A True Warrior

Saturdays are my busiest day! It starts very early in the morning spending time with my leadership, reviewing their performance, their lessons, goal setting, setting new bench mark and than going on endless conference calls with my global leaders, talking to them on their progress and performance... By evening I like to wind down and spend some moment with myself... My personal review :) I decided long ago, I must be my toughest coach... :) This particular Saturday, I sat at Starbucks, with my hot mint tea... It was packed with people catching up or just chilling on Saturday evening or just chatting away... 

When I am into my own world, I can block out any noise which surrounds me and totally stay focused on my work and that's my 'special skill'! This particular evening, I was awaken from my world by a young mother and her kid. She asked if they could share the table with me as the whole place was packed and I said sure! I don't know why the little girl was excited to sit at my table... She probably at most 2 1/2 years old... Maybe it's my curly hair :) or just my friendly smile :)) kids tend to get friendly with me! The little girl was trying to have conversation with me but sadly I couldn't understand her words as she spoke in a language I am not familiar with... But some how we were having good time. What puzzled me was, her mother was just the opposite of the Kid. Refused to smile, refused to even say anything or even answer any of my questions... She sat opposite of me, facing outside so she doesn't have too look at me... This continued for an hour till the kids grandmother walked in and she smiled and pulled a chair and sat... Now I have a grandmother, mother and daughter at my table... Total strangers :) 

Not even 5 mins at the table, the grandmother took her business card and placed in front of me! She       said she does business and that's her card... I took the card looked at it... While I was looking at it, she
 continued talking, she said, " My granddaughter was very weak, so I bought her this milk powder and she likes it and now she is much stronger and I decided to share and run my own business"! I was speechless, this grandmother is 70 years old, speaks broken Malaysian language yet found courage to talk to a stranger in less that 5 mins and promote her business. She continued to say that she has been doing this for 3 months, she can make some pocket money and if tomorrow she is no longer around, her granddaughter will benefit from her efforts today... 

Than she asked if she could write on the paper in front of me, I gave it to her. She drew for me how I can benefit and make money too and she continued by saying, it's not worth to sit at office for a pay cheque as no matter how much we take home, it's not enough today and the world is stressful. She also told me how she put some hard earned savings into some investment plans in the bank and after 10 years she got nothing much and instead of keeping in the bank she could have done something with it. What really caught me was, she said... If I can do this for another 1 1/2 years,   I can buy my
own car, she continued by saying, I don't want a big car but just a Malaysian made car will do and I will pay cash for it! 

Woww!! Let me remind you, this is a 70 years old woman and she is inspired to be all she could be!! On the other hand, her daughter-in-law sat there the whole hour looking at the outside world pass by...  Sadly there are more people today like the daughter-in-law rather than the grandmother! 

Than I looked at the little kid and I said to myself, you are blessed... You have a grandmother who is a warrior! Grow up and be like her... Fight to be the best till the last day and only live to Be All You Could Be... 

My moment with a great warrior.... May you live to blow 100 candles!

Reality?

When Fantasia Barrino took the stage at American Idol final show and sang, "I Believe" every cell, every fiber in my body sang with her.  When she was crowned the American Idol winner for season 3 that night, and she took the stage one more time for "I Believe", I cried with her.
 The same emotions I had for Jacklyn Victor, the Malaysia's first Idol winner and her song,  "Gemilang", I cried with her...  Till today, those moments are so fresh in my thoughts, my mind, my heart.  Each moment i hear those songs, my heart goes back to that night,  that moment... that moment in time!

Not just Fantasia or Jacklyn, I have many more on my list, from reality show winners to various success stories and each time I listen to their stories, I am moved so deeply...  The latest on my list is the Desert  Flower,  the true story of Waris Dirie.  She escaped Somalia at the age of 13 and spent her adolescence as a maid in Somalia's Embassy in London. A regime change forces her onto the streets of London where she is soon discovered by a famous fashion photographer. This scared, homeless runaway young girl evolves into a glamorous runway superstar. While her beauty and courage open doors to an exciting career, her life is even more transformed by her tenacity to fight against the poverty and cultural traditions that had forced her to run away from her home and family. Her work resulted in her being named United Nations special ambassador for women's rights in Africa in 1997. How could anyone not moved by this story? How could anyone not cry or how could anyone not triggered to use their lives little bit more?

Each time I hear these stories and I watch the courage in them... the tears in my eyes, the rhythm in my heart and the energy in my soul takes over my life... Many times I have asked myself, should I allow these emotions, surge of energy take over my life or should I go back to reality?  Than again, is there even anything called reality? If Waris Dirie gave in into reality, where would Desert Flower be today? Guess reality is only the limitation we set to our imagination...

I want these emotions, these surge or energy, the music in my heart... let it be something permanent in me... I want to keep them,  I want keep running,  run so fast and see what the end of the tunnel gonna look like... what my story gonna look like....


Live Your Best Life