My 2015 Review

I have been doing this for 3 years now (since 2012!) and I still think it's one of my favourite post to write so far. I get to reflect back to the past year, list my achievements, count my blessings, and get ready for the next year.

Alhamdulillah, this year has been a really great year. I am a very ambitious person, so I do have quite a long list in my new year's resolution. However, not everything gets ticked this year - as usual. And I also add and remove goals as I go.

What I managed to tick off from my 2015 resolutions list:

Moving to our own place
This year we started paying for our own place. The things that get me excited about this are that I finally get to hang something on the wall (because we weren't allowed in our previous apartment) and we now have two bathrooms - which means we don't have to fight over who gets to go in first *grin*!

Launch my blog
I have been blogging on and off. My lack of writing skills and full time job just made it even harder to start again. But I have realised in the recent months that I do need a place to vent and share things. There may not be a lot of readers just yet, but hey, at least I'm trying to start again and hopefully now I can post more regularly because I'm trying to commit to keep this blog alive.

Travel more
Last year I was saving my hard earned salary towards a hajj trip. Every month I would see my salary come into my bank account and disappear in a few days because I needed to pay for the trip. So we didn't have a lot to spare for other things, let alone a small trip, but it was all worthwhile. So this year I put a bullet point in my 2015 goals list to travel more.

At the beginning of this year I finally ticked off something from my bucket list, which is hiking to Mt. Kosciusko summit. And mid August we went for a quick trip for my birthday to Melbourne. Then on October when mum was visiting, we visited Canberra and the beautiful Tulip Top garden.

Not staying back at the office too often
Last year I was definitely guilty of staying back at the office almost everyday. Not because I have to, but because I was waiting for my husband to pick me up. This year, I only stay back 1-2 days a week. But I feel like I didn't get a lot done compared to last year (perhaps because I'm active in several other things outside of my main work), so this year I may have left office on time a little too often :).

Working in a regional team
This year I get to volunteer in the regional engagement team, working with colleagues from around South East Asia and Pacific. I didn't realise that this was in my goals list until I recently discovered another goal list in another book/device.

Getting an award
Simply Excellent is an award that is difficult to earn, but I am very humbled to have received this. It was also a testament that Muslims can do well too (and that not all Muslims are bad!). I'm one of the very few people in my office who wears hijab and I'm proud of it!

Give to charity $x in Ramadhan
We always try to set a goal of how much we donate every year and alhamdulillah we met our goal again this year.

Get L license
For those who don't know, I don't drive in Australia although I have an overseas drivers license and drive perfectly fine in Indonesia. I was about to get my L license in 2012 but because I had just been in Australia for less than 6 months, I can still use my overseas drivers license.

Before this year ends, I just feel the itch to get this ticked off from my bucket list. So, I signed up for the written test a month before the actual test (didn't know that you have to wait for weeks to get a place!), studied the sample questions the night before the test, took the test, and voila now I have an L license!

Apart from the above, I'm also working towards in becoming a better Muslim. I do have ibadah goals listed as well, but indeed it is difficult to make it a habit! My ibadah goals consist of shalat rawatib, qiyamullail, al matsurat, tilawah, and reading Al-Mulk. I guess in order to succeed in this, it comes down to a good progress tracking. I haven't been able to diligently document my ibadah. This is definitely something I need to work on next year!