Nevertheless, the reason I consider my experience in Taiwan special to me is because it taught me the importance of learning to embrace the idea that life does not always go according to how you plan it. I never planned to teach English in Taiwan but it happened. I never thought I would take an advanced level of Chinese class here but that happened too. I never thought that some of my closest friends in Taiwan would end up feeling like family and we even acted as a family...and you know what? That happened too. With all these surprises in store, I can't help but think that uncertainty does not have to be such a bad thing and perhaps the suspense of feeling uncertain is not the most thrilling as it is nerve wrecking. But does that mean I won't feel at the least anxious or worried? Perhaps but I won't let these feelings dominate me anymore. I will drink them in and take control of what I can. The rest is destiny or fate.
" My experience here in Taiwan has taught me that there is only so much I can know and so much I will know. I have learned that I don't have to know everything right now whether it is about myself or the world around me. "
The program director of CIEE taught me about the Chinese concept of "Yuan fen" (缘分) which means fate and that fate is meant to bring the people whom you were meant to meet together. Perhaps, Taiwan and I were meant to meet together and we did. This is something I never imagined 3 years ago when I was filling out my college applications that I would learn how much life is unplanned, uncertain, and uncontrolled by us. I learned that we don't necessarily control what happens to us or what we may experience. We do control how we react to our experiences. The reason I say this is because much of my experience in Taiwan constitutes events that I never imagined would happen but keeping an open mind about it all, I embraced and learned from what happened.
I once freaked out because I did not do well on my Chinese midterm as I had expected. I thought I would give up on Chinese because I didn't think my Chinese is quite up to par. I also feared that I wouldn't get a good final grade in Chinese class because of this midterm grade. In reality, I wasn't taking control of the situation because I was wallowing in pain about my failure to meet my expectations. I was over analyzing and overestimating the importance of good grades. In reality, I was preventing myself from learning and improving by putting so much emphasis on grades. It was futile and it was not solving the problem so I decided to spend one hour each night reviewing Chinese. Then I realized that I was retaining more, learning, and improving my Chinese. When I started focusing on what I could do now to change things, I learned that being proactive allows you to progress faster than worrying. You see fear and worry only give you an illusion that you are doing something about a bigger problem when you really are not doing anything about it. This is what I learned from this particular experience and it was a blessing in disguise.
Blessings in Disguise?
When I look back into my life, it seems as though some of the blessings we're given are the ones we don't ever plan to have. My experience in Taiwan has taught me that there is only so much one can know and will know. I don't have to know everything right now about myself or the world around me. That's the comforting part about uncertainty in life is that it provokes you to find something to look forward to because life brings so many surprises that it is hardly ever comfortable to think about a predictable life. If you are the kind that worries so much, remember that you don't have to know everything. It's truly impossible to do so.
" My experience here in Taiwan has taught me that there is only so much I can know and so much I will know. I have learned that I don't have to know everything right now whether it is about myself or the world around me. "
The program director of CIEE taught me about the Chinese concept of "Yuan fen" (缘分) which means fate and that fate is meant to bring the people whom you were meant to meet together. Perhaps, Taiwan and I were meant to meet together and we did. This is something I never imagined 3 years ago when I was filling out my college applications that I would learn how much life is unplanned, uncertain, and uncontrolled by us. I learned that we don't necessarily control what happens to us or what we may experience. We do control how we react to our experiences. The reason I say this is because much of my experience in Taiwan constitutes events that I never imagined would happen but keeping an open mind about it all, I embraced and learned from what happened.
I once freaked out because I did not do well on my Chinese midterm as I had expected. I thought I would give up on Chinese because I didn't think my Chinese is quite up to par. I also feared that I wouldn't get a good final grade in Chinese class because of this midterm grade. In reality, I wasn't taking control of the situation because I was wallowing in pain about my failure to meet my expectations. I was over analyzing and overestimating the importance of good grades. In reality, I was preventing myself from learning and improving by putting so much emphasis on grades. It was futile and it was not solving the problem so I decided to spend one hour each night reviewing Chinese. Then I realized that I was retaining more, learning, and improving my Chinese. When I started focusing on what I could do now to change things, I learned that being proactive allows you to progress faster than worrying. You see fear and worry only give you an illusion that you are doing something about a bigger problem when you really are not doing anything about it. This is what I learned from this particular experience and it was a blessing in disguise.
Blessings in Disguise?
When I look back into my life, it seems as though some of the blessings we're given are the ones we don't ever plan to have. My experience in Taiwan has taught me that there is only so much one can know and will know. I don't have to know everything right now about myself or the world around me. That's the comforting part about uncertainty in life is that it provokes you to find something to look forward to because life brings so many surprises that it is hardly ever comfortable to think about a predictable life. If you are the kind that worries so much, remember that you don't have to know everything. It's truly impossible to do so.
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