The exams got me thinking...not about the exams

I had really wanted to give up. To forsake my education. I want to have the time, to smell the flowers, those I always pass by while rushing to school. I want to have the freedom, to dance in the moonlight, every night, instead of drowning in those mathematical formulas, theories of this great that great, this first the second. I want to have the space, to do what I want to do. Who doesnt?

Who doesnt want to not do any work, and just be hmm...smelling the roses everyday? Who wants to experience hardship, pain, weariness, pressure, etc? But how good is it, if you have it good all your life? If you just spend the decades of your life smelling roses, wasting every minute away?

Would you have learned the things you've learned? Would you have found the appreciation after each pain, each hardship? Would you have experienced the relief after each time you're weary? Would you have achieved the strength that you've gained, after each time you do not succumb to pressure and fight on? Would you have found the true happiness behind all these struggles, behind living?

I guess it boils down to this very famous saying, "Everything happens for a reason." Whether or not you realise the reason behind what has happened, now or later, or never, believe that it happens for a reason. Each fall brings you the strength and experience to face the next challenge. And as we proceed on in life, challenges become greater and tougher and we need the courage and knowledge that we've gathered from all the previous little falls, to pass them.

And as much as I think studying certain subjects in school have served little or even no purpose in what I would be doing later in life, I could very well be wrong. Yes, you may not need 'Darwin's natural selection' directly if you're becoming an accountant or 'binomial theorem, poisson ratio' if you're becoming a chinese teacher. But knowing all these does make you a more knowledgeable person. Knowing more enables one to communicate and relate to more people and more things.

I once questioned the need to study those subjects not relating to my field of work. And I realised much later that the knowledge I've gained from them may not be useful to my job, but it is to my life. Biology taught me how to eat and exercise more effectively, geography taught me to love nature, about the world...and most importantly, studying brought me greater things like discipline, ability to work under pressure, to organise and prioritise things, etc. I call them life skills.

Don't try to search for meanings and reasons behind the things that you're doing all the time. Sometimes, they would not make sense to you at the moment. But I'm sure you will realise them later, and if you don't, it's still fine. There's really no harm in doing and learning more things. Just make sure you leave enough for turning back, if the need arises.