Travelling: A Stress Reliever

Travelling is a good method to release stress because it gets you away from problems. Planning a vacation keeps your mind off things that can stress you out. Dreaming about where you are going and what you will do when you get there can take your mind off things that have been pressing your mind. For many people, vacations or simple weekend getaways are a great way to get families and friends together; and away from their usual hectic lives. 

Everyone has their own level of stress, including me. Almost a year I have to live far away from my family, and within that period of time I would be a liar if I said that I never experienced stress. I have my own way to release stress, which is going on a vacation. Going on a vacation does not mean that you have to go overseas or other states, it can also be your own hometown. 

There are so many interesting places in Sabah such as Desa Dairy Farm. It is also known as the New Zealand of Sabah. You can get fresh air, fresh milk, yogurt, and also witness the beautiful view of Mount Kinabalu. I also went to Desa Cattle Farm with my family and took a pre-convocation photo shoot there. Other tourist attractions in Sabah are Kundasang War Memorial Park, Sabah Tea Garden, Mesilau Pinnacles, Kinabalu Park, Pekan Nabalu, Poring Hot Spring, and more. 

Not to forget, the beautiful islands in Sabah. Some of the islands are Bohey Dulang, Sipadan, Kapalai, Pulau Tiga, Mabul, Sapi, and Manukan. You can also go hiking at Bohey Dulang and see the spectacular view from the top of the island. 

Therefore, studies have proven that travelling is a good method to release stress, and it can improve your health and work productivity. So, why stress when you can spend some of your time with your loved ones and friends...?

Prepared by,

Mardhiah bt Jamaluddin

General Administration Executive

Vision College

Temerloh: The Centre of Peninsular Malaysia

What do you know about Temerloh? A city that is always involved in flood? Since this year, the Tourism Malaysia is promoting Pahang as a tourist destination; I am going to introduce to you about my beautiful hometown, Temerloh. 

The distance from Kuala Lumpur to Temerloh is about 135km, around 1 hour 40 minutes. So, if you want to plan a day trip during weekend or public holiday, why not choose Temerloh? Temerloh also known as Bandar Ikan Patin is the second largest town in Pahang. It is famous for its highly-prized freshwater fish, Silver Catfish or also known as 'Patin'. Although it is expensive, Temerloh is the only place that you can find the freshest and biggest ikan patin.

When you are in Temerloh, you can try the special dish called 'Patin Tempoyak'. Tempoyak is a Malay condiment made from fermented durian, and used as the main ingredient in cooking the 'Patin Tempoyak'. For some people, they can't even stand the smell of the tempoyak, but it really is a nice dish. Especially when you consume it with rice and sambal belacan (Yummmyyyy!!) If you are a tempoyak lover, you can go to the restaurant called 'Go Bang Maju Patin Tempoyak' which is the most famous restaurant in Temerloh. For price wise, it is reasonable (can't say cheap since they are using fresh ikan patin).

Next, you can go to Gunung Senyum Recreational forest for a walk and admiring the beauty of nature. Gunung Senyum takes about 30 minutes drive from Temerloh city. In this recreational forest, there are many outdoor activities provided for visitors. For example jungle trekking, nature and wildlife appreciation or even abseiling and hill climbing. It is really a pleasant place for families, to explore the nature in a tropical forest. 

Besides that, there are a total of 18 caves inside Gunung Senyum, which are interconnected with one another, Yet, there are only 3 caves that are open for public; which are Gua Angin, Gua Taman, and Gua Terang Bulan. The caves are quite easy to be explored, but we still need to be extra careful when exploring; a tour guide might come in handy! Moreover, there are also many rare and unique flora and fauna that can be seen in this tropical forest.

Overall, Temerloh is a very nice place to visit. Besides all the things that I have mentioned earlier, there are other places to visit and not to forget, famous spots to 'jalan-jalan cari makan'. So when you are free, do come and visit the Bandar Ikan Patin, Temerloh.

Prepared by,

Woi Pui Chyi

Lecturer, Diploma of Health Science

Vision College

Bitter Can Be Sweet Sometimes

Stepping out of my own house is a very difficult decision I had to make as a teenager back then. I realised that I had to do all things by myself, taking care of my own health, managing my financial and the most difficult part was to leave my loved ones. Yes, it is common that being far away from home is a stage we have to experience in becoming an independent person. 

Well, it has been 6 years standing alone without having my family around. I completed high school in 2008. I made my decision to travel to the peninsular in search for success. Since then, I have experienced a lot of bitterness along the way, met new people, and faced financial problems when completing my final project. 

Beside that bitterness there are also sweet moments along the way, like meeting new people with the warmest attitude, learning new things that I never knew before and indulging new things that I grow fond with. Bitter or not, these experiences have helped me to be stronger in facing rejection, heartbreak, and even death of loved ones. I have to be resilient within in order to survive. I have also learned that it needs a good combination of good and bad times, highs and lows, peace and trouble for one to appreciate life more. I truly believe that life itself holds many lessons to be learned from. 

Here are some of the moments that I would like to share with you.

Here are my friends during my studies in Kuantan. It was my  first time having friends from different culture and background. 

Saying goodbye was never easy for me.

Vision College is where I started my new adventure.

I meet new friends.

Not to forget, becoming a sister to these boys and girls.

As a conclusion, the bittersweet moments taught me that bitter may be bad but good things always come and find you.

Prepared by,

Nastassia Octovia Maziin

Lecturer, SKM

Vision College

Back Pain During Pregnancy

Back pain in pregnancy is very common among women. Studies show that back pain usually occurs between 5^th to 7^th month of pregnancy. Women with pre-existing back pain are at higher risk to have back pain especially in the early stage of pregnancy.

What are the causes of back pain in pregnancy?

There are several causes of back pain in pregnancy, which are:

• Posture. Commonly pregnant women will have lordotic posture because of growing baby will make the uterus to expand. Then, it shifts the center of gravity and stretches out the abdominal muscles, which may putting strain on the back.
  

• Weight gain. During pregnancy, women will gain between 25-35 pounds. Thus, the spine has to support that weight means more work for the back muscles and increased stress on your joints. That is why women may feel worse at the end of the day.

• Hormone changes. A hormone called Relaxin will be activated during pregnancy, which loosen all joints and relax the ligaments attached in pelvic bone and spine in preparation for birth process. This make pregnant women less stable and cause pain when walking, standing, sitting for long hours, rolling in bed, bending or lifting.
• Stress. Emotional stress can cause muscle tension at the back, and the pain will increases during stressful period of pregnancy.

Ways to reduce the back pain:

• 
  Practice good posture. Slouching will strain the spine. When sitting, place a roll of towel behind your back for support and always keep these principles of good posture during standing and walking:
  - stand up straight
  - keep shoulders back and relaxed
  - hold chest high
• Footwear. Wear low heeled, but not flat shoes, and avoid high heels which can may
  
  further shift your posture and caused you to fall down.
  
• Heat and cold. By applying heat and cold pack to the painful back for 20 minutes every day will also help to reduce the pain. Start by putting cold pack, then switch to heat after 2 or 3 days. Be careful not to apply to abdomen during pregnancy.
• Stretching exercise. This will increase the muscles flexibility that support the back and legs. Be careful to stretch gently to prevent over-strain.
  
  
  
• Swimming. It is the great exercise to strengthen the abdominal and lower back muscles, because the water reduce the stress on your joints and ligaments.

Prepared by,

Afiqah Najihah binti Kamali

Lecturer, Diploma in Physiotherapy

Vision College

Road to Success

"It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done"  - Nelson Mandela

A Master journey has not always been an easy path for me. I spent my precious time for 2 years and a half to complete my Master study in University of Malaya. The years passed with sleepless nights, tears and laughter; indeed, those moments have led me to the tunnel of light. Therefore, I would fervently say that this journey has taught me several important values, if not all, to pursue success in life: independence, risk taking, knowledge seeking.

Being independent is vital for anyone regardless of what they are doing – working or studying. As a Master student, I had to be extremely independent in a process of conducting research. Both success and failure are all at our own risks. In other words, delaying your works means that you are delaying your success. This powerful reminder has always rang a bell on me whenever I tended to give up. There were many times when I was lost in this journey. For instance, I was having hard time to analyze my data using the adapted framework. I did not know where to begin; everything seemed blurry to me. So I just headed up to library and mulled over everything again and again. I then decided to show my drafts to my friends who were in the same field as me (Pragmatics) to seek their helps to comment on my drafts. Their constructive feedback on my drafts had greatly impacted me to keep going. So, the value of independence really shaped me to who I am now.  

Apart from being independent, the Master journey has also taught me to become a risk taker. Beginning with a small step, all my big dreams lie ahead; in fact, it is beyond my expectation. This is the most appealing value I learned throughout my study life because I never ever expected that we, ourselves, could do beyond what we could imagine. It helped us to become more confident and well-prepared for anything follows ahead. For instance, I took a big risk when I decided to submit my final thesis for examination without having my thesis fully checked by my supervisor due to time constraint. In fact, I was still indulging myself in the library checking all the references for the last 2 hours before the printing process. At that time, what really moved me forward were two things: to waive off the study fee for next semester and to graduate on October, 2016. Of course, I was given a chance to extend the deadline, but I realized that all the outcomes grow tomorrow could only be planted today. It is definitely worth taking the risk.

Lessons in Vision College

I have learned a great deal of lessons in Vision College in the past two years on how to run activities, how to manage hostels and how to give lectures. Yet, lessons that help to build character are the most invaluable lessons to me. These lessons or values are not quick-fixes to success, but they have guided me well on a conscientious path. Here are a few lessons that are worth sharing:

1. Always do the right thing. Never ever cheat, especially issue revolve around money. Getting caught cheating will put your reputation, integrity, credibility at stake. At the end of the day, leave the office with a conscientious mind and peaceful heart knowing that you've done the right thing.

2. No shortcuts. The accommodation work over the weekend is the most grueling. Sometimes, carrying 20kg metal lockers up several floors is just a warm up for me, while most people would avoid the staircase altogether. At times like these, the temptation of calling in sick or simply just walk away would be the easiest way out. But at the end of the day, the job has to be done. Endure the hardship and you will grow stronger (literally).

3. Create a positive working environment. By having a pleasant vibe in the office, you'll be more productive. The responsibility of creating a positive working environment starts with yourself. Stay away from spreading malicious rumours and keep your mind away from the office issues during break time. I owe it much to the group of friends who have been keeping my lunch hour delightful, especially Liew, whose topics ranging from “How to fry the perfect sunny side up” to “Why F1 should not go green” were informative and entertaining.

Always aim high. You will be rewarded for the time spent on improving yourself. By improving yourself, you will be able to contribute more to the organization and you will become generally a better person.

Prepared by,

Ho Khee Hong, Daniel

Former Lecturer/Counselor

Vision College

T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K

Science has progressed tremendously and have affected our lifestyles. Today, the system of change has affected every sector not withstanding be it the legal or illegal avenues.

The parallels of righteousness and evil has advanced in time and to cope with the situation, one has to be prudent, vigil and very objective in life.

In the circumstances, it appears that success will be achieved only if one is focused and have a good vision for life and that is the reason we are in Vision College.

Being in Vision College, we are like a family. Therefore, working closely together as a team or a family is crucial.

5 simple ways we can work together as a team

Being under an organization or a company means being under a particular group of people working together under same the goals.

A group, a team, an organization or a company is created to achieve a vision (or visions), a goal (or goals) or a purpose (or purposes!), mainly for the goodness of all. Perceiving each other as members, teammates should join hand-in-hand in order to achieve the particular objectives. To have an objective, there has got to be deadlines and deadlines are a little less impossible to achieve alone. Therefore, working together as a team is a foremost.

Here are the 5 simple ways we can do to work together as a team:

1) Help one another

Everyone in a group has his/her own particular tasks to do. If a member is disable at the moment due to what-so-ever valid reasons, we should lend a helping hand to carry his/her task, so that things are kept up to par. Reminding a teammate about a particular tasks, or covering duty whenever we can is another example of helping on another.

2) Trust each other

Trust is important. As we have heard before, everyone has their own ways of doing things. We should not expect teammates to do their work like how we do. Trust them and allow them some time on handling issues or somethings. If something isn't right, talk to them – do not assumed. Distrusting a teammate could seriously jeopardize a team as it could lead to down grading, and perhaps a loss for our team.

3) Respect each other

Don't we want people to appreciate our hard work and dedications? We should respect the unique ways our teammates carry their jobs.

4) Discuss

Anything disagreeable should be discussed upon and come to solutions.

5) Compliment one another

“Very good”, “Well done”, “That's awesome”,“We are lucky to have you” are a few ways we compliment and support each other. Don't we want to create much positivity atmosphere in our group? Don't we wish someone sees our hard work and dedications with very much appreciations?

Working as team is beneficial in terms of deadlines and productivity. If we do not work as a team how are we to reach to our visions?

Prepared by,

Munisha A/P Janardhanan

Tutor, Postgraduate Diploma of Medical Ultrasonography

Vision College