Way back 2006, when I was still 6 years old studying in Kindergarten, I remember our teacher used to have a writing competition, where the first pupil who got to write the fastest in class will receive a reward from her, which is a star stamp on the notebook of the pupil.
The task was to copy all the lessons she wrote on the blackboard. Both boards had a lot of words and being a left-handed, I struggled writing as fast as I could back then. As expected, someone wrote quickly and she got the star stamp on her notes. Being the first pupil to finish copying all the notes in the board, she also got the privilege to go home early.
The next condition the teacher made was that once we finish copying all the notes already, we can now go home too. Being the kids that we were who were so excited to go home after class, we wrote as fast as we can and copied all the written notes. I recall that my cousin already finished copying while I was still writing.
My heart beats so fast back then, I thought that if I won't finish quickly, I will be left in the room because my cousin is now allowed to go home if she wants to. I thought that if I will write slowly, I will go home alone.
However, my cousin was really nice that she didn't leave me in the room alone, instead she cheered for me and motivated me to just continue writing. Being so nervous, I asked her to check my other classmates' notes if they are almost done already, and she gave me updates about each pupil. (It's so sad that we are no longer that close today. Lols!)
And after I finished copying the notes, we finally got to go home together. However, when we were already in our houses, our aunt asked for our notebooks and compared our writings (hers was readable, mine was inscrutable) and asked what happened. We then said the teacher's mini-competition and the condition to go home early.
That very moment when I was still young taught me that if I don't write quickly, I wouldn't get to be recognized or get to go home early. Being competitive, I inculcated in my mind that I have to be fast in everything I do so that I will be rewarded or praised like the other pupil.
If you have been reading some of my articles, you would have probably concluded that I am the type of person who is somehow always in a hurry or always rushing on a lot of things, where almost everything has a deadline.
In real life, I am a fast-walker. I value every time I have and I can't afford to walk slowly because I'll just be wasting time, which might become the reason why I didn't get to my destination at the right time. The same is true with my dreams and goals in life. I want to get things done as fast as I can, and I want to accomplish my goals and make my dreams become a reality within the deadline that I myself set.
I am not just a goal-setter but also a go-getter. Just like what I have mentioned in my past articles, there is a timeline that I am following. That is probably the reason why I am hustling instead of partying, studying instead of sleeping all day, working instead of eating up, waking up early instead of enjoying the comfort of my bed, saving instead of buying new branded clothes and shoes, and investing instead of wasting money. There are so many goals and dreams that I want to achieve in a specific deadline.
I have set my own deadlines without thinking that it is not me who is in control of my life, but it is God. And that no matter how much I want things to be done, if it is not yet in God's perfect timing, it will never happen.
Setting my own deadlines on my goals has also caused me to feel burnt out sometimes that the pressure I keep giving to myself is too much to carry.
Stop rushing.
Life is neither a competition nor a race. There is such thing as being awarded as the first honor if you got to achieve your goals first before the others. Don't treat others as your competitors, instead treat them as a companion that you meet along the way. They also have their own path to take so don't envy them if you see them ahead of you. Make them as your motivation to keep going and never stop.
Take your time.
It doesn't matter if what age you will be able to accomplish your goals. What matters is you were able to conquer your dreams. Listen to your body and give yourself a break if you need it.
Just take your time because you will definitely make it in the end.
Wow that's true, I can remember vividly during my secondary school days I can't even speak english at all, there was a particular day I went into a fight with a student and our class teacher get us caught so we were ask to explain what happen that make us fighting each other, the other guy was able to explain him self but I find it difficult to explain myself in english, I try to explain in my mother tongue but the teacher never allow me to do so, he keep insisting I talk in english which I feel so embarrassed. I cried so much that day cause they all make fun of me in the teachers office. But thank God today I am a graduate with Bachelor's degree