What can you do with $10 ?

“What can you do with $10 ? ”  

 Well, for me, that $10 was the amount of money that I could use to continue my life here in Singapore for 1 week.  

How was that possible?   Let me bring you back in time, 11 years ago in the year 1998.  

1998 was the first time that I came to Singapore. Initially it was never in my whole family plan to send me overseas to study because it will be too costly for my family to afford it. I thought I will continue my study in some local University in Jakarta.   However, 1998 was the time of the Asian economic crisis. At that time, Indonesia was not a very safe place for a young girl like me as violence and riots were everywhere. So, I really didn’t have much choice except to leave Indonesia. Singapore seemed to be the best choice because of its nearby location, safe environment, and good education system.   Since it wasn’t my parents’ original plan to send me overseas to study, therefore to overcome the financial burden, I have to take up many loans, i.e. study loan and tuition fee loan. On top of that I must also be very careful in spending my money, since I only have very limited resources.   I was a very thrifty student back then. I still remember vividly how I have survived living in Singapore with just $10 every week for my whole 1 year in NTU. Definitely not easy, but I had no choice. Sometimes I just ate instant noodles, bread or even skipped meal.  

My turning point was actually when I celebrated my 20^th birthday.   Just a few days before that, I actually did a lot of thinking. I was so fed up with my life. I felt that I deserved more. I knew that my parents have already sacrificed a lot of things just to send me here in Singapore, so I MUST make it a success. Even if one day I have to go back to Indonesia, I want to go back as a successful person.   So on my 20^th birthday, I made a resolution. I gave myself 10 years, before I celebrate my 30^th birthday, I must already achieve my financial freedom, whereby I don’t need to worry any more about money. Most importantly I wanted to clear my study loans as soon as possible and give a good life for my parents while I still can.   If you ask me, whether at that time I knew how I am going to achieve that, or do I already have a plan? the answer is NO. I totally had no idea. But I knew one thing. I knew that I am deadly serious about my resolution and I knew why I MUST achieve it.   Sometimes in life the WHY is more important than the HOW.   Because when you have a strong enough WHY, you will eventually find the HOW.   And that’s how it all started.

3 years after that (after I graduated from NTU), I was able to earn more than $200,000 in just 1 year of working. And I was very happy to be able to clear my $40,000 study loan in just 6 months.   Of course I’m not saying that having a vision in itself is enough. Definitely not! It took a lot of hard work and effort for me to be where I am now.   But it really all begins with having a clear vision and believing in that vision.

Again, I’m not telling you all these to impress you, but really to impress upon you how important it is to dream big.   If you already know what you want in life, good for you ! If you don’t, I suggest before you sleep tonight, you should really think about it.   Imagine the great times ahead. Imagine many great things that will happen.   Your subconscious mind has such power that whatever you can imagine, it will help you to make it a reality. Whatever you dream of, start it now. You will be amazed at your own magical power to achieve things that you may never dream of to be possible.  

Touching Hearts Changing Lives,
Merry Riana

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