Olina Qian

I volunteered for the next week’s Inspiration close for my Dale Carnegie coaching. So started from yesterday, I kept on thinking what shall I say for it? What value do I want to bring to my class members? Last time when I I read the story of ‘life is about choice’ when I did it. This time, I want to do something different.

Today, after a relaxing walk in the Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, I am working in a coffee shop with two co-workers. I opened my tweetdeck and found an interesting blogpost written by my friend Joseph Yi. The title is I own Seth Gordin.

It was so catchy that I decided to make a visit. It talked about how to build up personal branding. The most impressive thing I learned was a quote from Jim Valvano when he was fighting with cancer. It says:

Everyday you should think about where you started, where you are, and where you wanna be.

This quote hit my heart and I knew right away that I would use it as my inspiration close next Thursday!

I am touched for a reason. The story starts four years ago; I went back to my hometown Shenyang to visit my parents. To celebrate, lots of friends and families invited me for lunch and dinner every day for a week. Then after that week, I woke up one night and felt severe abdominal pain in an unendurable way. I started to blow up and got a running stomach. I had the feeling that: I am going to die! I can’t handle it! The next morning, I was sent to Emergency Room and claimed to have a serious stomach disease affected by bacteria.

I stayed in the hospital room for twenty five days. During this period of time, I couldn’t eat anything, I couldn’t even drink water, and the only nutrition I got was from the IV. I lost 20 pounds in those twenty five days. Actually after one week admitted to the hospital, I started to feel doubt, and wondered: Will I ever be able to get out of this hospital? Is this the end of life?

I couldn’t accept this fact: I was still young at that time. I’ve never been so close to death before. I didn’t want to accept the truth that my life is so fragile and so short. There are lots of things I wanted to do but didn’t have the chance to do yet. I didn’t want to just go like this. But it seemed that the doctors were really worried about my condition.

At that time, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t go out, the only thing I did every day besides sleep was to lay there and get IV injections. It gave me lots of time to think about myself. Having grown up in a good family, I was surrounded by lots of beautiful things. Everything had come so easy to me that every time things got wrong, I suffered and didn’t know what to do. I complained about small things and troubled myself with small failures. But when I was lying there, facing the possibility of ending of my life, I suddenly found out what a beautiful life I’ve been living. Why am I unhappy all the time? Why do I bother myself so much? The most important things is that I am still alive. I have so many opportunities. Finally, I made a wish: If I can step out of this hospital, I will cherish every minute of my life. I would do things I should do. Since I only have one life, every day I should live my life to the fullest.

After twenty five days of being hospitalized, I eventually got out of the hospital. I recovered really well and that disease never came back to me. But I will never forget my commitment to myself. Although it was not clear enough until I read this sentence:

Every day you should think about where you started, where you are, and where you want to be.

Please ask yourself this question every morning. Find out where are you started, where you are and where you want to be. Maybe one day, when I really leave this world, I can feel fulfillment, contented without regret since I finished the mission for my life.

I believe every experience teaches you something in life. Through that illness, I learned the true meaning of life!