Chapter 28- A Hidden Talent

 All of us have some sort of talent that we don’t know about. The hard part is identifying what exactly it is. Till now, I still don’t really know what hidden talent is. Although it may be my interpersonal skills, but I feel everyone has that skill and it makes the talent too general. I believe our hidden talent defines us and makes each and every one of us unique.

            Even though I can’t identify my talent, I can see talent in others. Perhaps others can identify my talent. For example, I had a classmate who knew everything about planes. Ask him what type it is or what airline it belongs to, he would tell you. Another person was from my gaming group; he would be the first person to complete assignments and was considered to be top of the class. So, one person who knows about airplanes and the other who is a straight shooter and gets the job done.

            Each and every body has a talent. Some talents may have a positive impact and others may have a negative impact. For example, if a person has a talent in debating, he or she would be considered positive if he or she is on your side. What if they aren’t? They’ll probably be stubborn and confident on their side that they forgot to take a step back and see each other’s views. Another example would be someone who is a professional gamer. They excel in the gaming world, but what happens in the real world? In reality, things are a lot different so it may impact them negatively. Whatever talent we may have, there are always two sides to it. Because of a strength, there will be a weakness. In a positive, there will be a negative to balance it.

            Till now, I am searching what I’m good at. What’s my purpose here in this world and I can contribute to society. Perhaps one day I will find out or perhaps I will never find out. No matter what happens, I will put it with my goals in life to search and find my hidden talent. Perhaps it is a journey with no ending.

Chapter 27- The Captain's Logbook

             We all have a list of the good and bad things of what people do to us. No matter how hard you try to erase it, it will leave an imprint. An example is a clean sheet of paper, when you start writing on it, there are words imprinted on it. If you try to erase it with an eraser, there will always be smudges or dents on the paper. It will never be the same clean sheet of paper you had originally. The point is, no matter how big or how small an impact a person makes in your life, the imprint lasts forever.

            Here’s the question for you to think about. Do you want a sheet full of good imprints or a sheet of bad imprints? In my opinion, I would say all of us want to have good imprints. In order to get more positive things down into our books, you have to be around the positive and supportive people around you. Don’t stand under the cloud of negativity, stand where the sun shines and the skies are clear. To maintain around the positive people, you also need to be positive and supportive. Same ideology applies, why would a positive person hang out with a negative person? If you are in the same boat, its means everyone is headed down the same path and goal.

            For example, people who always disappoint me in my life rarely have my respect and trust. If they always let me down, why should I be near or be associated with them? Once in a while if someone left a bad imprint, I tend to give them a second chance depending on the circumstances. I am considered to be more forgiving than others. However, if you take advantage of it, you’ll lose my respect and kindness towards you.

What the message in this chapter is telling you is to be nice and positive to the people around you. Similar values and characteristics attract certain people. Like attracts like. It’s like a mirror if you think about it. Whatever you do, make sure you leave a positive imprint in someone’s life and not a negative one. If that’s achieved, the world would be a better place than before and everyone will have a sheet of paper without dark black smudges on it.

Chapter 25- The Clock

             Time, our enemy and our ally, can we control it? People say time flies when you are having fun, which is very true. Time seems to be longer when you are in stress and pain. From my experience, I never have enough time to do the things I want and spend on the things I care about. We all get twenty hour hours in a day to do our things. How much you do in that twenty four hours is determined by your sense of responsibilities, motivation, and determination.

            You can’t control time by extending it, slowing it, freezing it, or speeding it. You can only manage your time so you can do things more efficiently. How do you manage? One must have a list of things that need to be done per day. Then you need to prioritize which ones are most important to you first, followed by the next one on your list and so on. Your goal is to complete all the tasks set out per day in order to manage time efficiently. If you missed out one task, do not procrastinate it or keep it the same priority the next day. You have to make the incomplete task a higher priority the next day in order to complete it or else too much tasks are left incomplete and things start piling up. At that point, you lose controlling time efficiently and make time control what you do. If it’s tasks involving other people, don’t take forever to complete it. People will lose trust, reliability, and respect for you. Do what you say and what you are doing and do it. This rule applies strongly to people in leadership roles. A good leader gets the job done like he or she said will do. A bad leader will only talk the talk, but not walk the walk.

            For example, I had work every night and I want to chat with my friends on my gaming group. Since I’m the group leader, I also have duties associated with it. One day I decided that I want to call up my friends to hang out, but I have a member in my gaming group who had issues with another member and wants to leave because he feels unwanted. That same day, I also wanted to write another chapter for this memoir because I want to. What should I do? Don’t panic because it’s a mess, but think out each task. I’ve got work, hang out with friends, member who wants to leave due to issues, and my memoirs. Let me prioritize now after seeing each task and evaluating based on my values and responsibilities. First, I will go to my gaming group and find the member and help him out. Resolve issues with the member and convince him to stay. Second, I will take time to write my memoirs because I hold it dearly to my heart. Third, I want to hang out with my friends, but not that long as I hoped for. As long as I get to hang out, the task will count as completed. Lastly, I go to work at night. A smooth transition after all the tasks directly into work. So, what was the result of that day? I followed each task sequentially based on my priorities and completed them. Because of that, I got all the tasks needed to be done, done. I also had some extra time left over, so I did some more chatting with my gaming group. If I missed one task, it would be my first or second task the next day so that I accomplish my goals of time management each day.

            Managing time efficiently is achievable. One must have a sense of responsibility, personal values, and the determination to achieve all tasks per day. I’ve had some crazy days with new tasks arising in between, but all I did was reprioritize it and get the job done. It’s hard work, but it pays off to you and how others perceive you.

Chapter 21- The Wall

             We’ve all been through some sort of rejection in our lives. Either it’s going to school, getting a job, or asking out a girl, we all face something known as the wall. You can’t see through it, climb it, or go through it. It’s one of the mysteries in the universe.

            After I graduated secondary school, I applied to various post-secondary in hope to further my education. I had some well known schools reject my admission because I did not qualify. Education can’t be determined by money and your level of intelligence. Education is determined by the passion to learn. That’s what it should be, but it’s not. That’s a wall encountered.

            When I went to apply some jobs after graduating post-secondary, I sent out many resumes and cover letters to various organizations. Most of them never call back to let me know. When I do get a call for an interview, I go and then get called for a second interview. After that, I never got a call for the job. Another wall encountered as I had no clue why I did not qualify for that job.

            From the previous chapter, I told you how I got turned down. I’m not using the word rejected because the friendship did not get damaged from the process. I knew eventually I would have to face the wall some day in my life. I can’t be lying to myself and giving me false hope. Nonetheless, the universe has spoken and given me a wall.

            So far, I have not found a way past the wall. It’s an unsolved mystery or one of the obstacles that life gives me. There must be a way past the wall. Would there be more walls one after another? I don’t know, but I am determined to face the wall and not turn around. If I have to crawl under it and get my hands dirty, I will. If I have to scale the wall like I’m climbing Mount Everest, I will. If I have to keep pounding on the wall with my bare hands until it collapses, I will. It is clear to me; I will fight for the things I hold close to my heart, my passion, and my goal. My pursuit to happiness.

Chapter 17- My Readers

             I am very thankful for you not walking away and continuing to read my stories. Your support in me has been greatly appreciated as I continue on to write more chapters.

            This chapter is dedicated to my readers who’ve shown me that people out there still care. That in this reality, out of the negative, there is a positive. You know who you are. I hope that some of these chapters may be similar in your lives so that you and I know that we are not alone. If none of the chapters relate to you, that’s fine. Perhaps you are living the dream.

            We all have our goals in this life. Some different and some the same. No matter what our goal is, we try to achieve it. Sometimes it is the impossible, but does that mean we should give up? If you are not going to pursue it, you will never know if you will achieve it. My goal is the pursuit of happiness. It’s a direction, but all the little things build up towards the goal of happiness.

            I hope you will share these stories to the world to see. Show your friends, families, or even strangers. Your network will not know who exactly I am, but they will know that I’m a person telling my stories during a tough time in my life. This is the reason why I am still anonymous at this point. I want others to read and relate if possible while not being judgmental of who I am, what I do, and where I come from. In the society we live, there will always be some hate speech, but the intensity of the hate will be lessened since it’s not directed at me due to my anonymity.

            So, share my stories with others. Let us help each other out. If you don’t want to share, I respect your decision. I would like to thank you for keeping up with me till now and I hope that you will continue to read my following chapters. Thank you for your kindness.