Reflection: The Turning Point

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my future.

I have been through 3 phases of my education to being a University undergraduate student now, with the first 2 phases being totally clueless to what I want as my career. It was only until when I was in secondary 4 where I was increasingly being asked about what I want to do in the future, from then I started to arrange my thoughts. Initially, I considered going into the business sector because I was greatly influenced by peer pressure whereby many expressed biased statements like for instance, the business sector is where we would be provided with a higher salary and seems to guarantee us a brighter future (Well, we were young and naive). However, I had no idea how it is like in that industry and listening to all the adult talks about the business world does nothing else but to bore me. Business does not interest me at all.

Later when I entered into Junior College, I started to realise my passion for Chemistry. I spent majority of the time doing Chemistry despite I have other subjects that need my attention too. I put in most effort for Chemistry. Usually people tends to develop interest for things that we can excel in and on the other hand, develop feelings of dislike towards things that we cannot do well in. Surprisingly, I always had mediocre results for Chemistry and never once excel in it.  Some feelings cannot be justified anyway. This was when I concluded, I really like it and I want to be a chemist.

 

Sure enough, I went to Chemistry in NUS. In spite of all the heavy workload and long school hours we have, I still enjoy studying it as a whole. All along I have this vision of me being a Chemist, until recently I received a call from an insurance company. They asked me to go for an interview for internship with them. After that call, I thought that it was probably a good opportunity for me to venture into the business industry. However at the same time, I reminded myself what I really like and want to do is Chemistry all along. I know I never like Business before, but I have heard of many people who strike rich in being an Insurance Agent and that made me wavered. It was like a good slap on my face because I was so determined to do Chemistry before and my principles start to contradict one another. I felt lost and directionless all of a sudden.

I went for the interview and had a good 3-hour talk with the Financial Services Director. To my disbelief, she was a graduate from NUS from Statistics. I felt that she could relate to my situation and she understood my troubles. She allowed me to gain a new perspective and allowed me to see things from a different angle. I realised that my mind narrowed down all options I have from the beginning, to only one. With my mind set on being a Chemist, I could not see other potential opportunities that are ahead of me. I think this is bad, because I believe that we can always be sure of our direction but at the same time still remain open to choices. At the end of the day, what I also took back with me was that most of the time, our ideals deviate from reality and we have to choose between the two.

I would be happy being a Chemist with a decent and stable salary sufficient enough for maintaining a comfortable life in Singapore. No fanciful lifestyles and luxurious goods. On the other hand, being an insurance agent entails a more attractive lifestyle. The only drawback is that this scenario happens only if the economy is healthy and I am capable of getting clients. Nonetheless, it is still good money. People always say "Money can't buy happiness". If its in the aspect of health and kinship, yes indeed. These are what money cannot provide us, no doubt. However, lets be honest. If we are talking about this materialistic society, money does buy us happiness. With money, we can pursue and fulfil dreams. With money, we can achieve more.  Most importantly,  we can provide better for our families.

It took me a good 2 weeks before I came up with a final decision. We cannot deny that money is too tempting, but in the process of the pursuit of wealth, fame and fortune so as to "buy happiness", would we really be happy? This pursuit is never-ending. We will only crave for more and never be satisfied. I finally decided that I should do what I like after all the weighing of pros and cons, because I do not want to have any regrets.  At least when I age and look back at my life, I would be proud of myself for forsaking materialism for something that I find joy in doing. Having said that, I will still continue to obtain an Insurance Agent licence and see how it goes. I want to try stretching my limits and see what I am capable of. This is something totally new to me, and I would see that as an opportunity. As for the future, I will take one step at a time. Being an agent will most likely be my backup plan, or I can even do a part-time when I am working as a Chemist. This is not going to be easy for a Chemistry student like me. Just simply come and take a look just at a paragraph full of chemical terms and you would know what I mean. I shall see what the future has in plan for me and leave the deciding part till later when I graduate! As for now, I need to pass 4 exams before I can become a qualified Insurance Agent. My first exam would be in 6 February and I hope luck is with me!

The reason why I decided to write on this out of so many other experiences I have had is because I see this as a turning point in my life where I learned more about myself. Another reason is that I believe there are such moments your life when you have doubts about yourself and start to question yourself, "What do I really want?" I thought it would be more meaningful to write something that would relate to you in a way or another. Just want to share my experience.

Quoting from famous/random people is too mainstream and boring, how about one from me:

Live life  your way, #YOLO

Thank you for reading :)