Love cannot be measured

When my youngest boy, hp was about two and a  half years old, he loved numbers and he had learnt to count from one to ten. At that age when vocabulary was limited for him to express himself, it's surprising to see him using numbers in an interesting and unique way.

"I'm angry with you, 1 day."

"I like this book, 2 days."

"I like to kick the ball, 4 days."

"..........................., 5 days."

"................................, 8 days."

Funny, isn't it?  That was the way he expressed the degree of his feelings in different situations, with a number in every sentence.

After I had taught him to count to 100, I could not wait to ask him a question which I wished to get the number '100' in his answer.

"How much you love mama ?" I hugged him and asked.

He stared at me and answered without hesitation, "Never stops."

Yes, "Love never stops!" 

What a wonderful answer! It is really amazing. He didn't associate a number with his answer this time! "Love cannot be measured" is in a child's natural instinct.

Catching your dreams

During my time, study hard to get a degree was not so much for knowledge or interest to most people.

There were too much obligations and commitments to parents and families after all they had "invested" a lot on us. We had to weigh their "returns" for them. So the most important factor was whatever you pursued in must guarantee you a good job. Future was equated with getting a job, settling down, starting a family, bringing up kids, sending them to universities.........

Ambitions were not driven by one's dream or ideal as our choices were "conditioned". We became what others expected us to be rather than what we wanted to be.

Nobody dare to talk about chasing and catching his own dreams....

Catching your dreams? What a luxurious thing to me then!

But it's never too late! Now that I have retired and financially independent, I can pursue to chase and catch my unfulfilled dreams ...

Decision Making

Come to decision making, it is always a headache to us. Even if we have weighed the pros and cons before we decide on something, we are never 100% sure. Besides, even following the "right" decision made, still doesn't guarantee you a clear cut case, a path that is completely without a setback.

No matter how well you have thought through in making a decision, you are bound to face some problems on the way; there may be some factors that we have not taken into consideration or overlooked while making a decision; something may just crop out unexpectedly after we have decided to go ahead. Other scenarios like time and situation could have changed which could make the outcome of our decision completely different from what we have assumed it to be earlier. 

"It's not easy to make a right decision! " That's why we always hear people say.....

I am always fearful to make a decision. To avoid  making wrong decisions, I always carefully consider every little detail before I commit. And once any decision is made, I would tell myself to prepare for the worst, in case I need to face any undesirable change that crop out along the way.

But I would never regret a decision made. To regret over a decision made should be the last thing we ever do as it's the most foolish thing to do - crying over spilt milk!

Keep yourself busy

Many people find life after retirement boring. They don't know what to do with so much free time they have now.

Before retirement, they work the whole day and return home late in the evening. Not much time was left each day for themselves and the family. Nobody would ask how to spend their excess time as they didn't even have enough for watching TV, reading newspaper, handling children and household chores....

If possible, they wished they could double their time .

After their children have grown up, either studying overseas or working away from home, life becomes less busy than before. After retirement, it's even better. Not only you don't have to go to office, you find not much things to do at home too.

Life seems to be easier. But on the contrary, many find life boring at this stage instead.

Therefore planning for your retirement is important. Try to identify some activities you are interested in to occupy your time. It doesn't matter what type of activity it is as long as you like it, e.g. some even take up dancing after retirement!

For those who don't have any plan after retirement, they are caught at a lost. They do not know what to do. They just sit at home and watch TV most of the time. As their social circle shrink drastically at the same time, they are frustrated. Some smoke more than before and many indulge in eating spree . Coupled with lack of physical activities, there goes their health and eventually life.

As for me, I try to keep myself busy. I spend my time doing gardening, cooking, reading books, playing piano, collecting old items like old postcards, old watches, old irons ..... And now, adding to all these , writing my blog.

So, I am as busy as ever even after retirement. And life is as interesting as ever. 

Now or Never

Everyone has this experience : There are a lot of things that we wish to accomplish in life, but somehow at the end we find ourselves nowhere near our goals .

One reason may be the goals we set are beyond our abilities to achieve. But more often than not it's due to the fact that we do not try hard enough. We either give up too soon or we simply push it to later dates and eventually find some excuses to abandon it.

To make sure we can accomplish our goals, we have to take note of a few important points. Firstly we must make sure that we set realistic and achievable goals. Secondly, we must do away the habit of giving excuses/justification as it is the biggest stumbling block to achieving your goals. It takes less effort to give yourself an excuse for not doing than to crack head looking for a way to accomplish, right? 

You would notice a person who is lack of determination would be one who always look for excuses to explain himself.

Thirdly, don't ever allow yourself to keep pushing backward what is to be accomplished. Remind yourself it's "now or never" or you will definitely look back with regret one day.