WHO AM I?

Hello Steemit World!

Allow me to introduce myself.

Who am I? One of the most important existential question of human consciousness, is the last thing I expected to be putting in a block chain cryptocurrency world. Speaks volumes of our growth and transformation as a species, but that's a discussion for another time and post. ;)

Like most humans on the planet, I absolutely freeze when asked to speak about myself. Unsure how to approach this post, I've taken a chronological approach to break this into 4 decade narration of my life.

Birth - 10 years

Lived in 6 different homes over 4 cities in just my first decade on this planet. Born in Ipoh, Perak, moved to Klang, then Sandakan and subsequently to Kota Kinabalu. Sounds pretty crazy for most folks, but it was a way of life for me and my two older brothers who grew up with wheels attached to our feet. My father was an auditor who was transferred frequently - as a result I have moved approximately 22 times in my entire lifetime (some of which happened after moving to college and starting work)

Lessons learnt: Quick and efficient Packing and Unpacking skills, Making new friends, Keeping friends at arms length (as eventually I will have to say goodbye), and a knack for quickly learning maps and directions.

11 - 20 years

Moved to two cities - across two continents, but somehow managed to live in 6 different places. After high school, we moved to Kuantan where I attended a community college with a transfer program to the USA. I chose the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where no other Malaysian was going. As a result I landed in a place where I did not know a single soul, and for some reason didn't secure housing either till I landed in LAX airport (I suspect my father had something to do with the last minute room availability).

Regardless of the uncertainties that loomed ahead, this choice turned out to be the best decision I've made in life. Not only is it a good school, it has a GORGEOUS campus set at the foothills of the Wasatch mountain range overlooking the valley that opens up into the Great Salt Lake.

Somehow, school was not tedious - but an absolute joy. Especially when you wake up to spectacular views every single day - it's hard not to have a good day! During my undergraduate years, my highlights were meeting some deer in the winter, walking out of the library and coming face to face with a moose and the memorable friendships through the years - the kind of experiences that stay longer than the subject matter learnt in a classroom.

Lessons learnt: Learnt to let friends in (some much needed breaking down of walls). Time management between classes, working 40 hours/week, extra credit activities and extracurricular activities - made possible by the super powers of YOUTH.

21-30 years

These were some insanely formative years. I graduated from the University of Utah with a BSc in Psychology and Communication Disorders. From Salt Lake City, I moved to Boston for 3 weeks, then to Rochester New York for another 2 weeks before finally settling in New Haven where I worked as a research assistant at a Molecular Psychiatry lab with no clue as to what I was getting myself into. I just said yes because it was in YALE UNIVERSTIY. Who says no to that?!

This foray into the world of neuroscience and genetic studies shaped my future interests and choices. What I remember most is a bunch of quesy experiments and being in the best shape of my life from biking 2 miles a day, everyday.

Between the opportunities that lay ahead for graduate school, I made a somewhat ill researched decision to jump into neuropsychopharmacology. Another mouthful I couldn't pronounce, and an area that was an exciting but steep learning curve. The school and education was fine at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, but the place itself was a personal test of my sanity - with it's vast corn fields and numerous bars as the main extracurricular activity after school.

My first taste of life lesson happened here when I had a near death car crash from being run off the highway by a blindsided trailer. Subsequently lost my funding, was left penniless and yet survived to finish my Master's and to return home to Malaysia to regroup and rethink my life choices.

Well, things continued on a roller coaster track as I moved from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and back again, in a quest for academic and research positions that interested me for a while, but lacked a wow factor that I seemed to be secretly yearning for.

Lessons learnt: You do not need money to survive. You only die when it is time - no matter how ready or not ready you think you are. Nothing is set in stone. It's never too late for anything.

An existential search for the meaning of life started.

31 - 40

FINALLY, managed to live in one city for the longest period of time - an entire decade! Only moved a couple of different houses ;)

The geographical stability was a consolation for the professional upheaval and the life changes that has come with this decade. I left my academic career to pursue ....what I can only summarise as finding my true passion - needless to say the path was NOT a straight one.

Though the most painful decade where I lost two loved ones within a span of 2 years - I gained a form of blind confidence to try just about anything outside my comfort zone.

I finally found my voice to write again, expressing myself through poetry, haiku's and short stories. I even put a creative writing program together for children.

In the meantime I continued exploring my other passion - dance, yoga, nature, meditation and inner peace.

The more centered I became, the more clarity I gained - and yet somehow also had more doubts and questions than ever before. I don't know how to explain this - other than I chose to walk the path less travelled, and somehow found the greatest guidance in life - if I was willing to listen that is ;)

The result of which is the founding of SoulArist - a very ambitious venture to bring out the best of one's creativity. To find out more about SoulArist, please visit www.soularist.com

Lessons learnt: Experiential crash course in MBA, starting a business, learning to market, network etc. But most importantly - WE HAVE ONE LIFE to get this right, I better live my best one NOW. Sometimes SILENCE speaks volumes and actually gets much resolved.

This journey on Steemit at the moment is an adventure into the unknown for me. The potential it offers for self expression and a sense of community that is determined simply by each individual's level of passion and compassion certainly intrigues me. I hope to add some valuable posts here and look forward to collaborate on community building projects in the future with like-minded Steemians.

Thank you for the support : @maverickfoo @elizacheng @bitrocker202 @curie