Life is about choices. Some we regret, some will haunt us forever, some we are proud for life.
I was left
to my adopted family. I desperately needed some money to pay my tuition fees and
living expenses. So, I went to the biggest shopping mall in our town during
that time to get a part time job. It was 1996.
There was a
boutique Taiwanese tea house at the third floor.
“Do you hire
any part timers? I’m 15, but I want to work for my tuition fees.”
“Come to
work this weekend. Your rate is RM2.20 per hour.”
“Thank you
so much!!”
The lady
boss was very kind to me. She imparted me everything she knows about her
business. It didn’t take me long to learn all the tricks and trades of running
a tea house. From a waiter, I was tasked to take care of the shop alone during
weekdays. I worked there for good 6 years.
It was
October 2002 at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, University Carnival season. Together
with six friends, we started a bubble tea stall. We were very lucky. Our stall
was the busiest in the carnival, and we earned back more than 200% of our
capital invested within a week.
“Ah Ming,
let’s turned this into a long term business. Let’s pool our money, start small,
rent a place at campus. My father can help us financially if needed. I’m pretty
sure we can grow it into a decent business.”
I rejected his
idea flatly. Too much work for me. I had to focus on my study. The truth was, I
was too scared to lose my hard-earned money.
Two years
later, bubble tea business began to mushroom at Sabah. 5 years later, the first
bubble tea franchise wave started in West Malaysia. 15 years later, it is a RM
200 million industry in Malaysia.
If I choose
to accept my friend’s proposal, I may become icon of Malaysia bubble tea
industry.
If I choose
said yes and work hard, perhaps today I would live a very different lifestyle.
If I choose
to be excited about opportunities instead of paralyzed by it, a new horizon was
waiting for me to explore.
It dawned to
me choices made in fear will eventually create regret. It was a choice that I
regret, not because I do not have the capabilities or resources, but merely I
choose to be limited by fear.
Life is
about choices. Some we regret, some will haunt us forever, some we are proud for
life.
“How do you
get into this?” I asked Chee. There was something in his soul that moved me to
speak to him. Chee is a friend of mine at drug rehabilitation centre.
“I was
curious. I was young, only 19 years old. I feared nothing then.”
Drugs had
almost destroyed him after Chee started smoking weed at the age of 18. It
progressed into popping pills. It progressed to the point of no return:
injection of heroine. Thanks to his ‘friends’ who wanted him to ‘enjoy’ life.
“I messed up
my own life, but also affected my family I could never thought.” His eyes were
wet. He closed his eye lids, hands shivered.
“If I only I
choose to go back home then…”
After taking
drugs for two months, Chee became always hungry for the devilish substance that
wanted to kill him. He changed a lot for worse. He stole from his family, sold
drugs, cheated his friends, pickpocketed and even prostituted himself to
affluent gay community to get his fix.
“I told them
(his family) my life had nothing to do with them – how I lived my life was my
own choice.”
“I got into
this myself, but I hurt my family so deeply. I desperately needed a change.”
His mum
never gave up on him. She asked Chee to enrol in this rehab program. He agreed.
It was the
best decision he had ever made. This centre saved his live. After years of
battling the demons of addictions, he was finally drug-free. He was 32. He was
the prisoner of his drug-fuelled lifestyle for more than a decade. Today, he
became the person he always wanted to be – an ordinary but a good man.
If only Chee
choose to go back home during that moment….
If only Chee
choose his friends more carefully….
If only Chee
choose to say no….
It became a
choice that will haunt Chee forever. We are all born with freedom of choice. We
are free to choose, but not free the consequences of our choice. A better or
worse “Change” is just a choice away.
Life is
about choices. Some we regret, some will haunt us forever, some we are proud for
life.
I was fat. I
was having sleep apnea. The fat around my neck suppressed my airway while I
sleep. I was laden with hypertension stage 1, borderline diabetic, medium high
cholesterol level. I was 32 years old.
One day, my
ex-boss demanded me to do something that breached my personal ethics. I
refused, but I was threatened with insubordination warning. Reluctantly, I
accepted his demand quarter-heartedly for the sake of paycheck.
I went to my
work desk with a dark, thundercloud on my head.
“What
happened to you?” my then colleague asked. I told him about the ridiculous
request from my ex-boss.
“Alan, you
have a choice.”
Yes, you are
right. I do have a choice. It was as if a huge, hard brick smacked on my head.
I went in my ex-boss room. I stood firm on not following his request. This
time, he gave in.
“Alan, you
are fat like your boss.”
I have to agree
at that point of time. But since then, I made a choice to love myself more. I
signed up for gym. I learned to swim, bike and run. I participated in triathlon
events. I completed 3 half IRONMAN distance events. As of now, I’m getting
ready for Langkawi IRONMAN 2021. I’m fit, healthy, confident and gain back my
youth. Most importantly, I made a choice to gain back control of my life. I’m
loving it.
If I choose
to work under that abusive relationship, I would have lived a life less worthy.
If I choose
to give up my power of choice (which is also a choice), I do not have any
rights to complain about events that happened to me.
If I choose
to live unhealthily, I will receive the man’s dreaded 3F way sooner: Fat,
Forty, Fired.
Sometimes it is the smallest decisions that can change our life forever. The choices that we made in love creates hope. It was a choice that I’m proud of for life. I can say to myself with pride: “Alan, I love you and I care for you. I choose the best for you.”
Life is
about choices. Some we regret, some will haunt us forever, some we are proud for
life.
It is said
that our life is the sum of our choices. At times, it is hard to make wise choices
given our abilities and maturity we had at that time. But if we make our
choices based on faith, hope and love, chances are, it will be a right choice.
“Every time
you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you – the part that
chooses – into something a little different than what it was before. Taking
your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning
this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature.”
– C.S. Lewis.
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