I know the blog updates are becoming rather infrequent.
Here is the thing. I have reached a point in my life where I decided to please the only person who matters. And in this case that is me.
James Taylor sang the secret of life is to enjoy the passage of time (Secret 0 Life) and that is what I have been doing,
I stopped stressing on things that doesn’t matter.
One of the major thing was my children’s education. Although I am no way a pushy mother when it comes to my children’s education, I have always been worried about them getting somewhere in life. I wanted to give them the best opportunities. When Yaya declined UCLA, UCSD etc admission offers, I was disappointed. But I had always given her the right to choose and she is happy where she is. I now teach students who wrote the Gamsat exam with me. I would have been one of them if I wasn’t deaf. I find it really odd that I teach them now. Life is really funny at times eh?. One of my student is a famous researcher whose papers I have read. After completing her PhD and Post doc, she decided to do medicine and wrote Gamsat. The thing is, after PhD, you are not entitled to receive student loan, so she is self supporting herself by working 20 hours each week and living in a share home. I have another brilliant student who has done PhD in Chemical engineering and then felt that is not what he wanted to do and is now doing Medicine (Again self supporting by doing construction labour). I have a student who is the only child of a single mother with questionable past ( her words, not mine) and doesn’t know who her father is and determined to change her destiny. Interacting with students from various backgrounds, I have learned that if you want to get somewhere, then you can. All you need to do is to work for it.
Hardest part for me as a mother was to stand aside and watch.. When Yaya was in grade 12, during her study hols before the finals, she read novels. She even worked when she had two days off between her exams. It is the same with my son. He is currently binge reading Jeffrey Archer novels. His finals will start end of this month. I only ever studied just before the exams. So not studying when you are on study holidays used to bother me a great deal. But not anymore.
So all in all, I have changed. I decided to enjoy the passage of time doing things I want to do. In this instance, I stopped fretting.
I envy you! I’m such a worrier 🙁 but I see the point – teenagers will do what they want to do so whats the point? In fact if you assert it will only evoke resistance.
Goutham: I chant om mani padme hum every time I know I am stressing. It helps a lot.
Recently found peace in meditation. Been miserable for a while, (dad died recently). Though my brain knows the right answers, applying those and accepting life is a different thing.
Now I have learnt to accept people and situations for what they are, and its getting better… long way to go tho.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold
Ra: My condolences. I know it will be hard to deal with the feelings of loss. Amma had given me a bible on my 21st birthday and wrote that quote for me. I had that bible for a very long time, even though I was not religious. But I lost the bible in one of the moves from country to country.
Oh those beautiful times when you could binge read Jeffrey Archer without a care! Mr. Archer reminds me of school days. On a serious note, the stories of your students are very inspiring.
A: Thank you. I still read Jeffrey Archer’s books
Hi Sarah,
Happy for your being able to have more time to pursue enjoyable endeavors. Sad for me; I readily anticipate your posts and sincerely hope you will continue even if the “updates are becoming rather infrequent”. Thank you, Sarah.
Paul
Paul Naves: Thank you