Reconnecting with childhood friends has certainly been one of the silver linings during this lockdown period. During the lockdown period, my secondary school friends revived our Whatsapp group chat.
We knew each other since we were thirteen and there were more than twenty years to catch up on. We caught up on what we were doing now in our lives, and it was interesting to find out where we all ended up. While most of us continue to live in Singapore, some are in the United States, United Kingdom and one is even moving to the UN Space Agency in Vienna!
Tribute for Teachers Day
We reminisced about our times in school. Talked about the teachers we drove crazy and the teachers we still admired today. One of the stories which came up was about us performing a Stomp-like performance for Teachers’ Day which apparently was written by me!
To be honest, my memories of this performance has long been forgotten. Even now the memories are murky at best. From the group chat, I managed to piece together my grand first act.
It was Teachers’ Day, and our class decided to surprise the school by volunteering to perform a piece. With that in mind and inspired by Stomp, I ambitiously wrote a piece and then spent a good time teaching my classmates.
With probably too little time and talent, we ultimately still went on stage in front of the entire school to perform. Despite bombing the performance, we are all to this day proud that we managed to accomplish it.
What Happened to that Fearless Ambition?
What made me think to myself was where was that fearless ambitious self I was back at fifteen?
The ambition to write a song without real professional training. The fearlessness of performing on stage without sufficient practice but knowing that we have given our all.
I am a little disappointed with myself now. My fifteen-year-old self would have laughed at me now. Afraid to take big risks and fear of failure.
But I guess it’s not too late considering I have at least half of my life left to make amends. I need to and will find my young self again. We all need to because it is the dreams of our younger selves that got us to where we are and sometimes we need that reminder to take us forward.
To paraphrase one of my inspirations:
Stay Ambitious, Stay Fearless.