Don't Give Up

Has anyone of you tried fighting for something you want so much in your life but ended up falling so hard onto the ground, flat on your face, and felt like that was the end of the world?

I had a granduncle who spent his last few months of his life in the intensive care unit in the hospital, depending on a machine to help him breathe. The doctor told us there was nothing much he could and to be ready for the day. Every time he lost his consciousness, we never expected him to ever wake up again. But every time we thought it was about time to let him go, he would gain back his consciousness and started talking to us again the next day. At last, he passed away, in peace. Back then, I was still a kid. But I could already tell that my granduncle had fought hard for his life, he did not give up until his very last breathe.

I have an aunt who had cancer. One day, she came to me and told me that the pain was so excruciating, it was too painful to bear and she did not want to live anymore. She wanted to kill herself. I hugged her and said 'Hang in there aunty. The doctors have not given up on you. We, as your family have not given up on you. Why should you give up on yourself?' Every day after I came back from my school, I stayed by her side to keep her company, just so that she would not... Kill herself.

At some point of life, you may be disheartened by a lot of things. One day you are at the top of the world. The next day, someone else is already better than you, and you start to think that maybe you are not as good as you thought and you lose all your willpower to move on. People, life, is like a marathon. When someone overtook you, it does not mean that at the end of the race you won't be the champion! Just keep running, if not you will never reach the end.

At some point of life, you may feel like you have done all the things you could to reach your dream. You have tried your very best to impress your boss, to score an A in Science, to put your family together, but nothing seems to fall into place. Everything seems so tough and you want to give up. People, life is like riding a bicycle. You won't fall unless you stop peddling.

At some point of life, you may think you have done enough. When people ask you to give it another push, you say 'that little bit more of effort will not help much, I have tried so hard!' So you think that little bit more effort won't help? Sometimes, that little bit extra effort you put into whatever you are doing can make a difference. Sometimes, that little bit extra effort can make all the difference. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little bit of extra.

We all know water boils at 100°C. So what happens at 99°C? The water is one degree away from boiling. How about at 1°C? The water is just one degree away from freezing. Will the water freeze at 1°C? Never. So does the little extra effort count?

Thomas Edison once said, many people do not know how close they were from success when they gave up. Tough times toughen us. Things that don't kill us make us stronger. Challenges are here to make our lives better, not bitter.

Remember the aunt I mentioned just now? She has survived cancer. How wasted it would be if she killed herself back then. So my friends, no matter what you are fighting for now, do not give up, because you'd never know if you are just one step, or even one degree away from success. Good luck.