On January 2nd, SFYAD members gathered online on Zoom to celebrate the New Year of 2021. Dozens of SFYAD members and friends gathered. They played some fun games, talked about their new year goals, and reflected their silver lining in 2020.
The party started with icebreakers where participants were asked fun and profound questions like "Would you rather give up social media or not watch movies?" or "Would you rather be able to teleport or see the future?" Those questions were engineered by members hoping to inspire participants to think deeply and bring amusement to the crowds. Participants then explained their reasoning behind their choice, and some answers were quite in-depth and philosophical.
After rounds of deep thinking, the group did a virtual gift exchange where participants exchanged an intangible and priceless gift. They were asked to think of an idea for a good deed that fell into one of the three categories: Three Acts of Goodness, Four Givings, and an act of environmental friendliness. With that idea recorded in the online gift exchange system, participants did rounds of swapping and opening gifts - just like the traditional gift exchange. Participants thought of ideas such as calling a friend you haven't seen for years, meditating in the morning, buying an E-book, or practice empathetic listening. Each participant was happy to take away with such a priceless gift. But there is more to that - each participant was asked to execute the idea and turn it into action. By the end of January, those executed actions will be recorded and posted on SFYAD’s social media for everyone’s admiration.
(if you’re interested in watching the actions of the idea, please follow SFYAD’s Facebook page below.)
After rounds of laughter, Benson Kwek (SFYAD committee) led everyone through a mind-calming reflection session. In the session, participants shared about their silver lining in 2020 and their new goals in 2021. Some shared their achievement at work in 2020 and some shared their traveling plan in 2021. Everyone was calm to listen and learn about others' goals and silver lining. In the end, the party closed with a prayer.
Overall this event was a fun way to celebrate the new year while discussing each's own values and making new years resolutions. By exchanging ideas for good deeds, we gave our self constructive, achievable goals, and kicked off our new year in a positive light.
