Sunday, May 07, 2006

Life's A Roller Coaster

Ever since I took up a new job early this year, my running has taken a back seat. That explains why I have been inactive in blogging too.

My weekly mileage barely touches 30km. And most of my runs were done on 2 days only - a back-to-back Saturday and Sunday! A run on weekdays seems like a mission impossible to me these days.

It was like everything had to stop after KLIM. It was also clearly unfortunate that we had to miss the Saberkas Marathon due to the untimely death of Jennifer (Wai Mun's younger sister). Jennifer had suffered brain tumour & lung cancer for a year & a half. Her journey with C had indeed been a tough one cos' by the time she was diagnosed with this C, she was already in her 4th stage. Imagine the agony she had to go through with chemo + surgery. Within 2 months, she went thru' 2 operations : one for brain & one for the left lung! As a result, she lost her vision of the left eye....However, she had been very strong and positive about the whole thing. Her courage & trust in God has been such a comfort & encouragement to the family. Even towards the end of her days, she kept holding onto dear life & fighting back. So, it was truly amazing to see her making her own obituary & funeral arrangements ie. what dress to wear, flowers, which pastors to conduct her funeral etc. etc.

We came to realize how short, fragile & uncertain life can be. Therefore, while we still can...value health - treasure the little things - stop to smell the flowers - live life to the fullest - learn to love more...etc. etc. (easier said than done, right?)

Considering our current situation, my wife and I have decided to give this year's PACM 15km run a miss. However, we will both still be there - as volunteers of course. We hope to be able to catch you guys in action on the race day. Don't forget to have fun running!

Before signing off, I wish to share a thot which you may or may not agree. Well, anyways...

"Racing through life could be very stressful. If we stay in high gear too long, we lose our ability to shift down. And when we are stressed, we can't access happiness, appreciation, fun compassion, generosity, awareness of beauty and other wonderful qualities. High stress also triggers negative emotions like frustration, anger and fear.
Life has much to offer if we will slow down and truly experience it. We must always remember that we are the ones in control of the accelerator....we CAN choose to brake.
Therefore, enjoy life! It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast...you'll also miss the sense of where you are going & why." - Eddie Cantor

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very meaningful words towards the end.... Life indeed is running away each moment. And we are busy doing what we are without realizing the real purpose of our being in this world...... Materialism needs to be put behind us some day, and we have to choose whether the day would be today.

Anonymous said...

Hi, John it is true life is a roller coaster and life is never easy, we face full of challenges and testing moments. We must ne very thankful to God for being able to live life and being healthy and being normal, I think I will never ask for more. Never takes things for granted and appreciate every moment that we have. Thanks for your support and encouragement when I was down, John your are a true friend.

Thnks

Adam

Anonymous said...

I am so SORRY to hear about Jennifer.

RunWitMe said...

Thank you for sharing those meaningful words. Sorry to hear about Jennifer. Hope to see more updates in your blog.

Jamie Pang said...

Sorry to hear about Jennifer. It must've been pretty tough for all of you.

Many things in life are taken for granted. Even something as "easy" as still being able to run. Until we get to a stage that we're not able to run as often anymore. Well, it seems that a few of us would have to put that aside for now.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about Jennifer.

Anyway, thank you very much for sharing the very meaningful words.