From Adversity to Finding Passion
[Music]
when i first got invited to speak on the
stage
the first question that actually comes
to mind was what the
heck am i gonna be talking about
but moment changes when the question
that appears becomes
what leads me here today
today i’d like to be sharing with you
about my passion
discovery and what it means to live with
one
and this is a message actually for
everyone
who’s currently battling with an
imposter syndromes
who was once rejected who has felt the
pain
of failure and who’s persistently
battling their fight
my journey for passion starts from when
i was still in my formative years
it was h it was at the age of
self-discovery
of puberty and trials
when i realized that i was actually
perceived as a mediocre
by my teacher my classmates
from often failing tests to having less
than average social skills
and to having only a few friends that
accepted me
at this moment the only thing that comes
to mind
was how can i be different
how can i be accepted and that has
become
a question for me ever since because it
actually dared me to be someone
i had a chance to start over and find
the answer to that question
by actually moving to another school
when i got into high school
not knowing anyone before was certainly
a great advantage for my quest
because it actually allows me to
actually do more trials and errors for
my self-discovery
by going through some trials and joys
and socializing with new
people and even changing my methods and
learning
i learned one important thing
you can always choose to grow if you
allow yourself to
and this is the fundamental mindset that
drives me to believe that whatever
happens
there will always be room for growth
until i was faced with multi
from schools and even universities that
i ever dreamed of was high school
when you think that rejection only gets
better every time or even failing
it is only like you’re being pushed down
from the hills
when you thought that you’re about to
reach the top
and in adversity i thought there are
only two things that i was allowed to do
it is too grief and to give up
turns out i was wrong there are not two
things
there are two options first
it’s either you grieve and give up
or you grief
you acknowledge the failure and you
learn from it
and in this moment i was actually taught
to re-evaluate and even relearn my
motives of what
makes me upset by this failure
my motive was to prove myself
that i can be better from what people
think of me
but what makes me upset was that i
failed to prove it
but then it got me
what if i succeed
will the pride sustain
will i get caught in my small bubbles of
mine thinking that if i have succeeded i
would have stayed in my comfort zone
then the next question becomes what can
i do
next if i fail in the present times
in the next three to ten years or even
for a lifetime
with my closest people or even your
closest people definitely helps
in ensuring these thoughts
i realize that the process of grieving
is always needed
to assure that accomplishment means
something big to you
and finding ways to cope with it to get
to your next action
will determine how persistent you are
with your dream
in this moment as well i learned that
adversities
will always happen to you to evaluate
to help you relearn again what your
long-term goals
are if you succeed and that question
i never really thought of
adversities allow you to be what your
path
and the way you pivot it is actually in
your hand
to find my long-term goal i had to
explore what i’m really really
passionate about
because i know despite more failures and
adversities
this long-term goal will keep me going
or maybe like what angela duckworth said
it’s something that makes you greedy
but my quest and passion discovery
started through volunteering
in multi-organizations internships and
meeting
lots and lots of people more people than
what i thought my puberty self would
doubt i’d been able to do
it was pushing the limit for me
and in this exploration process
i was actually thought about something
that i really enjoyed seeing
it is growth
i actually see the same impact delivered
when i had my part-time job as a career
advisor during my time at uc davis
i had a chance to actually meet more
than 200 people
or even students every single quarter
who was so
confused of their next path
post-graduation
some of them even crying for hours
because they got rejected from
more than 50 jobs they applied to
and even some were smiling
when they told me that they got their
first offer letter
and ever since then seeing people
succeed
in their life or even career has become
my personal snack of joy and reward
i realized that this is something that i
wanted to see more of
and this is my passion
your passion can go from seeing people
grow
or even sustaining something because in
my case
my passion is seeing people grow seeing
me grow
seeing you grow and seeing them grow
passion turns out to be more than just a
thing that you decide to do
it is the impact that you are keen to
make or even find
from everything that you do
and this has become a baseline
foundation for what i look for in jobs
in products or even programs that i
built
and to start them you gotta be able
to question yourself again when you
encounter failure
what is the impact that i’m keen to make
in my life
what is my long-term goal because that
way
failure and adversities become only your
friend
do fine and sustain your passion