A Life Lesson

Today, I was doing a routine trip: the banks. The first thing that was annoying today was the fact that I slept real late the night before and I needed to get up early. I was sleepy as. But anyway, I went to the bank with my mum and my brother as usual.

After the bank, mum and I were planning to go to the hairdresser to get me a haircut. In the middle of our trip,  mum got a call from a friend to pick up some food. Yup, we went there and picked up the food. After that, mum was a bit worried that the food might get spoilt. So, we decided to go home to drop the food off then we'll go to the hairdresser. At that time, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable about our plan to go to the hairdresser (I was partially lazy too). Then, I asked mum to call them. And, ta da, the hairdresser wasn't home that time. She went out of town and would come back in the evening when we don't really have time. So, we changed our plan to go there tomorrow. At the end, we just stayed at home (lucky I was initiative enough to make mum call them up).

At home,

I was a bit bored (actually I have some uni work to do, but I was lazy to open up some documents, so I left it a bit till the evening. At least that's what I thought). Anyway, mum was busy preparing some lunch for us, but I ended up not eating any except a red bean bread (my appetite went down currently). Then, it came the time when only mum and I in the room. At first, we both were very quiet. I hate being quiet (I can't stay still when I'm in Indonesia). My mind was swirling a bit for a while. I told mum to tell me some stories, but we both ran out of stories.

Suddenly, a question came up on my mind. I asked my mum this, "mum, I think I'm lonely in New Zealand. You can say, I'm sort of like friend-less. I feel I'm different to most of my friends at my age. I can't really follow their lifestyle, their topics of conversation and their thoughts. I feel like an alien sometimes. Is it a normal thing or is there something wrong with me? I feel I'm a good friend to some of my lecturers and older people. Why is it?"

My mum said, "there is nothing wrong with it. You are different, accept it, be grateful. If you are the same with the others, which aspect of you that stands out? I understand what you feel cause I feel the same. Have you ever seen me hanging out with many friends? No. Some people are just different. That's a talent that you have to be grateful about. Don't you worry. I know you like quiet life most of the time there. I know you like studying and I know you hate loud music. It doesn't mean that you are weird or a nerd. It's people's preference to live life dear. If you enjoy what you are doing, that's fine. As long as everything is balance. You study when you need to, I know you are not a bookworm or antisocial. You still go out there, making interaction with others. That's good. What not good is if you are antisocial and have no interaction with the world. You are normal, you just have different way of thinking and you belong to a different group of people. It's ok my dear :). Are you feeling better now?"

Then I felt like I got a sudden realisation that I'm still normal hahaha. Mum is right, I should live life the way I want as long as I'm happy and not antisocial. I still have friends around my age and I can get along with them fine, just different preferences at some respect. It doesn't mean that I can't hang with them. Doesn't mean that I'm an alien either. Man, I was released. I'm so glad. Being a nerd is not always a bad thing (at least not like the ugly cartoony image).

We then continued talking about following a principal of life, finding the purpose of life, how I already have a target in life for the future, etc. At the end of the day, it was a good conversation. So, the lesson of the day is that people are born to be different. So, don't be afraid to be different, be proud instead!

Have a good day people!

(I'll sleep..getting a haircut tomorrow :p)

I.