A verbal diarrhea on happiness, dreams and going against the grain

I just read an ST op-ed by an NUS Economics professor about how Singaporean students in our local universities have lower levels of happiness than working professionals (Undergrads and the 3AM Email), and it got me thinking about what makes our students so depressed. Why is it that we consistently rank lower in terms of happiness, when in most first-world countries around the world students are way happier than the average adults? Is it possible to make the process of learning more enjoyable for ourselves? Is it possible to cultivate a culture of passion for breaking barriers and pushing the edge? Because those are the easy questions - If I stopped my post here, I can already predict the resigned answers, each one offering a resigned explanation for all of our woes and a conclusion that we should just keep our heads down and suck it up, because how else are we supposed to survive in our society?

I beg to differ - hear me out. Every person on this island was born with the innate drive to aspire towards happiness. Somehow, somewhere, some of us gradually lost that drive due to a variety of circumstances. Maybe something or someone killed our joy of learning by forcing us through the repeated drill of stress and examinations. Maybe we were screamed at for being stupid or slow or lazy, and we lost the ability to believe in ourselves. Critics say that Singaporean students are uninspiring and lack creativity. There's blame to share: We can blame the education system, we can blame society, we can blame the people who pile pressure on us. But don't we owe it to ourselves to at least take back what we lost? Despite society's punishing perspective on the Singaporean ideals of studying, is it possible to re-ignite our passion?

To talk about passion, which I define as the limitless energy channeled towards a particular goal or area of interest, we must first talk about dreams. What is a dream? Is every person allowed to dream, or is it something reserved for those who are born with the resources to chase them? The Singaporean attitude leans towards the latter: Those who can, by all means; those who can't, forget it. But what if we started encouraging youths to dream? Because we can have a dream and still keep track of reality. Even if we have to deal with life - like majoring in subjects that we dislike - we can continue to take baby steps towards where we want to be. What I mean is that we don't have to give up one or the other. We can be practical like society trained us to be, and still use the power of our youth to push the frontiers of the future - to imagine what we can be, and to create our own opportunities from nothing.

We're born in the era of knowledge. Knowledge is power - for a damn good reason. If you can read this from an internet-connected device, then you have access to limitless information and connections. We have to learn to harness our resources for ourselves and do what no one taught us to do - spare no effort in chasing our dreams, our passions, our happiness. If we want it, it's there, but we must go get it by ourselves. Go dream recklessly. Start that club. Draw up the proposal. Talk about it with your friends. Start small. Dream big. Fail. Succeed. It's okay. What's important is that we cultivate a culture where trying and failing is better than being safe and taking zero risks. University is a time to take risks, test the waters and put ideas into action. Do it for yourself - and you get all the experience and lessons that comes with being a leader and an entrepreneur. And as a society, we become a little more intellectually vibrant, a little more creative, a little brighter on the world map. Imagine the change we can create if every single person who reads this post starts dreaming of something new. Our future will truly be unlimited, and I'm excited for what we can do.

It's time we recognized our power and the truckload of intellectual freedom that we've suddenly been granted after years of believing that there's no other way. It's alright to acknowledge that society made us what we are today - that's a fact. That's the truth. But we can change things. We can scale greater heights with our own two hands. That's how we progress, and that's how we can find true happiness as students. Let society say what it wants, and eventually we may have to join the workforce and settle down for the long haul, but for now, for the short few years that we have as students and as young adults, there's time to dream and there's time to fail.

I understand that not everyone can possibly go all the way in their dreams for way too many circumstances to list here. I understand that some people are genuinely trying, but their efforts aren't seen, only the results. To those people, I want you to know: Thank you. I see you and I am grateful that you tried. What you did mattered and it shows that you are capable of so much more. I also understand that some are simply not in a position to start anything. That's okay too. That said, it's the baby steps that count - and it's a team effort. Many little ripples can make waves, and waves built up high enough makes a tsunami.

So my message is simple. Is it too much to ask that we do not sleepwalk our way through life? Take it back from those who try to put us on set paths, control your narrative and start going further on no one's terms but your own. No matter who we are or where we come from, we have the power to build our own dreams from scratch and to derive happiness from it.

tl;dr: We are responsible for our own happiness. It's okay to hate on our circumstances but if we resign ourselves to it, we're part of the problem. Start dreaming. Start building towards our dreams. We owe it to ourselves to become a happier and more intellectually vibrant people.

Source: Adapted and reposted from my original post on Reddit. Opinions are all mine. View the full conversation here.