You Always Can

Age is not a barrier. However, it has been seen as a barrier by most of us when it comes to try new things.

It used to happen to me when I wanted to try out new things. Eventually, I grew out of that barrier and became more open to explore. I improved my public speaking skills, attempted dancing, took lead in community clubs, and had my first time experience on a theatre stage as an amature actor. Last but not least, I learned the importance of relationship building.

Keep reading. The following reveals how I unveiled my potentials.

Public Speaking

Most of my changes began in June last year. After living in Canada for 7 years, I just heard about Toastmasters in 2014. I first visited Chinook Toastmasters that year after searching for a place where I could improve my public speaking skills. In 2015, I came to realize the impact of speaking well on your work performance, so I started to extensively work on my spoken English. I was 27 then but I somehow persuaded myself it was never too late for anything. A year later, I finally joined Chinook Toastmasters as a member after being their guest for 2 years. I was 28 that time.

Dancing

My interests in exploring new things did not stop there. I tried a beginner dancing class before my 29th birthday. Do you know when I first knew about dancing? It dates back to 2013 when I friend dragged me to a dancing event. After that, I only came to a similar dancing event once and that was it. It’s been 4 years and I never made up my mind to learn dancing until I saw people who were much older ages than me on the dancing floor during Latin festival last year. From there I learned: “age does not stop you from what you can do.” I was turing 29 at time.

Leadership Skills

Like most of Asian parents, I was told that if I studied well at school and graduated from a good university, I could become a leader in my field. However it was not how it works here (at least) in Canada. Unfortunately, like many of you guys, I was “lied” to. When I first arrived Calgary, I realized the importance of leadership skills after a few networking events. I tried different things for a while however they did not work out for me. I kicked off my first leadership experience when I got introduced to a not-for-profit community friendly organization. I volunteered for this organization for about a year as the vocational chairperson. I was turning 27 when I started running the vacation committee.

Acting

Here is a belief in my native culture: “If you want to be an actor, you should start young.” When I registered my first acting class with Company of Rogues, I thought I’d be around mostly teenagers, but it turned out the opposite of what I thought. I was in a room of people of my age or older. There was literately only one teenager student in class. In July this year, I had my first stage performance experience by playing multiple roles in “Midsummer’s Night Dream” by William Shakespeare. I am 29 this year.

Relationship Building

I've been very used to people come and go. A good friend’s departure to the states in 2015 had a big impact on me. She made me realize the importance of keeping the existing relationships despite of locations. Moreover, building new relationship throughout one’s lifetime is a must. It’s is a constant invest everyone needs as they advance in life. Most importantly, you want to keep close to those who are authentic and genuine while keeping yourself away from these fake people. When I was younger, I had mistaken fake people as genuine individuals who would watch out for me all the time. Fortunately, I’ve grown from my mistakes. I’ve seen those who have built great relationships with others and wonder how they do it. They look happy and full of energy. The principle is simple: they build relationship and trust with others by helping them. if you spend 80% of the time thinking how you could be of help to others, you’ve gotten this already! When I truly understood how relationship building works, I am half way in my 29th year.

You might think I’m a very slow learner. I do not disagree with it. What I’m trying to say here is don’t let age determine what you can do or achieve. You can start anything anytime because you always can.

It’s never too late to starting anything.