I've been thinking a lot lately about how to make work-life balance work! 

In these fast-moving, social media-driven times there is too much pressure and noise. We all deserve happiness and health but instead we are often too tired to do much work, and too jaded and exhausted to be interested in anything outside of work. These days I'm often too tired after work to study. I know that seems like an excuse but it’s true. It's terrible. I see lots of people around me that go through life standing at the excuse counter too. 

When I was a child, I thought naively how amazing it would be to do what we want to do after we grew up. But now I’ve found it was only a dream --- the stark reality is all we really do is work to put food on the table.

This is what separates the wealthy from the rest of us common folk. A solid economic base gives one the freedom to do the things one wants to do.

No matter however rich you may be, I don't envy you if you spend all your time working, because you will have no opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labor. That doesn’t seem like living the dream life to me. When faced with a mountain of work, we need to take the time to be mindful and seek to harmonize work and life appropriately.

interpersonal relationships

Anyway, this got me thinking more about the interpersonal relationships in our lives. Whether with colleagues, friends, or family and relatives, all our relationships really require us to invest our time, effort, and sometimes even money to maintain them properly. We should think about the efforts that can be made to deepen the connection with the people in our lives who matter the most.

A Busy Month

There was were many things that needed to be done. We have had to design the plan,  find partners, actores hire actors, make a micro film, decorate the banquet hall, and so on.  So Can you imagine how busy I was during the past month last month?

For this Fair I missed many English lessons.I hope I haven't fall behind other classmates.  I missed many English lessons because of my work on the Fair.  I hope I haven't fallen far behind my fellow classmates in my studies.

The Chinese custom of the "red envelope"

According to Chinese traditional culture, guests should give couples red envelopes containing money as blessings.  Generally speaking,  a wedding is held in a hotel. After arriving in the receiving line to meet with the bride and groom, one should give the red envelope to them and tell them, ''Happy wedding and happiness forever".  In China, red envelopes are given for luck, and the color red traditionally represents happiness and luck. 

Today red envelopes are given as a gift not only for weddings but also festivals and some special days, which differ almost every year.  When I was a child, my parents would reward me with a red envelope as a present after I got a high score in school.  Words can't express how happy I felt at those times, and I still remember them to this day. 

Nowadays with the steady rise of economic development and living standards in China, weddings can also be a financial burden. I don't think anyone can afford to spend as much on red envelope "luck money" as gifts if attending many weddings in a month.   We need to consider how to deal with this issue.  In my opinion, we should set aside a wedding gift budget and not overspend.

Talking about deadlines

One of the simplest ways I use to avoid procrastinating is to just dive right into the task, even if only just to start it. I start with a simple high-level plan, and build more detailed plans as I progress.  It's essential to set both short and long term goals and deadlines. Use the date of when you want to complete your goals to help guide how you are going to do it.

Once you have a plan in place, stick to it, and minimize outside distractions to stay efficient. Reward yourself for accomplishing mini-goals as a good way to keep things moving forward.

Persistence and grit are keys to success. Write down your goals and aspirations, and keep an eye on the deadlines.

[Note: this "correction" was made with certain stylistic choices about verbiage.  It's more of an alternative way of expressing the same thoughts in the composition than a grammatical correction per se.]

bad & good memories

From start to finish during all our time together, I always felt so stupid, and that I did just the most stupid things, but when it comes to love there's no reason to explain... what is important is whether you feel happiness during it.

I just ruined the amazing trip I took by myself... I felt sadness, cried my eyes out, and couldn't sleep at night... but still nothing changed between us...

Nowadays, I use most of my time to think, plan, and reflect... Finally I think I understand... maybe i didn't deserve you, but because of you I'd like to be willing to change.  But now I have to settle myself down, just think about my studies.

Hope we can see each other again...

[Editing note: because this entry is written in the informal way someone might write in a personal blog or diary, I took the liberty of editing with as little changes as possible, including keeping most of the uses of ellipses as punctuation.  The intent was to not to take away from the feelings being expressed.  In some cases, the author's meaning may have been misinterpreted by me, and if so, apologies.]