Does transformation lift up our life? I assume some people agree, while others are unsure. However, based on what I have experienced for the past few years, well, what I can say is that transformation helps me to upgrade my life. How transformation could lift up my life, what exactly is a transformation in my view?
Many said that I look different, I have changed, I am not the same as I was in high school or secondary school, et cetera. It has been about 2 decades since I graduated from high school, and definitely about 17 years since I have finished my Economics program (Bachelor's Degree) at a university. Within those years, many people out would have changed tremendously, and I would like to alter my life too. It could be habit, behavior, environment, lifestyle, the way we talk even walk, appearance, what else? You tell me.😉 Unfortunately, some people that I know in the past, look they are still in the same stage and have never grown; everything surrounding them is the same as many years ago. that is what I can see in them. What I am thinking is that different dreams will lead us to a different world and paths, do you agree? I presume this is what happened between me and them; what kind of dream we are working on we would land in a different world.
Back then when my family was in a golden age life, my brother and I had always had the good stuff among family members or relatives, and villager children such as foods, garments, shoes, bags, toys, and even the way I talk, my hobbies, my habit, manner, and so on; I was different from most children around me. The one who taught me those things was my father. Smart only isn't appealing to upgrade our life in the future, but the manner, morality, habit, behavior, there are some of the other things that we have to level up to get a great outcome. It was the view that my father had tried to show me. However, since our life turned upside down at the bottom of the sea, my brother and I just like most villager children; one example, we lacked nutrition, we wore dull clothes as we did not have the budget to buy new clothes, our skin got darker each day, I had a lot of small coin scars on our legs because of insect bites, my school shoes and bag were just bad quality which was identified as a low-income family, and...many things. On top of that, in secondary school, while my friends had grown taller, in good shape, and had bright skin, and me? I was still tiny, I had only grown for 3-5 cm tall, skinny girl with brown dark, and dull skin. You can imagine, in my third year of secondary school, my third-grade clothes were still fit on me; it was indicated that I had never been growing. Whether I like it or not, my family finances just broke! I could not do anything about it.
I had a hard time when I enrolled in secondary school because my transformation had just begun. First, it was my first live test whether I could accept the reality; my father lost his decent job, and as the consequence, I lost my bright future. To be honest, I felt a broken heart at the time. If many people have broken hearts because of love, my heart broke because my excellent future was gone! It was soo much pain that I had to endure. The second, was I able to cope and rewrite my own future into a beautiful one? For 11 years old girl, it was a big deal. Moreover, I needed to figure out all of those things on my own. Yeah, when my father was a successful career man, many people wanted to tag along, but when he was nothing, everyone avoided him. Ironic, isn't it? In my first secondary school, I entered a new environment that made me nervous about whether I would be able to fit in this new place.
Despite all the chronicles that happened in my family after our financial breakdown, I would rather choose to fight for my future and put my faith in education. In my mind, ignoring what people said was my priority since I needed to focus on building up my mentality into a stronger one, studied hard to become a smarter girl, did something outside academics, trained my habit and manner, positive in mind, so that I would able thrive. In order to grow, I wanted to accumulate achievements because only with it I was able to step up. To improve my appearance was just a matter of time. Therefore I was interested in making a friend with students in my school and people outside the school who were willing to make a friend where we could support and help each other to move forward. Besides building connections, I was active in the village community by helping my neighbors or volunteer work. Furthermore, since the first year of secondary school, I started to work to earn some money to provide for my school matters. Despite my scramble time as I had been busy, I managed to learn new things, for instance, making handmade bags, scrunchies, or any handcraft with my friends from outside the school, familiar with the sewing machine at home, learning baking with my kindness neighbor, spending some time drawing, and once in a while I taught younger children who lived around my father house to wrap the gift, made handmade small doll, also drawing. Those might be small achievements but helped me to become who I am today. Yeah, some friends wonder how I am able to create handmade flowers even playing with the brush on the ribbon, not only making cat collars but designing them; they asked me whether I took design class or art. Others said that I had always studied yet I can cook now; where and when I have learned that such kinds of skills which are completely different from my degree. I wonder when?🤔 This is my answer, well...I got all those skills and knowledge during my transformation process where I had stored them every single day in every inch of step.🤩
Indeed, during my transformation process, I had encountered rejection. The first was in my second year of secondary school when one of my close friends from the same primary school avoided me because I wasn't "cool" anymore as I used to be in primary school. The second was on my first day in high school when a girl who sat next to me was faceless when I did a basic courtesy; and the next thing I knew she avoided me. So, what did I do then? I move on and left them behind. Instead of feeling down, my motivation to get achievement surged as I managed to find friends who were on the same page as me. We were growing together each day, and pretty much I had always made good marks in each school I enrolled in. Those friends helped me to navigate my dream and showed me the path. That's amazing, right?🤩 Meanwhile, a close friend and that faceless girl who avoided me, I had never heard what they achieve in school. My ex-closed friend did not manage to get into high school where I enrolled (this is the best high school in our neighborhood village), and she married after graduating from high school while my friends and I sailed out and enjoyed our university life. She and her entire family moved out from their property and have never heard about them anymore. Considering she was good enough and smart, I wondered what happened to her. Meanwhile, a faceless girl on my first day in high school, neither academics record nor school club, her name had never been written as one of the top students in our high school. Thinking back on how she behaved toward the low-income students who were far below from fashion and did not match her taste, her life today is just regular. This is the best lesson that I have treasured, no matter where we are come from, who we are today, it does not determine who we will become in the future. Therefore sharpening the ability, skill, and knowledge, to build up strength to get achievements are what I had worked on to lift up my life. Transforming our life into a bright one isn't easy especially when we come from a low-income family. But nothing is impossible if we work on it and never give up. And of course, it is a long way journey, moreover, it needs a mountain of work. I can say to reach the goal is a daunting task.
Since I have my faith in education, from that place (school) my transformation had begun, and able to upgrade my life which means my life's standard. Indeed, I am not a millionaire but at least I was able to get out from poverty. You can imagine if I chose to give up my school, do I able to have my life today? The answer is no. As my dream is to get a higher education and help others, it does lead me into different paths from many people I have known in the past. Along those paths, appearance is just a matter of time to improve. For me, personally, transformation is not about how do we look, it is more about how to achieve something in my life to reach my dream. If with naked eyes I look different today, it is just a bonus from my hard work. For instance, dress up wearing decent clothes and put on makeup daily, it is because I want to give respect and reward to myself. And the more important thing is that I do not have to buy expensive stuff to look good. That is the reason why while working hard to achieve something we must upgrade our manner, morality, and behavior along the way.
Other people maybe have different stories about how their transformation has begun as everyone has their own goal. Meanwhile, for me, my focus has always been on education how I get a higher education. Even until these days, I have still worked on my dream. That is my transformation story!👊✌🙂
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Note:
- Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
- Do not copy this article without permission
- YouTube channel: SG Bird Cam
