A few days ago, I received a phone call inviting me to be the guest speaker at an event for a well-known company. I was talked through the details, before being told: 'Oh, and by the way, the theme of the event is 'In It To Win It'.'
By the time I put down the phone, an all-consuming energy had washed over me. I felt it swell through my heart and pulse through my veins. If it were visible, I know I would have seen it rippling beneath the surface of my skin.
I know the feeling well. As a child, this sense of energy often reared its ugly head in the form of temper tantrums. For years, I would cry, kicking and screaming, till my throat was sore and my voice hoarse. I threw books down the rubbish chute and jumped out of school bus windows. It was my way of releasing the frustration I felt at being unable to make right the cruel injustices I was subject to at that tender age. For example, having to eat my vegetables, or being blamed for something my sister had done. Needless to say, I was, without a doubt, the most passionate tantrum thrower in the neighbourhood.
I count myself lucky (and I'm sure the neighbours do too) that it only took a decade before I finally made a startling and life-changing discovery. I was 10 years old when I picked up my first netball. I held it, bounced it, passed it ... and felt coursing through my body the all too familiar 'tantrum-throwing energy'. Usually a signal of bad things to come, for the first time, it felt right.
For the next 16 years, I channelled this energy into becoming the best netballer that I could be. I trained and pushed myself as hard as, if not harder than, I had ever kicked and cried as a child. For every schoolbook I flung down the rubbish chute, I passed a netball just as hard. If we had to find a hill to train on, I would find the steepest. My 'tantrum-throwing energy' eventually earned a new, more respectable title. It was called 'passion' and I had found mine.
Eventually, I represented Singapore at the Asian Athletics Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. It was my anchor through my formative years, building my confidence yet teaching me humility. It has shaped who I am today. But the most important lesson I would learn about the power of passion was yet to come.
I was a producer at Channel NewsAsia (CNA) when I first heard about the Tour de Timor, a five-day, 450-kilometre mountain-bike race through the rugged terrain of East Timor. Excited at the prospect of an adventure, I promptly signed up with a team of three other women and met them for coffee and a chat. It was while we were sitting there, talking about East Timor's turbulent past and current challenges, that I felt growing within me this energy that, had I been a child, would have erupted into a full-blown tantrum. This time, the frustration I felt was for the cruel injustices that the people of East Timor were suffering. I decided to channel my energy into making a difference to the lives of those who needed my help.
