Why do you feel the need to take responsibility for your own life and work towards better outcomes? Or why do you prefer to entrust your present and future to others by not taking ownership?
What a serious prompt to reflect upon on the chill weekend. But of course, I always find meaning in sharing my thoughts on such topics so I am up for this challenge!
At this present moment, I feel that I have almost full control of my own life and I am able to chart my path, plan for the future, and chase my dreams.
But... It wasn't like that last time.
When I was younger, I felt that I always entrusted people to decide what I ought to do. Be it my parents, my teachers, my friends, or even the society. I didn't really have my own identity, or really thought hard about what I wanted to achieve in life. And that's okay for people who in their teens or even in their 20s. Fortunately, "following the crowd" to study hard in school, do well in exams, get a university degree, find a stable job, turned out to be generally okay for me. As a result, I probably made it to what I would call "average income" group in the society, being able to afford average housing, having enough for my daily necessities and occasionally enjoy some good meals or fancy holidays, and course, having some spare savings, and then continue to work and save for retirement.
It's not a bad thing, but as I grew older, I started to have my own thoughts about stuff and there's this little thought in me that I could always try to do a little better than average, and not settle for just being average. And I think that was when I felt that I could step up and take more responsibility for my life.
It definitely helped that I was more mature and had more life experiences, which shaped my thinking about what I wanted to achieve. Over time, events in life, both positive and negative, also influenced my decisions to refine my goals and in the recent years, I have learnt what to prioritise and what to de-prioritise in my life.
At the end of the day, I think it's really about searching for what you are passionate about, and chart your lifelong journey from there. It can be a job, a hobby, or even just an activity you enjoy. When you are doing something that you are passionate about, versus when you are something just for other reasons (e.g. salary), it really feels different, at least for me.
And because everyone's passion is unique to themselves, it's not possible to entrust it to others. So that's why I feel we should take ownership and follow our passion to make our lives more colourful and more meaningful too.
And that's all I have for this week! A little serious and formal this time, so ending off some sweet desserts! Always nice to have a catch up with friends over coffee and cakes during the weekend. Feels like a little treat for myself before the work week resumes again. Hope everyone's having a restful weekend too! Thanks for reading!
