Hi Friends!
Decided to do a continuation to my previous post because I realized that what I shared didn’t really bring out the personal side of my story of what made me embark on this journey! So here goes!
As everyone knows, the early part of 2020, that was when COVID-19 took all of us by surprise. Everything just happened so quickly and fast for all of us in all domains and aspects of our lives. So pretty soon, I was in a routine of working from home, getting in and out of zoom meetings, messaging on Whatsapp, replying emails… and all these happened together with everyone else in the house doing the same as well. There was just a sudden cosmic clash of boundaries, space and noise like never before!
So finally, towards the end of 2020 in Nov, after months of these constant “beating”, I could feel that something within was giving way. And that was where I began to find myself asking different fundamental questions.
The first question that I was confronted with was the uncertainty and fragility of what we think we have today. I began to see that if something drastic or extreme were to happen to me in terms of my job, my health or simply to my environment where I live, I will really be left with no backup plan. And the reality and stress of that hit home powerfully especially when I am the only one in the family that’s working and supporting everyone.
The second question was where I felt that no matter what happen, I simply cannot stop working maybe till the day step into the coffin? And this image of being “forced” to go on even when I don’t feel like it or perhaps when I can’t do what I’m doing currently anymore is very scary. It totally brought home the feeling of hopelessness and despair deep inside.
Finally, the third question was where I began to ask myself whether am I truly doing the work that I do out of passion or am I just doing a job for survival. At that point, I felt that I was being confronted in my face by myself and I no longer could answer with conviction that I’m doing this out of passion totally. And I felt that this is a compromise that I cannot live with and I have to do something drastically about it.
So….that was where I somehow stumbled upon a course from Spiking in Nov 2020 where the trainer Dr Clemen Chiang happens to be my wife’s secondary school classmate! Talk about divine arrangement and timings… I’m pretty sure this is one of those!
And it was also at the same period where I felt God spoke directly to me about my situation through Romans 15:13 (I will share more another time about how my faith played a critical part for me)! So as a result, I began to connect all the dots where I suddenly felt God speaking and revealing Himself to me through so many sources and all pointing to one key message of HOPE for me in my situation.
Amongst the many exciting things that I’ve learnt and picked up about investing, the one thing that anchored my conviction that I can have hope no matter what was when I learnt about how the US markets recovered so powerfully. Within 10 months after the market crashed in Feb 2020 due to the pandemic, we saw how it continued to climb to an all-time high.
So to sum it up, I’m deeply grateful and thankful to God for this divine intervention. Without this “interruption”, I cannot imagine what 2021 would have been like. And so ever since Nov 2020, trading and investing has become a daily affair for me. The continuous learning and absorption of wisdom from the markets, my community and my coach has been so enlightening.
So if you are thinking of learning more about investing, just drop me a note and I will be happy to point you in the right direction. Alternatively, you can always check out when the next basic course on investing here.
Wishing you all the best and feel free to drop me a note!