When I was much younger, I love Chinese New Year. New clothes, food, soft drinks, red packets, which kid does not like these? It was only during wedding dinners and Chinese New Year that I was allowed to drink soft drinks, and soft drinks served at that time were usually F&N Orange. This is why I still have a soft spot for this drink.
As I grow older, I begin to dread Chinese New Year. After the food, the soft drinks and the red packets, there wasn’t really much for me to do at my relatives place. My father would spend the entire day playing the customary mahjong, while the rest of us will be bored stiff. We usually end up watching TV. And we always stay till late at night, sometimes reaching home only after 3am. I will usually end up sleeping in my cousin room’s floor. I was tired, smelly and bored.
And to add on to all these, my relatives have a tendency to throw tantrums, even to their own brothers and sisters. People will come late, and when they arrived, their face was as black as charcoal. People will quarrel with each other, yes, on Chinese New Year. There was hardly any laughter, nor joy.
As I grew older, I was allowed some freedom. I was allowed to join my friends at the movies, or some fast food outlet after staying at my relatives place for a while. I remember I can’t wait to leave the place.
So when I stopped contact with my relatives (another story for another time), Chinese New Year became much better. Sure, there was hardly any visiting, nor any red packets, but I get to spend it with people I love, my family which really mean a lot to me, and people I really care about. The laugher, the joy that are associated with the Chinese New Year, were all coming back to me.
I think once you start to remove all the negative and toxic people from your life, then you will start to feel lighter, happier and living the life that it was meant to be.
Happy Chinese New Year everyone, and may you have no more negative and toxic people in your life.
