Why do I want to pursue my long-shelved passion for writing?
I was asked once, how do I see my life?
Well, I will like to see my life divided into three arbitrary time frames — each of equal duration. Presuming I can live to a good old age of 75, then each portion will amount to 25 years.
The first one-third of my life was essentially my growing-up years. It was the period where I experienced most of my “firsts” in life, completed my formal education and landed my first job. It was more like an era of “fulfilling my duty as a daughter”. It was also the period where I found the person whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
The second third of my life was the busiest of the three. Many things happened during that 25 years — not a short time, but it seemed to have fleeted by so quickly. The kids arrived, one after another. Juggling between career and motherhood proved to be a challenge. The eventual decision of prioritising the children above financial considerations turned out to be the most fulfilling decision we had ever made. Then the cycle repeated itself, and my company became the constant presence throughout my children’s own first 25.
I deem the first two-thirds of my life as my duty fulfilled — as a daughter and a mother. As I now cross over to the last one-third of my life, I will like to consider it as “living for myself”. Wow, “living for myself” just sounds so liberating and empowering!
I remember some years back, my second son was doing a storyboard on “My parent’s secret dream” as one of his school project. He asked me then “Mum, what is your dream?” Nobody ever asked me that. It took me some deep soul-searching before I could reply him. The busyness of setting up a family and bringing up the children seemed to have kept that little “wild dream” cob-webbed in that long-forgotten corner of my heart. It was that day where I opened the old closet and re-discovered my lost dream. Yes, I have always dreamt of being a writer. Whether when I was once young and naïve, or now at a ripe age where most of life’s priorities have been settled — my dream is still to be a writer. I love writing and creating stories. I love to tell a story.
So here I am, at this juncture, pursuing my long-shelved passion of writing. I don’t know where I could be heading because this is a very different era from where I came from. It is the world of digitalisation and new normal. I hope I can learn and assimilate fast, before my last one-third is up.
