Ashley Victrine

Writing and creating stories since I was 5. 

Yet only at 33, did I release my first book and at 36 I released my first Single(Song).

Nothing is ever too late, it is just a matter of whether you give up or not.

To keep going is sometimes the greatest struggle. Establishing your dreams by understanding your purpose is such a great challenge because sometimes we take years to figure ourselves out. It's a matter of trying and doing.

Just use your talents, no matter how you feel about them, you never know if you never try.

You'll get better in time.

The cross is where my life began by Ashley Victrine is a raw story of my journey of struggle and faith that got me through much adversity. 

#Iamavwritez 

Checkout Wicked the Musical with Klook

As National day is just around the corner, I am proud to have been born in a beautiful country like Singapore. Not that it has not had it's ups and downs but that being a third generation Singaporean. My Grandparents & my parents being the "#GreatestGen and the #PioneerGen" respectively, I have a better journey whilst they struggled alot to accomplish much for the next generation. 

I feel blessed and thankful. I travelled as much as I could, but this is always, Home, truly. That song #Home by #dicklee & #kitchan always makes me cry. Yes, because I am just so thankful for the opportunity to be independent as a single woman. Achieving the littlest accomplishments and opportunities people long for. I think being appreciative of the little things help us complain less. No, sometimes we need to water the ground we are on before we look everywhere else.

The world is our playground we can always go wherever we want to but we will always choose one place to be home, mine is the place I was born and bred, #MYSINGAPORE.

I have heard the term I'm surrounded by people but I feel lonely. For me I am ALONE but I don't feel lonely because life is filled with beauty and when you focus on the beauty of life. There is nothing that you would not be able to appreciate. The Little things matter! 

"I'm a little girl from a small country in a big big world."

-#iamavwritez 

It was scary! 

So end of last year without a thought I booked ahead for two trips! 

I thought I was losing my mind. Like where would the money come from? Yet, sis decided to Yolo instead. You only live once.

Truth is when we have the resources to do something we should just do it. Without a thought! Maybe just a little. 

When I was a teenager I was into Taiwanese dramas and boybands. #MeteorGarden , #F4, #S.H.E, #Farenheit & #5566. Rushed home to watch the dramas and then came in the K- obsession. I started watching K-Dramas and being intrigued by the love stories. So this year, I made my teenage likes a reality in a way.

I travelled to South Korea & Taiwan.

Coming from Sunny #singapore both countries were chilling and the weather was absolutely a blast to be in.

Never would I have imagined being able to travel to these 2 countries one day. 

My childhood dream was the American dream and in 2016 I travelled to LA & Vegas. So let's just say I lived out my teenage dream too. 

Being an adult does not mean we forget what we enjoyed when we were young. Being childish and being Child-like are two different things.

In Korea, I got to eat amazing food & make my own perfume at a place called Greedy Scent. I even got to wear a Hanbeok, the Korean traditional outfit. Wearing it on palace grounds, felt like a K-drama moment except there was no namja ( Man) in the story. The people that I met were thoughtful and kind. An restaurant owner uncle put a blanket around me, when he observed I was cold. Like in the mostly K-drama fatherly way. People reached out to help with luggages & directions. It was nice.

It was quite a beautiful feel. 

In Taiwan, we visited the Yangmingshan National park, I hiked up the Qixingshan mountain 1000m high 120 meters shy of the peak. Smelled sulphur from the volcanoe.  Danced to the sound of music on a hill, near buffaloes. Did a Bollywood number among the flowers in the Fengchia Flower Market.

     Fengchia Flower Market

 Yangmingshan National Park

We visited Jiufen and had the best desert and also had traditional tea overseeing a beautiful natural scenery.  

I adore nature.

It was beautiful.

We also visited the Guomei Wetlands to catch the sunset. I got to walk on water and talk to baby crabs, they did not respond. Just saying.

We also visited a Memorial Hall and it was filled with people and had a guard changing ceremony.

  Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

In these two trips I learnt that who you travel with really matters. You travel with the right people you really have fun. You travel with people who do not know how to have fun, they steal your joy as well. Choose your travel buddies wisely!

Go travel the world it's our playground that God created for us to indulge in and enjoy.

Stay happy ya'lls!

IAMAVWRITEZ

I myself am a bearer of unforgiveness. Holding on to alot of hate and pain for many years. It took me a VERY long time to come to a place of release. 

I wrote a book about the love of a father and forgiveness at a time when everything seemed really painful. As I wrote the book, I teared up during certain parts because I  wrote of a father's love that I wanted to feel and never did. I wrote my hope into words. Mere words.  It was someone else's story and this person did receive that kind of love.

Me, I only knew pain and hatred. Rejection at it's worst. To write about love came from experiencing the life changing journey of Faith and Grace.

From that came forgiveness. From that came my own journey of realization. That it wasn't supposed to be my prayer for my father to change but it was supposed to be my prayer for ME to be transformed. To release forgiveness to him for things that we cannot go back to. Things we will never be able to change. The past. 

It's the future we can choose to live out better. You see life doesn't get easier but it gets better when we choose to release baggage and accept change. 

All it took was a " I love you and Forgive you, papa." A release for both him and me. 

How long do we want to hold on to unforgiveness? It is for us! To release. We release it from our hearts. So we are not chained to the person or the past. Trust me though, it take years!! YEARS! It takes realization and release. The HARDEST thing to do.

IAMAVWRITEZ

Amongst all of the heartbreaking news,comes a heartbreaking loss. Just lost my uncle last week and this week the world lost a friend. Matthew Perry will always be remembered by people who didn't know him personally as Chandler Bing, the guy who could create an atmosphere of joy in any situation. Hands down my favorite character. Through everything I've read and followed up on Matthew, he was a man whose been through personal battles and fought through it. We would never understand what he was going through and how he overcame but he had a prayer to help people and it was beautiful. He had 54 years, he spent alot of it making people laugh. Laughter is the best medicine we say. But behind every person who lives to make someone smile or laugh, is someone who works just to get up everyday and find joy within themselves as well. It can be pretty hard, when you have heavy battles to face yet people expect you to create an environment of joy.

This man brought joy to the world and I'm sure people around him even through his struggles like many before him. The one thing we learnt through any situation like this is to be there for people, we are all struggling yes! Yet there is a spark of hope we can pass to each other to help us to keep moving. It only takes a spark to get a fire going ,Pass it on an old hymn read.

A song that is remembered through generations now.

Whether it's in good times or bad times if we really care for at least one person we stand with. We carry the burden though heavy or light and through it all we can fight.

We were created to uphold each other through all the darkness going on whether within ourselves or all around us.

We were called to help others. Just like Matthew Perry chose to do. We are not just living for ourselves, no matter how long we have, we are living for at the very least one other person.

IAMAVWRITEZ

#ripmatthewperry #chandlerbing #bekind #theremembrandts

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

From a Policeman to a Professor. That is his story. A man who never stopped learning until his last. Lecturing was his passion and he did so in an unforgettable way. His greatest advice to everyone was always to study and upgrade. He never stopped living out his passion until the end. He had consistency and he held on to Faith through everything.

I may not have gotten a chance to know him better personally but I learned one thing, when you impact others people will get to know you through all those whose lives you've touched. That really matters! Even if it's just one life! Make a difference and make a lasting impression. Your life may end but your journey will live on through others who have had the opportunity to know you and be impacted by you.

I have so much to learn about life itself. I know we all do because it's a neverending journey.