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been obsessed with my camera roll lately

mindfulness

🖤

you'll find me either sleeping or plotting a surprise party for my people

simplicity goes all the way

be ________________________________________________________ i realized that i have a deep fondness for trees more than that, a quiet respect . trees spend their entire lives doing just one thing: being what they are. they never question their purpose. they don’t hurry, compete, or measure their worth. they grow when it’s time, let go when the season asks, and return to life when it allows tree offer shade, air, and silence, and ask for nothing in return. they never pause to wonder if they’re enough i think that’s what makes them so cool . human, on the other hand, are different. we move through life entangled in layers of expectation, fear, desire, and responsibility. we're constantly negotiating with ourselves: who we should become, what we are meant to do, why we exist. we tire ourselves out searching for meaning while trees quietly embody it . i ended the year in ô quy hồ, sapa - where fog swallowed the forest whole, and old trees appeared and disappeared like quiet witnesses standing there, among those towering roots and ancient trunks, i felt something in me soften. the vastness was almost frightening. it made my body shiver, my ego bow down without resistance. for the first time, i felt undeniably small the forest didn’t demand understanding. it simply existed. and in that stillness, every thought in my head came to a halt. i wasn’t searching anymore. i was listening to the slow, relentless pulse of life flowing deep within me, the same current that once ran through my ancestors, through the soil, through these trees maybe the end of a year doesn’t need conclusions. maybe it only asks me to stand still long enough to remember that i belong to the earth, to something much larger than my questions something so obvious, like sunlight. yet somehow, i had forgotten. i once expected the final lesson of the year to be something breathtaking. but it turned out to be such simple so simple that it made me stop for a long long time, just to ask myself how far i had lost . december didn’t give me conclusions. it gave me trees, fog, and silence. and somehow, that was enough ________________________________________________________ last lesson: just be

nested, needed. november ________________________________________________________ my mom was once a little girl . 15 years ago, back to the days when my parents were still together. our home was rarely filled with laughter. at 9, i remembered learning certain rules by heart: behave well so my father could work in peace, study hard so my mother wouldn’t scold me, and whenever my brother and i heard raised voices, it was time for us to quietly slip into our rooms and stay silent i was never allowed to ask why my mother cried alone so often, or why my father’s business trips always felt endless. so many questions were left unanswered. they stayed buried inside me for nearly a decade, until this november . it was a gentle afternoon near the end of nov at my mom's place. we talked about her youth my parents’ marriage was a rush. mom told me she had never regretted anything more than that decision. she was 23, with no real idea of what she wanted. she showed me photos from every stage of her life. for the first time in more than 20 years, she answered all my questions dusty diaries, old tapes, some photos. behind each one were dates, times, and short handwritten notes. she once dreamed of a happy family. i believe that . ba vì country roads, some trees, gentle nights . ever since my dad built this place, i often come back here to heal. after many relationships, he finally seems settled (at least, that’s how it looks) he laughs more now. seeing him with the woman he chose makes me feel whole. he still checks in on mom, too. and once he knows she's still fine, he just simply smiles, and gazes into stillness humans are so strange. we all long to be loved, but so afraid of it . i, for the first time in a long while, allowed myself to open my heart again ready for love. after the talks with my parents, i felt complete. parts of me slowly came together. only then did i understand how deeply our roots shape us and only then did i find all the answers i had ever needed _______________________________________________________ 11th lesson: time never delays, it's the teacher. some answers wait until we're gentle enough to receive

auld lang syne ________________________________________________________ what is friendship to you? - that's the question i'm asked the most the answer changes with age. people say 2025 is the year of thanh lọc, and i believe that. more than that, i believe thanh lọc is always happening, not just this year . october forced me to face a truth i never wanted to accept: friends do leave, sooner or later. i wasn’t surprised by the fact itself, but by how hard it was to face it directly friendship was once my entire world. it was where i ran whenever home felt suffocated. growing up in an unhappy family, friends were the ones who made me felt loved and understood but this month, i began to see my friends change (not in ways that felt like betrayal, but painfully human): some moved away to build their lives. some grew calmer, more practical. some turned their backs the moment my worth in their eyes diminished. i let go of a few relationships i once believed would stay forever, simply because i could no longer hold onto what kept draining me letting go hurt. accepting that hurt even more at some point, we cannot rely on anyone else to survive. that is where adulthood truly begins . the version of me today was not created by me alone, but pieced together from meetings and goodbyes i've always told my friends that we’re really like ships in the sea. we don’t know where we’re going, but for a while, we sail side by side. at some point, some will find the shore. others will keep drifting. whatever the ending, i forever hold on to the sky full of stars, the endless night, the conversations, the secrets we shared we were there together once, and that was the best part . to old friends: even if we no longer walk the same path, or we by chance hurt each other along the way, i'm still grateful for all the beautiful things we once cherished. without you, i wouldn’t have become who i am today may the memories we shared remain like a lingering melody, echoing softly through chapters of our youth ________________________________________________________ 10th lesson: old accquaintance should not be forgot. growing up is learning how to love, without holding on

the observer ________________________________________________________ i have two states: 0 and 100. that's how my energy usually works there are days when i can work endlessly, my mind open and spacious, always leaving room for creativity. but there are also days when i just lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling, doing nothing at all. they take turns living inside me you will never see me operate at 50 out of 100 (maybe because once i commit, i go all the way) . it was a two-week stretch in mid-sept when my emotions were overloaded. news about flooding in vietnam and wars around the world were all over my social platforms. my daily rhythm then collapsed. too much low, heavy energy seeped in from my environment. eventually, i slipped into complete exhaustion after an active and joyful august, september sank into sadness and dullness at first, i didn't understand why the negativity and old lessons resurfaced again. i did nothing. it felt like waking up one random day to an empty mind, only to watch dark thoughts, anxiety slowly collide. it scared me, tbh then, it took me about a week to realize that was my system recalibrating itself (a way for my body and mind to bring my energy back to a stable state). not too high, not too low. like choosing a flat road over a roller coaster once i understood, i felt so much calmer and lighter. those days felt like nightmares, but they taught me a lot. i, then, trained myself to become an observer, not a participant. a person who separates from his thoughts and watches the mind move back and forth between the two states, without being pulled into it worked perfectly. i could observe and take control of every thought, even the smallest . there were some small joys this month, too. i reconnected with khuê after 5 years apart, and i found myself unexpectedly emotional over the a80 event i celebrated a80 at my mother’s house. the moment of her jumping like a child when military aircraft crossed the sky is something very special something i know i'll carry with me for the rest of my youth _______________________________________________________ 9th lesson: you don’t have to fight the mind. you only need to observe it

the weight of worth ________________________________________________________ a good name is more desirable than great riches - proverbs 22:1 . august was about work. and weight i spent the entire month trying to balance three things at once: selling mooncakes, modeling, and working on a one–week trip that was half travel, half work it was the busiest month i sold a product through my own name. and for the first time in my life, i was paid to travel. i was also booked as a model (a surprise). even though it was just a small project, still a genuinely fun experience selling mooncakes taught me something very real about trust. credibility isn’t abstract, it lives in details. everything has to be double–checked. sometimes, my own carelessness or misplaced trust in a partner ended up affecting my customers. mistakes can happen. but when they come from negligence, they’re unacceptable. that lesson landed heavily on the other hand, the work–trip was beautiful. for such a long time, i again experienced what it felt like to do something i genuinely loved and be paid for. beyond the work itself, it was the people i traveled with who became memories in their own right. we laughed, stressed, and carried each other. what remained was more than money: new connections, new experiences, and countless moments i'll keep there was also a big surprise from my client. the one i know for sure i'll be grateful for for the rest of my life another side of august was numbers. too many zeros in my account. endless calculations and information processing. my mind never really stopped. so i went back to journaling (nothing complicated, just writing down the highlights of each day). it helped more than i expected. it organized my thoughts and let emotions leave without resistance . credibility, gratitude, and sincerity were three qualities that carried the month when i look back. because of them, work flowed with ease august became one of those months for its weight. not the weight of work, but the weight of remaining a credible person, no matter what ________________________________________________________ 8th lesson: work done with heart is always work done well