My Guidance in Life

Since it's international women's day, I've been thinking about the women that inspires me the most in life. Women like Rosa Parks, Michelle Obama, and Princess Diana all come to mind as some of the most influential women in the world for countless years now. But I realise now that I haven't spent much time thinking about the person that has impacted my life the most.

That person is my mum.

My mother represents resilience to me. She has always been a very giving and positive person with a strong faith. Throughout her life, she has faced so many obstacles in order to become the women she is today.

From taking up the responsibility of becoming the person that everyone in her family relied on. To getting married young and juggling marriage and studies all at the same time, to raising a child and striving to get her degree. Up until now, I still see her on her hands and feet providing for her family.

When she came to Australia as a student, my mum and my dad both supported me and her brother while she worked her hardest to get a masters degree from something that wasn't even in her line of work. Studying never came naturally to me and to study something that I was never interested in, is something that I could never do. I really look up to her because she did all of that for me.

Now when I see my mum, all I can think about is how hard she works to this day. For over ten years now, she always comes home from her 9-5 job and makes sure that everyone in the house is fed on time. No matter how much help she receives from us, she makes sure to give us even more than what we need. Whenever there's a gathering in our house, my mum takes on the initiative to note down the types of food people like and makes sure that everyone that comes into our house, leaves well fed and filled with happiness.

I've always wanted to be just like her when I become a mum one day but I know that I could probably only match up to half of her struggles.

My mum has guided me in my life in the best possible way. She has been not only my mum but my therapist, my mentor, and my teacher all in one starting from the day I was born. She always tells me to "make myself proud, to love myself, and to face all my challenges head first" whenever she sees me in a rough patch in life. She always makes sure to tell me "to love myself even when others don't because I will be the only person that will stay with me forever" just to help me feel okay. It's hard for people to understand my struggles, challenges, emotions and fears but she always understands me. That's the greatest gift of having her as my mum, I could never ask for anyone better than her to be the light to my darkness.

I really hope one day, I can make her the proudest mum in the world and I really hope someone can look up to me, the way I look up to her.

“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” —Maya Angelou