Today, we are in April. We had Chinese New Year, Ramadan and Hari Raya. In the middle of all these festivities, we have a war in the middle east. Started by Israel, joined by US against Iran. Israel is also wrecking havoc in Lebanon but that's old news.
The attack on Iran has resulted in the closing of the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow waterway near Iran, As a result of that closure, the whole world is experiencing energy crisis. let me repeat that again, THE WHOLE WORLD!
I have been feeling rather overwhelm. Firstly, I am wondering if I am financially prepared for these uncertain time. Our share prices tumbled. Petrol prices increased. Thanks to our fuel subsidy, we still can afford to fill up petrol. Many neighbouring countries like Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines are in chaos due to riots. Some countries even face power cuts.
Yesterday, PMX reintroduced Work From Home for government and GLCs in the effort to reduce petrol usage. Many leaders of other countries gave the same recommendation/advice to their citizens. Trump announced yesterday that the war will continue indefinitely and insist on bombing Iran into the stone age.
There are a lot of speculations flooding the internet and being a naturally curios and somewhat anxious, I read and watched a lot of news channels. This causes further anxiety. The same feeling I had at the start of pandemic. The feeling of uncertainty, insecurity.
I can no longer do the one thing that I like to do when i have spare time - planning a trip. We do have a trip to Turkey in the middle of this month. I am praying that it will get postponed. We were planning to visit Hokkaido in the summer. that is postponed as we foresee that Japan will faced a severe energy crisis resulting in higher fuel prices.
We have to be resilient. Energetic and resilient to be exact. The world economy is out of our control so we should focus on things that are within our control. Have a budget, stick to it. Write more. Focus on the now and what we can do to help our community to stay resilient.
I hope to share a more positive writing in my next post. Let us pray.