Living with Intention

1st February 2020

We have just come to the end of Jan 2020. I could not help but look back when I first came to UK in Sept 1999, to start my vet studies in London. I remembered welcoming the millennium and many people panicking about the Y2K bug that did not amount to anything too exciting at all.

Just like that, 2 decades have flown by. I am no longer the fresh eyed, straight from army, lost clueless Chinese guy (maybe I am still lost and clueless… hard to say these days! J). I have completed my vet degree, entered the work force, honed my skills, started a family and a vet practice. I have also made friends, lost friends, picked up new hobbies (like salsa and capoeira) and all that in between.

I still remembered that when I qualified, the plan was to work in an emergency vet clinic to make as much money as possible so I can pay off my huge debt created by my studies (approximately £100k as I was paying full tuition fees being a foreigner, even before Brexit!). However, I did not do that. I continued working in general practice instead. I was not a great student as many of you would know so I made a promise not to take any more exams again after qualification.

Did I listen to myself? Of course not! After working for 4 years, I enrolled in an advanced certification in medicine. I remember the winter of 2010, just before I completed that extra qualification, the snow hit hard over Christmas and I was snowed in for 10 days in my little house in Okehampton. I was miserable. I literally was stuck and could not get out of the little town. I promised myself that I would never stay in this country over winter on my own again. I was craving the sun! I am a solar-powered Singaporean!!! I was planning to leave UK in Sept 2011 after my certification to go to South America to work as a vet for a couple of years to fulfil one of my dreams. After that, I would head down to sunny Gold Coast, Australia, marry a surfer chick and settle down with a couple of kids with Aussie accents!

Well, did that happen?! Typically, I met my wife in March 2011, got married and almost 10 years later, have 2 children and founded Amity almost three years ago. Some may say, “You gave up your dream!” I would reply, “I gave up that dream for a better dream!” I hold no regrets at all. If given a choice, I would do it all over again, exactly the same way.

Anyway, back to my original musing. I find myself asking myself, “Did I live life intentionally or did I allow life to live me?”  I feel that I had done my best to make decisions the best I could with the information I had in hand. Certainly, many mistakes were made but hey, to err is human. I love my life. I choose what I become. I am certainly not what happened to me. I live with immense gratitude.

What about you?

‘Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.’ – John Lennon

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