2010! A greater year ahead (Jan 3, 2010)
2010 is here. What will it bring? Opportunities! As quoted by Oprah Winfrey, “a new year is another chance for us to get it right.” Yes! Every day of the coming year will be filled with opportunities and possibilities. Every day will give us a chance to make our life count, to make a difference, to grow, to learn, to achieve, be the person we are meant to be. It is the day to apply what we have learned from past experience, and to make the world an even better place to live. Now is the time to do something about not just the superficial things, but to deal directly with our challenges.
It is now the third day of the New Year and many people are celebrating and also or maybe has made a list of resolutions. As I reflect on the fact that we will be starting a new year – 2010. Wow, where did 2009 go? I am also very aware of the many individuals and families and friends who are suffering from cancer or other chronic diseases. No matter what stage of cancer survivorship they may be in, it is difficult to think about making "New Year's Resolutions". There is so much uncertainty that goes along with cancer.
However, I do strongly feel that each and every one of us can have hope and optimism. We can be hopeful for small things or large things. I truly do believe we can change our hopes during 2010. I also believe that we should be optimistic.
We do not have to “wish” for a Happy New Year. We have the power to make it a truly happy year, a year of fulfillment and accomplishment for ourselves.
Whatever our plans or goals for the New Year, we must keep them realistic, start with those little steps, compensate ourselves each step along the way with something we love to have and focus on the short term outcomes, each little step along the way. We will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that will lead us to the success we so fervently deserve; never give up. This can be the year for that New Year resolution to become a reality rather than a dream that never comes true.
Each time when a New Year rolls around, I will sit down to do my New Year resolutions, I always like to reflect back to a lesson taught me by a remarkable teacher by the name of Yu Xiang from Beijing in the year 2004. I took a course on creativity and innovation conducted by him.
He pointed to my ferocious work pace and said, "I notice, Esther, that you are a rather unorganized and indisciplined person."
I was stunned and confused. After all, I was the type of person who carefully laid out my top five objectives and priority activities at the start of each New Year. I prided myself on the ability to work relentlessly toward those objectives, "Your genetic energy level makes up your lack of discipline," he continued. "Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."
He then gave me an assignment. The assignment went like this: Suppose you wake up tomorrow and receive two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $100 million. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 5 years to live. What would you do differently, and what would you stop doing?
That assignment became a turning point in my life, and the "stop doing" list became a regular item of my yearly New Year resolutions — a mechanism for disciplining ourselves on prioritizing the most precious of all our resources: time.
Yu Xiang’s challenge forced me to see that I had been very energetic, but utilized the energy on the wrong things. Indeed, I was on an entirely wrong path. After graduating from school, I took up a job at the Wah Tat Bank, Kuching. I loved the company, but disliked the job. Yu Xiang’s assignment helped me see I was cut out from what I wanted to be and I needed to make a 180 degrees turn. I had to stop doing things I disliked so that I could find the life that I had always wanted to have. I quit my job and went into providing medical care information consultancy work after being appointed as the Overseas Director of Fuda Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou. Eventually I became, with some remarkable blessings along the way, a trainer and lecturer, happily toiling on my work.
Well, from the above sharing, it shows that the start of the New Year is a perfect time to start a “stop doing list” and to make this a must of our New Year resolutions, be it for our company, our family or ourselves. We have come a long way to get to where we are now. Let us make the most out of it. The sparkling new era in front of us deserves more than just half-hearted New Year’s resolutions. Now is the time for true and sustained commitment.
Every day is full of opportunities. The hopes and desires and dreams are there for a reason. The fact that if we desire for it means that there is a unique, beautiful and vital purpose for our life.
Our world at this moment is full of wonderful possibilities. Let this truly be a moment of great beginnings. Make the commitment to live, to give, to love, and be a positive force. Now is our opportunity to live with meaning and purpose. It is time of opportunity for us to make things right. Let us make our new year a real difference and make it a great new year.
Esther Law is a director, consultant, trainer, Past Division Governor of Toastmasters International, President for Lions Club of Kuching Host (2009-2010). Esther is also the Overseas Director of Fuda Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou, China. If you have any comments about this article you can contact her at lawleepoh@gmail.com
