Luck & Gratitude

I'm a lucky man. A few things happened to me recently and I can't help but remind myself again that I am a lucky man.

Sometimes we need to take a step back and count all the blessings we have in our life. This is where I start to recount the "lucky" moments I have in life.

Arriving Into This Wonderful World

Lucky to outswim the sperm horde and get a chance to experience this amazing world. Lucky to have been born to amazing parents that gave me a lot of autonomy in making my own decisions from a very young age. Lucky to have siblings who could tolerate their "annoying" big brother who shows his version of love in a very weird way.

Getting An Education

Lucky to be born in Singapore and to have access to education. Lucky to have first landed into Rulang Primary School where the school and teachers were tough. It shaped my early years and I gained invaluable core moral lessons which I take to this date.

Lucky to not have had the chance to go to The Chinese High School because school fees were just too expensive ($250+ a month back then) and we couldn't afford it as a family. If not for this diversion, I wouldn't have fallen in love with the game of basketball and made lifelong friends in River Valley High School. I did later get into Hwa Chong Institution (or Hwa Chong Junior College as it was still known back then) and knew a whole bunch of TCHS folks. It's mysterious how the universe works when everything still manages to come full circle.

After high school, I was then lucky to be able to complete my Business Degree at Nanyang Business School. NBS days were a blur and I probably spent more time playing basketball then attending classes. I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to captain a team of "all-stars" basketballers and graduate with decent enough grades to get a job and make a living.

Forging a Career in Talent Acquisition

No one dreams of being a recruiter (I might be a lil harsh here). I landed into the role by chance but the prospect of the role attracted me. There was this calling around helping companies build successful businesses and helping candidates find great jobs. I believe behind every great & successful business, there is a great headhunter/recruiting team. Talent drives success. This pushes me daily.

Recruit Express gave me the opportunity to experience firsthand what recruitment is like and I will always remember my years there especially all the friendships that were forged ... not to forget I met my wife there too.

Barrington James then opened doors for me to get deeper into the industry as well as almost travel the world (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea, UK, US) while doing it. People worked hard and played harder. I learnt so much and it was great fun.

ResMed gave me an opportunity to get directly involved in a business that is trying to change lives with every breath (and also got to know a whole bunch of existing friends who were suffering from sleep apnea. I wasn't aware that sleep apnea was such a big thing globally until I joined). It also allowed me to get to know a number of amazing people globally across the business; not to mention picking up some basic Korean, Japanese, Portugese and Spanish along the way.

Building A Family

I'm lucky to have met my beautiful wife and we have a lovely boy. I tend to tell my wife she is the lucky one but truth be told, I'm blessed (or maybe we can settle with "we are lucky to have each other"). Lucky to have secured and moved to a new place just 1 day before Singapore went into lockdown in 2020 and lucky to find a replacement mover 24 hours before I was about to move (original mover cancelled on me the day before we were supposed to move).

Like all couples, we quarrel, we argue, we laugh and we occasionally cry. Still counting my blessings =)

Being Alive and Having Immediate Family Members Alive too

If you're still here reading, well done. Below's what probably triggered this post in the first place.

I'm lucky to be alive. I got into a car crash in Dec 2021 with my wife and son in the car. Lucky for me, everyone escaped unscathed including the passengers in the car I crashed into. We had to replace the entire front section of the car (headlights, bonnet, bumper etc) and I am lucky the car was insured.

I'm lucky to have immediate family members who are still around. I know 2021 hasn't been kind to people all around the world and a lot of people are going through tough times and/or have lost their loved ones. My mother was hospitalized for 2 weeks in late 2021 and later diagnosed with colon cancer. Lucky for us, it was stage one and lucky for us, she has had a successful surgery and is now recuperating at home.

This post will be my version of "Note to Self", something that I will make a point of revisiting down the road when times are rough. I thought to share this in case some of the sharings would be helpful to anyone (and most definitely sharing this with my son when he grows up).

Final Reminder/Note to Self

Count my blessings every day and be grateful! It might be a little morbid to say this but you'd never know if today's going to be your last.

What lucky moments do you have? What are you grateful for?

Feel free to comment/share your moments or better still, take action....

"He said: One day you'll leave this world behind.....So live a life you will remember"