2010 Happenings

The year of 2010 is coming to its end. The journey of this year varies for each and everyone of us. Some people may end this year with grateful hearts and being thankful for the happenings. But some of us may end this year with weariness and anxiety (they keep on adding the negative thoughts for next year!)

For me personally, this year has been a collection of so many valuable lessons. My study, career, family, faith and many more. I would like to share some of my experiences – while counting down to Christmas Day and New Year’s eve.

This year is a year where I revealed one of many life calling for me, I befriended with many gay and lesbian people (mostly gay). It was started on 2004 when I met the first gay and lesbian best friends of mine. But after that year, I didn’t get in touch with new gay/lesbian friends, until this year. One gay friend called me as ‘gay magnet’ because gay people are easily open up themselves to me. I heard so many stories about their lives. Being locked in a bathroom for days, being kicked from the house, should eat from different plate (while having family gathering), injected with testosterone by force, or being threatened to have sex with a stranger as a way to save himself (or else, his family will know about his orientation).

During this year, I also found out that I was close personally with 2 gay men. Sometimes, I feel stupid and cheated, because they didn’t let me know since the beginning. The first guy is now becoming my best friend, after he came out to me. The second guy was very ignorant. He asked me out and we had a number of dates. Even though strangely I could sense that he’s a gay since the very first time we met, I still gave him chances. That could be said as time-wasting incidents, but I’m trying to look at the positive side. To be honest, I’m still having argument within me. I’d love to help and defend them as who they are, but I’m tired of being cheated by them, personally. Oh well, I think I should differ between my personal life and professional life, as a psychologist.

During this year, I also learned a lot as a professional. I was supervised by Josephine Ratna M. Psych during the process of my thesis. I did case study and wrote a report on the effectiveness of CBT on psychotic individuals. The process was a valuable life lesson, because I could learn a lot from my clients – how delusional belief was truly a way to satisfy their deepest needs. I also learned that our thoughts or brain is a magnificent system! It is way beyond words, it’s just great – the way it works, connects, re-connects and disconnects among their components.

Beside professional life, I also revealed the deeper side of my faith. The journey of my life as a Catholic person is renewed this year. I learned more about Catholic saints, I read books on devotional works (such as: Come be My Light – Mother Teresa) and retreat to the old way of doing the Rosary and Litany. It is absolutely a new journey and will be a long way … I’m excited!

My family …
Well, it is also a moment for my family to welcome a new life. We now are ‘forcing’ each other to go for Sunday mass together. It may seems small and not too meaningful, but it is actually big for us. We’ve been going for mass separately, according to our own preferences and schedules. But now, we’re going together as a family every Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Anyway … This is all for now. I know that my happenings were not as festive as Julian Assange or Mark Zuckerberg, but I value every one of them as something big and meaningful for me.

Share your 2010 happenings with me!

Writing is my way to share it to you.