Palm Valley, the Singapore Botanic Gardens

So it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been back home in Singapore 2 years and 9 months. I moved home officially from New York City in October 2012, and in three months time, I commemorate three years of homecoming.

It doesn’t feel like three years. It feels like I’ve been home forever. Largely because I’ve done SO MUCH in such little time.

In three years, I’ve travelled and photographed 30 cities!! That’s almost a city a month; not to mention the trips I’ve taken for a vacation or to visit family.

In three years, I’ve seen my pay and my responsibilities at work increase exponentially. I never thought I’d be where I was today, professionally, when I first returned.

In three years, I’ve moved home three times. Which is only to be expected given my own nomadic and restless tendencies.

In three years, I’ve also written three books (yes, I am indeed presently seeking a publisher for the third one…fingers crossed) and I’ve started writing a fourth.

It’s amazing how ELASTIC time is: sometimes one moment can seem like forever, and sometimes three years flash by in an instant. I’m definitely feeling the latter keenly today, especially as I am about to start preparing the blogposts for Tokyo – the final stop on my second Grand Tour.

At the same time, everything I’ve done in the past year and everywhere I’ve traveled to – these many multiple moments in time – is immortalised in my memory, and in particular, also in the many blogposts here on Dream Of A City.

And I only need to take a look back at all these many blogposts on Dream Of A City to recognise, again, that I have indeed accomplished A LOT. And I need not rue the passing of time so keenly.

These three years, though having flown by in an instant, have simultaneously been ELASTIC in the sense that I’ve managed to squeeze in so much accomplishment into a limited time. I’ve managed, so to speak, to stretch time to its maximum capacity.

Which only goes to show that TIME is a state of mind. If one really wants something, time is never a barrier. I am often asked how I find the time to do so much. And my response is always: IF YOUR WILL IS STRONG, EVEN TIME BENDS TO IT.

A toast to time’s elasticity.