First off, happy new year! I'm really grateful for the start of a new beginning, for the friends that helped me through 2020 and for everyone I've met along the way.

This blog post might come as a surprise for some and less so for others, because I've been kinda inactive for a while, but I mentioned that I'd be taking a hiatus from AFF sometime last year and I'm back to say that I will no longer be writing.

This decision was not a sudden one, and the reasons for it are many. This is a semi life update from me as well, since I've been radio silent for a while! 

2020 was a tough year. I started it on a personal high - I took the biggest gig I'd ever done, moved overseas alone without any friends. It was set to be an exciting year of personal growth. 

As some of you may know, I'm a dancer (part-time, I'm technically a full time student) and the arrival of Covid-19 really hit hard with the cancellation of live performances, there was a period where I wasn't in a good place because I couldn't even train after I moved back to my country due to Covid restrictions and events were being cancelled left, right and center.

I'm probably rambling but what basically happened was that I  started training at a new studio. This was partially due to Covid, but tbh it was a decision that would've eventually happened - I made the choice because I felt that at where I was previously didn't handle their dancers as I would've liked and they weren't really prepared to change their plans in light of Covid-19 so we wasted months when we could've had online sessions.

With all that was happening in my life, I kinda drifted away from Kpop and I was so tired I no longer felt the same spark when I wrote. When I joined my current studio, I kept going for classes because I felt like I had to catch up for the months missed so I was simply too exhausted to write after long days filled with school and dance.

I really like where I'm at right now and I am pushing myself a lot harder - we've switched to online performances, both live and prerecorded, so my schedule for 2021 isn't looking too empty ^~^ 

Overall I'm just grateful I got to stop and really recharge this year - I didn't realize this, but in hindsight, I was so busy in 2019 that I was pushing myself to dance through fevers and knee injuries because I didn't want to be seen as lazy and I was in an environment that pushed us to do that. My knee actually got quite a bit better during the long break I took in 2020, which I'm really happy about.

All this really affected my emotional health, which was why I took a break from AFF! As to why I'm stopping now, I guess the short answer is - I'm simply too busy. 2020 has made me realize that life is short and that I want to aim towards my goals while I can. The new studio I'm at gives us more opportunities, but I put in more hours as well, on top of school. 

Also, I feel like I've lost the spark, the inspiration and basically the touch that I feel makes my work stand out. I may someday post my works here again, and I'm currently experimenting with penning my own original fiction - I'm leaning heavily towards historical, based off my own culture and traditions. 

I guess this is my (beautiful) goodbye, so to friends and readers: I've made so many wonderful memories with y'all on this site, and I'm sincerely grateful for each and every one of you, you've helped me clear personal milestones and gain confidence in my writing, and I'll always remember this place! Your sweet comments really cheered me up at the end of a long, exhausting day and I'm glad that my stories have brought you some joy, and maybe helped you through a tiring day too.

To all of my cherished readers - 2020's seen some tough times, but as in the lyrics of Been Through, this will pass, and the light will shine brightly on us again. 

So, I'll end this with a fitting quote our leader Suho uses all the time, the title of his solo song - 사랑하자。

Love,

Glimmer