A lot of social events happened this week and they all revolve around the celebration of Eid and Teacher’s Day.

This year, my kids are giving their teachers a regular cup of instant coffee. I bought these instant drinks from Ninso for RM2.30 each. They taste great and looked decent too. Quite stylish I must say. I just had to stick some stickers on it to make it look presentable. Even the cashier at Ninso was curious about the purchases. I bought at least 30 cups of assorted flavours such as Cappucino, Hot chocolate and Milk Tea. The store was out of Matcha. I even explained the content and my ratings for the drinks to them. They seemed influenced. Ha ha.

My daughter prepared goodie bags for her friends in kindergarten. It has the usual candies, sweets and duit Raya. I somehow feel that the school did not have a lot of main food during the event because there were no pictures. Maybe I should consider prepping for it next year. For my son’s Eid celebration, I am buying chiffon cakes from Tesco and bottled juices.

In the clinic, we also have our very own Eid celebration. It was a great experience for me to know what the process is behind the scenes. It’s tough to initiate and pioneer things. But it is good to know that things will get better in time. The medical officers changed their minds a lot. We settled on sponsoring sate, a photo booth and an ice cream booth for the jamuan.

Indeed, all these social events are draining my social stamina. It is fulfilling as a human being but very stressful as an introvert. I had to take steps to allay my anxiety just so I wouldn’t get too overwhelmed and become demotivated to accomplish my task. There have been instances, many years ago, when I couldn’t be bothered with all the social obligations as a mom and an employee at the workplace. So I try to take heed and be more proactive in subsequent years.

Some of the steps I took to reduce my stress include;

• Prepare early. Teacher’s Day comes every year on the same date. I can actually plan in advance in figuring out what my kids would like to give their teachers. We had the inspiration to get coffee because one of my son’s teachers loved coffee a lot. So I was able to stock up at least a week earlier on a non-pay day week and have that task crossed off my list.
• Choose food or drinks that are easy to prep/share with the kids. something with a long shelf-life or expiry date. Which explains the bottled juices.
• Pen it on paper. I am a paper person. If I don’t jot it down, I find it hard to commit. My son told me he needed some coloured paper for his art project. I just kept a mental note and ended up forgetting about it. So, if you’re a scatterbrain like me, jot it down. It is also a great way to go through the points again and clarify prn.
• Take it one day at a time. Breath. Relax. The teachers are not going to penalize my son if he failed to make a food contribution to the jamuan. It will raise eyebrows but it will be OK.