JY Chia “Blog of Truths”

Hi Everybody

I was just on a teleseminar hosted by Stuart of www.InternetMarketingSingapore.com with John Di Lemme, an international motivation trainer of www.FindYourWhy.com

It was a great call!

Firstly I am so grateful that I am on afternoon today to be on this call and thank you Stuart for arranging this =)

My first encounter with John, if I recall correctly was a few months ago when I watched The Secret.

And man! Hearing him on this call….Find Your Why!

This is something that I have been advocating for, my close buddies will know it.

I have always been finding the Why, what is the purpose of doing this and that?

And I will always share with my pals this driver too.

Why are you doing this? What is it that you want? Who are you doing it for?

And this reminded me when I was 16 and I got to choose between Junior College and Polytechnic.

It was a frustrating moment, because on one hand, I wanted to be in the mainstream, I wanted to be the top 20% of the cohort and I have got my parents and relatives pushing the idea of entering into College and on the other part I knew I have got interest in both Sports and Wellness and Nursing in polytechnic.

Frustrating.Period.

My grades were acceptable to me, close to straight Bs, an A and a C.

Hey! I worked hard.

So first 3 months, I got into Nanyang JC via Volleyball.

I am okay in volleyball and Volleyball is a strong sport in NYJC.

I am really thankful to Mr Tam and the principal then of course.

And so when the O’level results is out, I thought since I am in for 3 months

why not just go through JC education.

As the syllabus sets in coupled with the high expectations from the team,

I was forced to dig out this inner issue within and surface it again.

I took out a piece of paper, and I drew a sign post that read “My Life”

And I divided the paper into 2 columns.

JC on one side and Polytechnic on the other side and started to scribble the

pros and cons of each.

So this is what I have written:

JC

- Mainstream

- Parents happy

- Status quo

- Easy entry to university

- Broadbased knowledge that I do not enjoy studying; I am only keen on

Biology, specifically on Human Biology which is a minor portion.

- Do not really like chemistry, all the formulas and bonds etc. are driving me nuts

- Passion: 3 out of 10

- Volleyball, yes I love the sport and my team mates has been really supportive and I have got understanding coach and teacher in charges. Expectation is there to meet.

Polytechnic

-> Nursing =)

-> Save lives

-> Have got favourite subjects : Human Bio, Psychology, Sociology

-> Passion: 8-10

-> Parents supportive but like me to consider carefully, dad when he was alive then did not really like the idea of me cleaning people’s butt

-> Relatives various opinions

Yes! It was a really tough year being 17. And I suppose due to the intense stress and this conflicting ideas in my head, I fell sick easily and gosh! I skipped school so many times and first time in my life I got to be send to A&E for acute gastritis where I had severe diarrhoea, I can still remember vividly, continuously!running like a tap!

Really scary.

During the period of time, I had so much in my head and I was like,” What the hell am I doing!?” and “What’s the mess in my life!”

And I hang on till midyears examination. Because I was absent from school for so many donkey days and I wasn’t catching up fast with so much on my head.

It is the first time in my life I go into the examination hall, unprepared and blank!

If I recall correctly, I was doing my best to feed chemistry bonds etc. into my head that faithful evening, and I just burst!

“Why am I doing this!”

“I have no passion in this”

“This isn’t the life that I want!”

And for the very first time, I poured out this filled to the brim agony and stress.

My mum listened.

And I am really glad she is so supportive and understanding.

I looked up on the internet, Nanyang Polytechnic’s Website, and school is starting in about a week’s time.

I do not know how I am going to join that batch = my batch.

But I know I am going to do it! I will do whatever it takes!

My mum went down to NYJC with me, and we spoke to my tutor, Mrs Gerda Huang.

She understand my situation and even wrote a recommendation letter for me.

She wrote about me as a class representative etc.

And I am really touched! Thank you Mrs Gerda Huang.

That is also the reason that I would recommend my juniors to consider NYJC should they be choosing the JC route to give NYJC a shot.

Life is stressful for many in JC and all you can ask for are understanding and caring tutors!

Coming back, I wrote the letter of appeal to Nanyang Polytechnic and went down to the school personally.

The administrative officers were telling me to not have high hopes because there are 200 on the waiting list to enroll into Nursing!WOW!And there are 1000 in the cohort.

I can’t recall what was in my mind then but to make sure that this person who is going to give me a green light to be accepted would land his/her hands on my appeal.

So for the next few days, my heart rate escalated as the date comes close to the starting of the new term in polytechnic.

“Ring….Ring….Ring…..” On Friday morning, I was still asleep when the phone rang.

I jumped out of bed and the caller said,” This is XXX calling from NYP, you have been accepted and when will be a good time for you to come down to collect your enrollment package?”

OH MY GOD!

Am I hearing this?!

“I will come down now!”

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Boom! Eversince, my health is back and I even put on a fair bit of weight and am sheding it off now.

It was a breakthrough few weeks for me and I am proud to say that I have gained my confidence back and am focusing on my goals. On track!

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My friends were shocked and my secondary school teachers were shocked too.

Some even commented,” Why didn’t you take me along?”

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I have found my life back and challenges are always here to make us better. And our ideas and passions change overtime too. What we got to do is to adjust, life is a game and let’s set the rules for ourselves and not others!

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At this juncture, I like to thank my tutors at NYJC especially Mrs Gerda Huang, my volleyball team mates, coach and teacher in charge, Mr Tam  and the principal Mdm Ho for giving me a place in NYJC and in the process I discovered myself.

I have disappointed you Mr Tam and I am ever grateful for your graciousness, care and concern during my stay.

And of course, my great class in NYJC =) 04S1D =) You guys rocks!

And big thanks to my Parents and relatives!

Dad wherever you may be now, please take care of yourself! I did not give you the due respect when you were alive and you have been supportive towards my endeavours all the way till the end.

What a gift to pass my driving on the same date that you did 23 years ago, 26 April. What a coincidence. Take care. Justice will be made!

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What I have learned in addition from John and Stuart today, is to model successful people, and John really drove a point to me.

We all started out on the day when we were born!

We were labelled and some of the labels are correct and some are wrong.

But to me, what’s the criterion of a correct and wrong label? It is YOU who decides!

And the thing is to break away from the false label.

Let’s take a stake in our lives, not our bosses and not the environment!

And now I have got my birth date staring at me right in the face!

23rd April 1987

What have I done for the past 19 years?

What can I do in the future?

How do I want to lead my life?

What difference do I want to make in peoples’ lives?

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My dear friends, this has been a really exhaustive sharing. If you have read thus far, I like to thank you! I really appreciate it.

I hope you learn something from it and have a good weekend ahead!

Tomorrow is my dearest buddy, Belinda’s birthday! 11th November 1988, You got to be 18!

Thank you for being here with me and my buddies and family, thank you so much! And to you, my guest, I appreciate you being apart of my life!

Thanks! Everybody!

JY Chia