Invest in life!
I've got myself a fan! No... not that kind that spins around and blows at you or those kind you hold in your hands... I'm talking about someone who regularly patronises my blog! Hahaha!
SL! Welcome! I hope you find what I posted entertaining and in some rare occasions, even uplifting.
I'm just here in the office, sitting back and waiting for my ride. I was talking to this lady we worked with on a project the other day. We were settling some of her payment issues and she was trying to introduce to me this new printing service her company embarked on. I don't know how this General Election issue came about and we discovered that we were both very pro-PAP and government. So she was asking if I belonged to the below 20 age group. I must've sounded like a baby. So I told her not only am I not below 20, I'm not even in my twenties anymore. Turned out we were only 7 years apart. So with that, came questions about my marital status and kids count. She then called herself a 'lonely soul that nobody loves".
A "lonely soul that nobody loves"... how would you respond if someone says this to you about herself? True to my usual self, I came up with the most profound answer...
"Well... I suppose when you are successful in some areas of your life, you inevitably sacrifice another. You have your career, flying all over the world and travelling to places many people have not gone before. I suppose you achieved this at the expense of something else. I chose to build on this part of my life and I couldn't do what you are doing... "
I always think of my peers. Among them, I was the smartest. I got the best PSLE results, "O" level results. I was what they expected to be a high-flyer, an achiever, get a degree and have a successful career. But as it turned out, I was contented with a diploma, was the first one among all of them to get married and definitely the first to become a mother. The rest of them went on to get degrees somehow (well... most...), are now in some kind of management positions or becoming missionaries or something. Most of the time, I thought... I could have done that you know? In fact, I could have done better. But at what expense? Derrick? Chloe? Cassia? I'm glad my life turned out the way it did. When we were in school, we were all in that stage of life when we only had one thing to do, one way to live. But when we come to the crossroad, I guess I chose a different path.
How do you measure success? How much you earn? How well your kids turn out?
There are so many aspects of life and so many roles to play in one lifetime... a child, a spouse, a parent, a friend, a worker... who rates you a success or failure? Who judges? Who has that right to step in and criticise the path you chose and tell you if that was the right one?
No one perhaps... yourself maybe...
I'm very blessed, really... with parents who do not dictate my life. They do not tell me what course to study or even when to study for that matter. There were times I was rebellious, but they were patient with me and ever so willing to forgive. My dad gets really fierce when I misbehave, but he also has the most amazing way of dealing with my failures... He tells me it's alright. From there, I learned that it was ok to fall down, but I have to try and I have to pick myself up. My mum is the strongest character I've ever seen. She has the will of steel and the versatility of water. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago, she was still the strongest amongst us. She never complained about the pain or what she was going through. My dad would accompany her to the hospital for her check-ups and tests without fail. Keep her company at the hospital everyday after her masactomy. Rush her to the hospital in the middle of the night when she ran a temperature due to complications from the ops. Through it all, I saw the kind of love and commitment my parents had for each other. How rare these days? I really saw this in them... in riches and poverty, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse...
Yeah... when we invest, it's always prudent to stop and think if what you are investing in would yield that kind of returns that truly matter. I guess, that would be a pretty good measure of your success? The number of good investments you made?
SL! Welcome! I hope you find what I posted entertaining and in some rare occasions, even uplifting.
I'm just here in the office, sitting back and waiting for my ride. I was talking to this lady we worked with on a project the other day. We were settling some of her payment issues and she was trying to introduce to me this new printing service her company embarked on. I don't know how this General Election issue came about and we discovered that we were both very pro-PAP and government. So she was asking if I belonged to the below 20 age group. I must've sounded like a baby. So I told her not only am I not below 20, I'm not even in my twenties anymore. Turned out we were only 7 years apart. So with that, came questions about my marital status and kids count. She then called herself a 'lonely soul that nobody loves".
A "lonely soul that nobody loves"... how would you respond if someone says this to you about herself? True to my usual self, I came up with the most profound answer...
"Well... I suppose when you are successful in some areas of your life, you inevitably sacrifice another. You have your career, flying all over the world and travelling to places many people have not gone before. I suppose you achieved this at the expense of something else. I chose to build on this part of my life and I couldn't do what you are doing... "
I always think of my peers. Among them, I was the smartest. I got the best PSLE results, "O" level results. I was what they expected to be a high-flyer, an achiever, get a degree and have a successful career. But as it turned out, I was contented with a diploma, was the first one among all of them to get married and definitely the first to become a mother. The rest of them went on to get degrees somehow (well... most...), are now in some kind of management positions or becoming missionaries or something. Most of the time, I thought... I could have done that you know? In fact, I could have done better. But at what expense? Derrick? Chloe? Cassia? I'm glad my life turned out the way it did. When we were in school, we were all in that stage of life when we only had one thing to do, one way to live. But when we come to the crossroad, I guess I chose a different path.
How do you measure success? How much you earn? How well your kids turn out?
There are so many aspects of life and so many roles to play in one lifetime... a child, a spouse, a parent, a friend, a worker... who rates you a success or failure? Who judges? Who has that right to step in and criticise the path you chose and tell you if that was the right one?
No one perhaps... yourself maybe...
I'm very blessed, really... with parents who do not dictate my life. They do not tell me what course to study or even when to study for that matter. There were times I was rebellious, but they were patient with me and ever so willing to forgive. My dad gets really fierce when I misbehave, but he also has the most amazing way of dealing with my failures... He tells me it's alright. From there, I learned that it was ok to fall down, but I have to try and I have to pick myself up. My mum is the strongest character I've ever seen. She has the will of steel and the versatility of water. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago, she was still the strongest amongst us. She never complained about the pain or what she was going through. My dad would accompany her to the hospital for her check-ups and tests without fail. Keep her company at the hospital everyday after her masactomy. Rush her to the hospital in the middle of the night when she ran a temperature due to complications from the ops. Through it all, I saw the kind of love and commitment my parents had for each other. How rare these days? I really saw this in them... in riches and poverty, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse...
Yeah... when we invest, it's always prudent to stop and think if what you are investing in would yield that kind of returns that truly matter. I guess, that would be a pretty good measure of your success? The number of good investments you made?
posted by Bubbz at 3:47 am
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