Learning to Adapt to Major Changes in Life

I recently heard a piece of unexpected news and we went ballistic! I couldn't share here..yet..but all I can say is that people change. Things happen and then you question yourself about life and how you want to live it especially when it concerns about your future. At one point, you may have strong opinions about something and then you start to re-think about the whole situation and figure out, yes perhaps this is what I want and I'm ready to embrace it.

Of course, stepping into a whole new territory is a different story. Nobody knows what the future has in store for us. At one point, we are leading the perfect life and then the next moment, we are fighting a crisis. I've written about this before because this is how life goes. I can't always expect things to remain the same all the time, for this year and the upcoming years. Naturally, if we're so much into the routine, it takes awhile to adjust. New or broken relationships, job postings, different set of work or school expectations which require some or a lot of adjustments in life.

Major changes can be hard to embrace at first but over time, you learn to adapt. Often as humans, we are actually capable of rebuilding our lives when at some point in life, sh*t happens or you're at a crossroad not knowing what to do. Everything seems to be going south and then you look at the people you're responsible for and decided to do something to continue to fulfil your responsibilities even if it may seem harder at first. Or when you're ready to take the next step and then you don't know if it's going to work out or not but you just take a leap of faith and just go for it.

There is no perfect moment to jump into. You just have to take the first step if you want things to get better.

I read an article recently and it really struck me how this serial F&B serial entrepreneur was leading a good life and then she and her husband had a failed business that made them lose everything including their home. Together with their 3 children, they had to move into her mum and sister's one room rental flat. Can you imagine, living in a tight space, when previously, they were staying comfortably in a four room flat. It was a seriously major change for the family.

Finances were really tight because they had to work on clearing that debt. Surviving the family on a mere $300 a month was really tough when there were 7 people in the family. But did she think that this was it, this was how they were going to lead their lives? No. She wanted to at least make the children comfortable sleep in bed once again like in their former home. Once the financial situation was so bad that she had to sought the help from a Meet the MP (Member of Parliament ) session to get help. She did get the interim help which acted as a boost that she did not want to rely on government handouts.

Long story short, there were very tough days when she first started her home catering business which grew  in popularity. Money was already tight in the beginning but she did all she can to sustain the business and slowly invest in better spacious locations with the revenue coming in to accommodate to the growing number of orders. Even then, they worked long hours from 4am to 12 midnight.

Now she no longer had to work so long because she has a team of dedicated people working for her in her restaurants though she sometimes step into the kitchen because you can't really take the cook out of her. Her grit and determination, not forgetting dedication, make he a true inspiration in our Muslim community. We are often thought to be lacking behind in terms of success as compared to other races and then it didn't help too our race is always the top in things that well, nobody wants to be top in.

My colleague said that everyone's lives is different like you can't expect everyone to do things like her. True. But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't seek to improve our lives for the better. Some people take the easy way out by taking advantage of other people's sympathy. Those other people who work very hard in life for some people to sponge off them. If it's a toxic friend, you just don't need them in your life. But what if they're family like your sibling. So it's really a difficult situation to be in.

However, I am also of the opinion that yes, we can still help but based on how much we are able to help and not to force ourselves to go beyond what we are capable of giving. This is especially when it's a genuine case but again, even in such cases, people can still take advantage so you just have to be smart and know when you should and should not give more than we could.

I mean again, based on what my colleague said, everyone's life is different, and so are their personalities and characteristics. 

About the unexpected news that I mentioned at the start of this post, more info soon :)