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hold onto your dreams
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There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it
- Napoleon Hill –
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours
- HenryDavid Thoreau –
I was shocked after I’ve heard from Hugh, a Chinese follower that he has never been overseas; I thought Hugh lived in Melbourne because of his excellent spoken and written English.
He is studying the Bible; he can sing beautiful English songs, I am also amazed by the wonderful English poems he translated from ancient Chinese ones.
His English pronunciation is much better than some Chinese students in Melbourne and clearer than quite a lot of Aussies.
I used to ignore Hugh either he texted or called me through Wechat because there are too many idiots, I just don’t wanna bother.
If I knew Hugh was from China, I would have been much kind to a person who is eager to learn English.
I was very surprised when Hugh said he lived in China, especially, he mentioned that it was an impossible dream for him to be an overseas student.
Then I told him: “No, you should hold on to your dream, probably you can not realize it in 5 years’ time, but in another 10 or 15 years, eventually, you can make your dream come true.”
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it
- Michelangelo-
30 years ago, I was exactly in the same situation as you guys, studying overseas is a daydream, it was a bit crazy which was completely out of mind.
My English knowledge was next to zero; I had to start learning from phonetic symbols, vocabularies, phrases and sentences, I learned English 900 by myself.
After that, I attended evening classes for learning short courses: e.g., New Concept English.
During that time, I got married. I was doing a full-time job while taking care of daughter at night.
The time was very limited, my English could never make progress, and I was under tremendous pressure because that was too difficult to keep a balance between job, family, and study.
I’ve got no idea whether I could be accepted by a Uni from overseas and be granted a student visa after I turned to 30.
I didn’t have a proper degree and with poor English language skill; I was too scared to think about whether I could make it.
I hated working in a state-run company; it was full of gossip, which nearly drove me mental.
I can tell you in my 20s, it was completely dark in my life and I only held the picture in my mind from the books I’ve read- how exciting overseas life was.
And I firmly believed that English was the only way could change my fate, and I enjoyed the process of learning, no matter what happened, I would never give up studying as that was the only hope in my life.
Eventually, after 15 years, in mid-30, I made my dream come true.
For most young classmates, studying overseas is not a big goal; some of them didn’t enjoy it at all because that might be the dream of their parents.
For me, I had struggled for so long and conquered enormous difficulties. Therefore, I enjoyed every moment of the life.
The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, and belief.
- NapoleonHill –
Please hold on to your dreams, friends; it doesn’t matter whether you can realize it or not, the most important thing, you will have a direction, along with the way towards your destination, you get outside to meet interesting people and join different activities; you will make your life meaningful.
I am excited when I find that students in China are very passionate about learning English.
In Melbourne, Chinese people have better opportunities communicate with native English speakers, but most of them hang around with friends from the same country without speaking English.
After they passed IELTS, got a PR and found a job, then they say goodbye to English, except when they have to use it, e.g., at a workplace or assisting homework for their children.
One year ago, I was one of them. Probably we think English is no longer useful, as long as we can handle it at daily life and find a job, that’s all.
That’s the end of the dream- being an overseas student; then I was bored again.
However, since I started writing English blogs, I can feel the enthusiasm from people in mainland China.
At Dioenglish blog site, English-lovers have kept writing English for a few years; their writing skill is better than students who have been living in Melbourne more than a decade without writing one article since completed Uni degree.
From Hugh’s English group, I can feel the passion the time I was learning English; I spent almost 10 hours a day after I quit the job.
I was eager to find friends or foreigners who can practice English with.
One girl said so many members who are using English apps to practice their speaking English in China, and she’s doing it on a daily basis through short movies and songs.
Why I can’t feel such excitement in Australia, probably, most overseas students have fulfilled their dreams; therefore, English practicing is no longer needed.
It’s just like climbing the mountain, on the way to the top; you enjoy beautiful scenery, talk with brilliant people and experience wonderful things.
Once reaching the top, you will say wow, but after a while, you feel disappointed, it’s not as beautiful as it supposed to be.
To be worse, if you take a cable-way, you will miss out most of the view because you reach the top so fast, you don’t have time to experience something amazing.
That is exactly like pursue a dream, whether you are going slow or fast, whether you can achieve it or not, it doesn’t matter.
One thing important, with a dream, you keep yourself busy, you hold high expectations, one day, magic will happen to you.
Now I have created Englishpassion, we all keep a dream without knowing what will happen in 5, 10, 20 years time, but we don’t care, because we just enjoy the moment, we are experiencing fulfilling life, that’s the only thing we care about.
Please join my wechat subscription: Englishpassion if you enjoy my blogs
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Post comment Comment (3 replies)
- Reply Tonyzli
- Dear, thanks for your sharing your story with very excelent English writing skills, at beginning of reading, I assumed you are a foreigner or English teacher living in Austrualia, it is amazing you started from zero by yourself.
Please keep blogging and benefit all the friends here.
thanks
Tony li
- Reply sweetolive
- haha, thanks so much for your lovely words, I will keep writing because of what you said :D
Tonyzli: Dear, thanks for your sharing your story with very excelent English writing skills, at beginning of reading, I assumed you are a foreigner or English ...
- Reply sweetolive
- haha, thanks so much for your lovely words, I will keep writing because of what you said :D
Tonyzli: Dear, thanks for your sharing your story with very excelent English writing skills, at beginning of reading, I assumed you are a foreigner or English ...
