It’s Time To Learn From Your Childhood Experiences – Story #4.

It’s Time To Learn From Your Childhood Experiences – Story #4.

The love story I’m about to share with you started with a smile. A smile that stayed in my mind for a long time.

It came from a dream girl from my past life. She had stared right through me and given me the sweetest dimpled smile.

At that very moment, I felt like my heart had stopped beating. My legs were about to crumble to the knees right in front of her.

The girl that refused to come into my life and leave my mind had finally taken note of me. She had finally responded to my unrequited puppy love.
That incident happened in 1968 and I was barely 11 years old then, a teenager with almost uncontrollable hormones raging through my skinny frame.
The romantic experience happened at Sungei Road, or what the people of old might sometimes called the “Thieves Market.”

At that point, I was helping my grand aunt sell jeans and all kinds of clothing in a highly competitive marketplace.

They were generic brands and the only selling point was that I could sell it cheap or cheaper.

At the beginning, I was less interested in the business.

I was more keen to “hook” the girl who worked for the third stall along the same road.

You could imagine I pulled out every trick to catch her attention.

I would have stood on my head if that was what it took for her to give me a fleeting look.

If she would only give me just a quick smile, my life would have been completed – or finished, depending on the outcomes.

I might be able to fly to the sky and explore the expanse of the universe or to be more exact, that was what I dreamt I would do while holding her.

Then the fateful day came.

The passers-by had suddenly dwindled to a trickle and the marketplace became almost like a mini ghost town.

In the twinkling of a moment, I had turned and came face to face with her.

It could have been destiny that made her stare in my direction at the same time.

The world around me just disappeared.

Time stood still.

Then, she smiled right through me. I felt like I was wrapped in magical hue.

The stars converged above my head.

No, there were no birds chirping and circling around my head. What…! You think this is a scene from a cartoon?

In the next moment, she started to open her mouth.

I waited with abated breath for the moment of truth.

I was hoping upon hope that she would say something like, “I cannot hold myself back anymore. My heart, my mind, my soul have been captivated by you.

“I cannot live another moment without you. I’m ready to elope to the ends of the galaxy with you.”

No, those were not the words that came out of her mouth.

In fact, her words were completely and totally different from what I had in mind.

She said the most unromantic words, “You’ve got a great new delivery of jeans?”

Then it hit me. There was no new delivery to my stall.

I turned around and saw the boy who worked at the next stall behind me.

He was my biggest competitor in more ways than one and he was smiling quite clearly at her.

His look?

From the green eyes of an 11-year old, he looked like his face was caught on fire and someone had tried to put it out with a fork.

He was so ugly that I was sure when his mama dropped him off at school, she had a fine for littering. Lol!

Ok, that was not true. I had to say that and you would soon find out why.

The boy replied to my dream princess, “Yup! Just arrived an hour ago.”

I realised she was smiling at him all these while. Looking at their body language, I could tell there was something going on between them.

There and then, I felt all the embarrassments of the world pouring down on me and soaking through every part of my being.

I quickly turned back into the stall.

At that moment, I wanted to dive through the floor.

And bury myself in the deepest and the hardest-to-be-found part of the earth.

I thought to myself that I would never want to see another human again in my entire life.

My business you could imagine went down the drain for the entire day.

Fortunately, as a kid, it was not difficult to get over any failure and disappointment.

I did not carry them in my heart for long – maybe for about one day – and I was back on my feet again.

I was glad I did not marry out of puppy love. I would be living a dog’s life.

After burying my romantic defeat, I decided to unleash my passion to help out at the stall.

After making the commitment, I gradually discovered the passion, the excitement, and the possibilities of being an entrepreneur.

Through the business, I could develop an almost infinite number of new ideas and initiatives to achieve better results.

There were so many wonderful experiences that could also enrich my life.

My elderly grand aunt eventually set up a mini operation to produce jeans with our own brand, Cote d’Or.

I went to make the first sales call to one of the biggest emporiums in those days.

Looking back, the experience at the Thieves Market opened up a new world of dreams and opportunities for me.

That’s why you could take me out of Sungei Road but you could never take Sungei Road out of me.

It was there that I first fell in love with entrepreneurship.

It was a love story that survived the ebb and flow of life and the romance with it remains strong in my heart.

In the process of going through the entrepreneurial journey, I crafted my own version of the Law of Attraction:

What You Get In Life Depends On What You Desire, Deserve, And Do.

Success does not just depend on IQ or EQ but also on DQ.

DQ stands for desperation quotient.

The more desperate you are to achieve your dreams and goals, the faster you will turn them into a reality.

Desire is the fuel that turns dreams into reality.

Desire that is well managed can lead to healthy desperation.

Healthy desperation can lead to definiteness of purpose.

Definiteness of purpose can result in unwavering perseverance.

Unwavering perseverance can lead to lasting success.

Desire alone is not good enough. You must be deserving of the success.

Know what our Creator wants you to do with your life.

And you have to invariably earn the rights to enjoy the sweet and tasty fruit of success.

For example, Iearn to cultivate the right knowledge, attitude, skills and habits (KASH) to achieve success.

Last but not least, you have to take action.

That’s the difference between successful people and others – Action.

If you do nothing, you will achieve nothing.

Do the same thing, and you will achieve the same results.

Walk on the same pathway and you will end up in the same destination.

Once you have crafted your plan, strategies, and required activities, take massive action.

That’s the crux of entrepreneurship.

That’s why, you will always hear me say, “Go4It!” because it is my way of inspiring you to have appropriate desires.

I hope to help you deserve the fruit of success, and do everything possible to go far in life.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

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Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!