used to wonder if my four hands would fight each other when we hugged, because I didn’t know where to put them, so I usually just linked arms with my friends. Later, I met a friend who would give me a big hug every time we said goodbye.

Gradually, hugging became my favorite way to express affection to my friends. I feel that hugging really gives others and myself a lot of strength, like recharging and wiping away the fatigue of the day.

at last.

In this year’s fall Japanese drama “My Story Is Long,” the protagonist said, “Time can certainly help solve some problems, but if you don’t make changes, many problems will remain unchanged.”

I used to be someone who hoped that time would change everything.

Even if you get tired of the seaweed-flavored sandwiches from the school convenience store, you won’t change them because you’re worried that “other flavors might not taste good,” and you might even start to look forward to the day when the convenience store stops serving sandwiches.

It can be said that the more we fear change, the more difficult it becomes to take the initiative to make changes.

When I talked to these people about the changes in 2019, I found that even the slightest changes were enough to make life feel a little different.

We always complain that life is mundane and uneventful, but perhaps we need to throw a small stone into it to create those waves?

2019 is coming to an end. I hope that these subtle changes I’ve recorded will remind you of the better parts of yourself you’ve become this year.

After all, we need such records every year to remind ourselves that this year wasn’t so bad, and that the days to come are worth looking forward to.