An artist, a doer
There’s no magic bullet when it comes to passion. It’s something you cultivate and create.
In the process, a surefire way to know if you’re passionate about something is by asking yourself these two questions:
- Am I willing to do it for free?
- Am I willing to do it alone?
Ted Tsai
Free also means Without. Therefore, “Freedom of Speech” can be defined as Silence (or Shut Up).
Without prejudice, I’d like those negative people, harsh critics or extremists to exercise their rights this way sometimes… 👄📩 Ted Tsai
The fact is we human beings are biased. We all take sides.
How do I know for sure? The answer lies in the heart!
Where is the heart located in the chest? It’s not exactly in the centre, is it?!
Our challenge is to draw a fine line between preference and prejudice. The preference side is OK, the prejudice side is not… Ted Tsai
They say: Fight fire with fire. Well, try to apply it to negative people, it may fuel them even more and backfire. The point is? Don’t feed the monster!
A friend of mine once said to me: Negative people are like bad smell, better stay away from them fast. I laughed in agreement.
Since then I have been paying close attention to what’s around me – the environment, the people, even the words I say, to ensure I don’t become a minus. The point is? Negativity is contagious.
Not surprisingly, this has led me to discover something interesting about human nature – the loudest is often the weakest. One important thing to note here is eyes never lie…
So, don’t believe those things they say about a sensitive person. We aren’t all nothing but a drama queen. The truth is: When putting our sensitivity to good use, we can easily detect all kinds of smell AND be the first to exercise the power of walking away!
The point is? Sniff sniff before they make you sneeze sneeze…
Following my recent health scare, all I wanted was some normality to return to my life.
I guess it’s always easier to write about this kind of experience after the event has passed, not when you’re still in the middle of it. For me, a lesson can only be learnt after it’s taught, agree?
One check-up after another, a blood test, a brain scan, next a consultation with an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, when is it going to end?
I was over it. At times, it felt like forever, my patience was once again put to the test. Why me? I don’t smoke, I don’t drink… What if I have a cancer?
At one point, I became this stoic and cold person. I could shrug it off and carry on another day no problems. But other times, I was a complete opposite to the guy 24 hours ago. I watched myself going from one extreme to another – from feeling carefree and careless to feeling anxious and powerless.
Waiting is the hardest thing to do yet there’s nothing you can do about it. You can only hope that one day that time will be on your side. It’s not a big ask, is it? Apparently it is if you don’t do your homework!
Finally, 4 weeks later, I got some breathing space I desperately needed. I was given the all clear by the doctor and the specialist. To finish it on a positive note, it felt like someone had handed me a second chance in life. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Typically, men don’t care enough about their health, compared with women. In many cases, men have that ego thing going on, stopping us from reaching out. In a short term, it may help save our face but in the long run, will it save our life?
What does it take to be a real man? For me, a real man is someone who knows himself inside out including strengths, weaknesses and vulnerability, someone who takes care of his health including physical health and mental health.
Sometimes we just can’t be bothered. Sometimes we are in denial. Sometimes we think problems will go away themselves. All these are convenient excuses. What we need is a gentle push, to go out of our way to do the “inconvenient thing” like getting our health checked. It’ll put us in a better position to do the rule-in and the rule-out thing, instead of just guessing what it might be.
Looking back, this health scare has re-affirmed to me one thing – life is unpredictable. I could’ve got totally different results. I could’ve come out of it a crashed man. But I didn’t. Why not? Older and wiser, I checked the facts. Don’t freak out until you know the facts! I was prepared for it – come what may. Good or bad, it’s better to know and do something about it, than not know and do nothing about it.
That’s what a real man is all about…
Ted Tsai 