Nicole

During the labour contractions, I had a chance to talk to the midwife, Nicole. She was the one who patiently explained all the procedures that they carried out during labour, and even helped me Scrub in for the C section. She's tall, slender and really pretty. She was a registered midwife, who graduated from her 3 year course last December. Jessica (Sue-Anne's sister) asked her what her inspiration was for being a midwife, and she said she did a paper on it for English in Year 12, and really found interest in pregnancy and delivery. However, she did Law in Uni-Adelaide for a year, and didn't like it, so she changed to studying midwifery instead.

I was quite shocked, that someone who was studying law, would give up a future as a laywer, and become a midwife at a hospital instead (no offense to the profession, I think all professions are great!). Are her parents supportive? Does she see any prospect in her occupation? I guess my surprise at this stems from the Singaporean culture and way of thinking, and how they sometimes rank professions according to viability and how much you can earn, instead of placing emphasis on doing what you enjoy and are interested in.

It's pretty sad how sometimes, people in Singapore allow their lives to be directed by the 'Singaporean' culture and way of thinking, studying and doing what society tells them has the most financial potential, instead of following their hearts. They allow themselves to be limited by reality, being boxed up by so many factors like financial situation, parent's attitudes and so on, that they don't dare to pursue their dreams. To them, dreams are at the other end of impossible, because it requires them to be different from others, to actually step out of social norm, to achieve their heart's desires.

Sometimes, they believe that dreams will tie them down, because by daring to dream, they are stopping themselves from achieving other, more practical dreams. They think that daring to dream is actually fencing them in, and are willing to settle for other aims which are far less difficult to achieve, and much more practical.

"Why not, since it's already there, within my grasp, why not make it my dream, and convince myself I'm happy with it. After all, if I'm happy, I won't need other dreams to make me happy."

There's nothing wrong with that train of thought, after all, if you're happy, that's all that matters. I'm just reminded of how Singaporean and Aussie culture defer from each other.

Dare to Dream.