Complicated Minds

85 followers

Updated 5 years ago

So, here it goes... My very first post at Wealthy Affiliate.

I have always been an extremely confident person, and personally, I guess I've been overly confident the majority of the time. I come from a sporting family back in South Africa where we play the more traditional sports inherited from the British. They are rugby and cricket, which together with golf are my favorite sports.

I am happiest outdoors, but since 2014, I have had to give up most of the outdoor activities I love and relied on so much since childhood. You see, I'm a father of 2 amazing teenagers, Zune, my firstborn and JD, my son. Zune will finish high school this year and JD is turning 15 in September. JD was born deaf, but as parents, we didn't realize something was wrong until he was almost 2. We managed to get him a cochlear implant one year later and today he's just another boy with dreams, weird thoughts and comical sayings.

I'm writing this blog on my smartphone. Yes, I kid you not! You might not think it's such a huge accomplishment, but imagine a 1.95m tall man (Dutch ancestry) with huge hands and thick fingers - not easy at all! I have gotten used to being without my laptop since January though, which was when I had to leave China all of a sudden. I live a very interesting and unique life, or at least, I believe so. If I was able to share everything with you, you'd probably agree. Why am I in China?

This is where my kids come in again. I was divorced back in 2010 and in 2014, I chose to leave my country and loved ones to go looking for something different... Something more challenging, but at the same time hoping to make a better future for my lovely children. Positive and exciting opportunities back in South Africa are far and wide, so I set out for Asia. The journey has been unforgettable and it continues. (There's so much more I could share, but I will put it all in a book soon :))

Back to why China. I discovered ESL Teaching in Asia and back in 2014 it was exceedingly easier to land a teaching job almost anywhere in Asia, as long as you were a native, fluent speaker. I chose my first job in China only because it was the highest offer on the table. My sister dying of brain cancer during my second year here, was just one of the numerous things I had to deal with, alone in a foreign environment. All part of life though.

Things have changed drastically and in October last year, my company where I had worked for 4 years closed down. Looking back now, I was definitely not too surprised or bothered, trusting that I would find a satisfying job soon. I was not in any hurry either, so I started my own teaching group, English For Life and taught some of my adult students (my fans) at coffee shops and bookstores in Shanghai.

Then, something nobody at all expected happened. Coronavirus (COVID-19) made its appearance. Wow, how unexpected was that! And here I am, after 3 months of trying to outrun the virus, lying on a hotel bed writing this post, in this online community. I chose the title "Complicated Minds", because I believe that we as people complicate the majority of situations in life through over thinking and worrying. Any situation, from trying to make more money online to the global pandemic - it is all either complicated or effortless. And it all depends on how you deal with it up in your mind.

I choose to look at life and absolutely everything it throws at me with an optimistic mindset. Without positive energy, attitude and actions, NO positive results are possible. I'm ending this post with a poem I wrote a while back. I'm no Shakespeare, so please forgive my shortcomings as a "poet".

Thank you for reading this piece...

P.S. I couldn't include the poem as it is already published on my Blog, so you can read it here if you are interested. 🙏

Complicated

From: www.uniquelymyself.com

Life’s easy… Dawie A