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January 2019 is almost over.

How’s your 2019 so far?

Mine? Crazier than crazy if that term ever exist! But it’s how I wanted it to be.

I want to feel that I have a total control over my life.

Last year, I have read the most number of books I ever had in my entire life.

I am also finally able to launch my website even if at first, I wasn’t sure why I wanted to have it.

Then as I go and read more, I found out that it’s my passion. Therefore, it is my calling.

This is something I can trade my precious sleep to.

This is something I can definitely do for free.

I think I was a blogger in my past life if WordPress has even existed there. 

After I have finished my Masters, I started feeling my exhaustion up to my bone marrows so I declared not going back to the corporate world just yet and decided to do something for myself.

This gave birth to my baby, www.thisvillagegirl.com.

I have never stayed at home for such a long time nor looked forward to coming home to learn what HTML is no matter how bad I am with technology.

Now I know what having an infant at home feels like. I never looked forward to working on something like this before.

This year, I decided to go all out. Am I not scared? Of what? Of learning something new? Of going out of my comfort zone? Of working under my own terms? Guess what! NOPE!

I’ll tell you how all my fears dissolved.

I’ve read all these books and I strongly suggest that you also try adding them to your reading list.

These will definitely help you confront your fears and live your dreams, (you can also try the ten books that dramatically changed my life.) All I know is that they made 2018 the year I have started to live the life I have daydreamed of having since I was nine years old and I can’t wait for the best days to come.

Big Magic

I needed to digest this line a bit longer. I remember staring at it after reading it. Now I know why I have always been pushing my self-destruct button. I know now why I have always sabotaged my own happiness, everything that I have worked hard for before, it is because I am not doing what I have been designed to be doing. I am not doing what I have been passionate about. I have failed to feed my burning curiosity. I walked away from everything failing that I have to understand myself and make a stand for what I want. I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to be different. I always tried to fit myself to a place where society or majority wins. I was so scared to follow my inner GPS. My wanting to please everyone around me (e.g. my family) made me forget that I only have one life which I am allowed to design. Elizabeth Gilbert didn’t only introduce me to a beautiful world of Eat Pray Love. She also made me fully embrace my creative side and understand that patience is another important lesson that I will learn.

Universe Has Your Back

This book felt like an expanded version of Paulo Coelho’s “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” in The Alchemist. I have been eyeing this book for such a long time and when I finally finished it, it didn’t disappoint. I felt warmth when I was reading it that I found myself crying in a very good way. Gabrielle Bernstein’s powerful words felt like a big bear hug that glued my broken pieces together. This is actually one of those books that I needed to put down just so I can digest each and every word of it. Her words are so reassuring that it almost felt natural to trust the Universe and never again question the bigger purpose why I exist and why I want certain things. This is one of those books that required taking time to chew each word like chocolate that is slowly melting inside my mouth. I had to close my eyes and enjoy the sweetness and the sugar rush comes after. I got so giddy and hyper to jump out of bed every morning to write and work on my blog. It didn’t even feel like reading. It felt like Gabrielle was physically there giving me a guided meditation and life coaching. I didn’t want to finish reading this book but I felt the surge of inspiration to go and actually start applying what I have taken away from it.

Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously

For a second after reading Osho’s words, I believed I am invincible. I never dared touching his books before for the fear that I will never understand them. It looked like one of our intimidating terror University professor or even the uptight librarian that never thought twice about sending me out of the room the moment I didn’t behave like how she wanted me to. The moment I started, I couldn’t put it down. It was as addicting as drugs that it felt like I have to sniff all his words to get that high feeling of calmness and bliss. I can’t wait to read all of his other books. The mere fact that he didn’t really write his books left me speechless for a moment.  His words made me want to prove that indeed fear is the biggest liar.

You Are a Badass

I loved how Jen Sincero ended each chapter telling me to love myself. None of the writers I have came across has written it the same amount she did and I felt ashamed for that one second that I have forgotten it. From not giving a f*ck with what others will say, to manifesting the amount of money I want to earn to almost everything that I want to be in my life, she has it covered in this book and that the last thing I need to be worried about is what others will think of me. The same with launching my website. I was so scared that it didn’t look so good, or how shitty its content will be or that I didn’t know so much about how to set it up. I just decided to launch it and let it contain what I want it to. It’s mine. Naysayers can say what they want. This book convinced me that I am a Badass and I got this.

So if you want the remaining days of your 2018 to be better and more awesome, I strongly suggest to add these books to your 2018 reading list. If these books will not help your perspective to shift and your life to start to change, stay tuned for my next reading list suggestion and you can take your pick from there and yes, they’re also perfect Christmas presents for your loved ones.

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This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will receive a small commission. This is at no cost to you but helps me to provide awesome content regularly. Thanks for your support!