What We Learn

When I first arrived in the States a year ago to be with David,

stepping off the plane at Corpus Christi after spending almost 24 hours in the air and in airports, travelling halfway across the globe, I was full of excited anticipation but also there was a deep sense of uncertainty.

• I had just quit my job as a doctor,
• I had left behind my family and friends,
• I found myself suddenly not having an income,
• I was going to be dependent on someone else in ways I could never have imagined, after being fiercely independent,
• I had to adapt to a foreign country and culture
• I was going to be away from everything that I had taken for granted for 32 years in Malaysia and felt so comfortable with,
• I had numerous people telling me I was making a collossal mistake,

and all I could think was, "I'm leaving this up to You, I'm not going to make myself sick worrying over it another minute!"


But you know what? A year later, among others,

• I have a fiance who loves me to bits and whom I adore,
• I learnt to take my family less for granted,
• I am studying to take the necessary exams to be licensed to practise medicine here,
• I have an darling extended family ( in David's family ) that are such an eclectic group,
• I have had the opportunity to catch up on things that I have neglected,
• I finally learnt to cook and have become not-half-bad,
• I have travelled thru 24 of the 50 American states,
• I have had to look more into myself and to God for strength,
• I got a chance to spend so much more time with my brother, who has been in the states for 7 years and
• I found out that although I thought I was resilient, I was tougher than I gave myself credit for.

I was not going to make any resolutions this year - they either get neglected or forgotten thru the months - but I've decided that what I would like for this year and every year is that I continue to grow as an individual, not depriving myself of any more experiences just because I'm cranky or "PMS"ing, but to absorb and learn and continue to better myself, to challenge myself in ways I have always shied away from because it was too embarrassing or seemed unsurmountable and in that journey, find that not everything is about me me me and that there IS a larger picture in the whole scheme of things.

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead.