Thoughts again

Thoughts

There are two types of people. Those that hold you back, and those who push you to seek new heights.

Example of the former: My P6 teacher, back in ACJS. Anyone familiar with the PSLE streaming process, knows that just before the finals, one submits the list of Sec Schools to apply for. My parents made me apply for top SAP schools, believing I could make it. My teacher, upon seeing my choices, laughed out in front of the entire class, and said I was over-estimating my potential and that I should have for my affiliated Sec Sch instead. Left an indelible mark.

She's a prime example of those who care about "knowing your limitations". "Don't dream big, coz the bigger the expectation, the greater the disappointment." Perhaps they have gone thru some major upset in their lives, and want others to learn from their expectations.

Indeed, this type of persona exists in large concentrations here. Just work in any govt agency & you'll find a plethora of pessimistic opinions abound, poo-pooing any attempts for lofty aspirations. "They will never accept it. You don't understand the situation. You are still young and naive. YOU WILL LEARN SOON ENOUGH!"

They are also the types who would go out and ensure their predictions come true.

Living in such environment, one cannot help but get absorbed in the limitations, the pessimism masquerading as "realism". "Sorry, you just don't have enough experience. We prefer someone with 7 years of (irrelevant) experience." Capability has nothing to do with it.

 Soon, you'll echo similar emotions: "She's too good for me", "You'll never make it, so why are you trying?","Don't venture, stay home and safe". I've become a masquerade myself.

Then there is another.


To meet someone in life, who "has done it all" and still believes that there are no barriers, is simply astounding.  He is a leader in his field, a devoted family man, with strong religious roots, and serves his country above and beyond the call of duty.  His favorite phrase "For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it needs to go into a cocoon.  In the chrysalis, the caterpillar literally breaks down to the molecular level, before it gets reformed and reborn into new possibilities as a butterfly!  From crawling about, to soaring high in the heavens". 


Little cynical me always chokes a little at this point, coz I simply can't buy into his belief on a sub-conscious level.  I'm, as he tells me, am shackled by the barriers and limits that my environment has imposed upon me. 

No, that's a lie, the barriers around me, I've imposed on myself.  Those limits to the possibilities, I shut off, coz I can no longer face the possibility of failure, of disappointment.

There are boundless possibilities, I am limited only to my own imagination.  I must return to the faith of my youth, and that so long as I believe it will happen, and I work hard enough at it, it will come true for me!  I will move from the former to the latter, and unshackle myself and live to the fullest!

Friends, believe in me also, as I believe in you!