“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle Onassis
The title of this blog is left unfinished on purpose… how would you finish the phrase? As I have been in my new role for the past 3 months and frankly, the journey has not been easy… not the work, I do not have any issues with work… mainly people… who has the attitude of “holier than thou”, self-important and low self-esteem who is trampling on others to make themselves feel good… they may not think that they are doing so to others but it surely shows that many are somehow giving the feedback!
Anyway, how I would complete the phrase for this blog’s title will be… “What you focus on… you give power to…” as what my mentor-friend shared with me… the more I focus on the problem, the more the problem will be magnified.
It is not easy to just brush the feelings aside when they keep finding fault with the team and I chose not to do the same as I find it a waste of time just wanting to fight back. Yes, I may be suffering in silence and to react will to make them having the fun of watching me losing it to their unnecessary actions. They may have the thought that I am just doing nothing and being weak… anyway, time will tell and I believe that I just have to focus on doing the right thing, then the results will be realised in time. May not be our time, it will be in HIS time.
I know my time will come, I just have to be patient and keep going. I have been called to this role for a reason. Most people may not know it, I have my purpose. At the end of the day, people only care about themselves. So, I will take the higher road and building my strengths, then when the timing is right, reveal them to the world.
“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.” – Ovid
“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Anyhow, I believe that in the eyes of many people who care for me… I am a WINNER! Praise God for that.
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
This year is going to be an unforgettable year for many people, especially me… ever since January 2020, I was looking towards a busy and productive year focusing on what I am going to do. Then the inevitable happened… nobody expected it and it just happened. We are all in this together, no matter who we are and where we are. This event does not care and recognize who is who… and of course some who have more resources will weather through this easier than those who have not much.
The focus of this blog is not on the details of the event, it is just a sharing on what I have learnt so far… please message me should you have any comment or feedback. I do look forward to learning from you as well. Thank you and enjoy some perspectives from me.
“One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. “ – Albert Schweitzer
What I can learn from this event (so far)?
HUMILITY The virus do not care who you are and the news on suffering of others have made me realized that “life is short!” I need to be humble and ask myself, “how do I want people to remember me (should something were to happen to me)? With tools like social media, I can use it to “brag”, tell others about my achievements, how I am in certain activities and you know what I mean… or I can be doing more contemplation, reflecting on how I can lift others up, doing what I can to take care of people close to me and inspire others to focus on the positives?
“A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
CHOICE I have a choice to be positive or negative. I can also choose to be bitter with what is happening or with some people who tends to trigger / upset me. I kept reminding myself that I need to choose to focus on the positive. One of my mentors have asked me once (when we were together and some one upset me), “How do you want the story to end?” Thank you for the question and I need to choose wisely. Anyhow, there is always a price to pay to whichever direction that you have decided upon. Are you willing to pay the pay? It will be easier if you are willing…
“In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.” ― Cassandra Clare
CREATIVITY In times like this, especially when the government has enforced the Movement Control Order (MCO), with my son who is active and who wants to play… I have to wear my “creative hat” and come up with some simple activities… one of them is to convert our dining table into table tennis… well it has been about 20 days for the MCO… so far we (including the mom) are enjoying playing the game of “modified” table tennis. There is definitely no end to a creative mind. What are you doing to be creative? Care to share some creative activities that you and your family have come up with?
“The sky is not the limit, the mind is…”
PATIENCE Everyone is spending most of the time together at home and there will be some conversations that will test your patience. I have learnt to perfect practice patience to listen (with the intent to understand, rather than to answer), expecting less on the things I want people to do and negative postings in social media. Remember, we have a choice…
FRIENDS I also realized who are your good friends and the importance of having some close friends (that is good enough). How can we help to cheer our friends up and go through this journey together. I am sure one day when this is all over, there is much to share and laugh about!
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”– Walter Winchell
How to cope with the event?
Below are the 10 -(ten) things you can do to cope with the event… I am sure there are more, let’s experiment some of these, to start with… all the best!
FOCUS – make a choice to focus on the positives and do the things that will add value to your own self-development.
QUIET TIME – have your own “ME” time, to do reflection, listen to relaxing music, journal, pray and meditate.
COOK – good time for new cooks and great time for experience cooks to experiment new recipes.
PLAY – make time to play, embark into your hobby and discover new games.
COMMUNICATE – call your family members, friends and partners. There is so much to talk about and discuss; good old times or future opportunities or just a conversation.
EXERCISE – keep yourself active, or you can be creative to play some indoor sports with your loved ones or even pets. There are a lot of good resources on-line that you can use as reference.
FOOD – enjoy the fruit of your labour (from own cooking or as a test subject from new cooks). Think about those who are less fortunate, be glad that we still have food on our table.
READ – reach for the books you have read before, I truly believe that if you read it again, you will gain different insights. There are also a lot of good on-line resources to learn from.
ON-LINE ACTIVITY – e-learning courses, articles, shopping, videos, social media… so many positive things that we can get from the internet.
TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME – smile if you can wake up in the morning. A good practice to be having the attitude of gratitude…
My prayer is for everyone to be safe and healthy. Keep going and there is so much to learn from this journey that we are embarking.
