Advice for fresh graduates....
-----Sim Seng Lim
It's graduation season!!! Let me share my bit of advice for young people about to embark on a new journey. It is a crossroad, and it will lead to many different adventures. As fresh graduates, you will hear many different advices, but take what resonates with you.
......You must do what you want to do. You must have FUN in your work. Do work that you are passionate on, and once you enjoy what you do, the hours won’t seem so long, and the enthusiasm will show and you will excel because you enjoy the work. Some of you will be successful, some of you will wander for a while before you find your calling, some of you might falter and fail first before finding your bearing. But as Winston Churchill said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, and it is the courage to continue that counts.” It will not always be smooth sailing in life, in your career, andyou willhave yourfair share of failures and disappointments, (trust me) but with each disappointment and each time you cry, you will be so close with your emotions and you will gain clarity. Clarity will help define your beliefs in life – do you give up because you fail, or are you so convinced in what you want to do even when you first fail? It will test your convictions. And ultimately this will define who you are. (Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree). Helen Keller said “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trail and suffering can the soul be strengthen, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. Silver is purified in fire and so are we. It is the most trying times that our real character is shaped and revealed”.
A key word I learnt some years back is “ACCEPTANCE” and the awareness of acceptance can make a difference to our lives!Permit me to quote from an Indian guru....“Acceptance will keep you emotionally tranquil, non-acceptance will create those emotional agitations within you. When something is happening or about to happen not the way I want, and I accept it, it becomes tolerance, when I don’t accept, it becomes anger.
What is fear? Fear is when I am about to encounter uncertainty, when I don’t know what I am facing, I don’t know what is going to happen; the basic uncertainty causes fear in me. But when you go trekking with friends in Himalaya, or go sailing or white water rafting, you also face uncertainty but there you don’t call it fear, you call it adventure. When you are facing uncertainty, and you are not able to accept it, it becomes fear, when you are able to accept it, you call it adventure. When you feel jealous, somebody has something that you don’t have, or somebody is able to produce the results you are not able to produce, and you are not able to accept it, it becomes jealousy, when you are able to accept it, and it becomes inspiration.When somebody has things you don’t have, it inspires you to work towards it.If somebody has hurt you, you are not able to accept it, it becomes hatred, if you are able to accept it, it becomes forgiveness. Simple. Life when handle with non-acceptance becomes a negative emotion, Life when handle with acceptance becomes a positive emotion. That’s the emotional equation of life!”
Hold these four good words with you – Courage, Honour, Integrity, Generosity. I hope it will help hold you well in times of adversity.
a.Courage: "Moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal or discouragement. Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtue possible. (Aristotle)
b.Honour. From the Latin word honos, honoris upon one's honour – it is on the pledge of one's word or good name to deliver what has been agreed or promised.
c.Integrity. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.Integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character.No one, no one can take away your integrity. Only you yourself can give it or surrender it away.
d.Generosity. Live a generous life. (I don’t just mean giving away money). I hope you will all one day learn that you will never be rich in life until you know how to be generous at heart. If you don’t know how to give, how to share, it means you never have enough,the day you know the joy of giving; you will understand the core of true wealth.When you are generous at heart, your perspective on life will change and you will see and understand difficult situations and problems in a different light.
Let me share one last secret with you….one of the measure of success that parents measure in our life is our children…. i.e. you! How you turn out and what you are and what your become is theone true legacyparents will leave behind! Do them proud! Today does not mark the end of your learning journey. It marks the beginning of many adventures and experiences to come.
I wish all fresh graduates everywhere......every success in the years ahead, whether you are joining the workforce, serving the nation, or furthering your studies.
Live, Love, Laugh…. for you are young, you are strong and you are beautiful! Go forth and conquer! Congratulations, Class of 2017.
——from Linkedin