Embracing Dreams – Yizhong
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“Any expense will affect the balance sheet…“ The professor on the platform drones on with his accounting calculations, but fails to capture the attention of Yizhong. “Add two seconds to the fade-in time for the second picture and the image should be smoother…” Yizhong’s thoughts were far removed from whatever was written on the blackboard. This boy doesn’t concentrate in class!
This is Yizhong, a top student in the National Chengchi University Department of Accounting. In the beginning, he enjoyed studying commerce and hoped to become a CEO in the future. Now he is focusing more on the video and images used in the classroom. It started out as just a hobby, shooting event video from the sidelines, music videos for fellow students, etc., but after volunteering to help produce video productions, his dream to become a director took full form.
Yizhong began to read books on photography and videography. He took electives and sat in on radio and television courses. He stopped watching movies solely for entertainment and started to try and understand the meaning and significance of every shot within them.
In February of this year, he mustered up the courage and nervously approached a visiting professor and director called Yang Lizhou. He used his status as an accounting student to request an internship. From that day on, he followed Mr. Yang and took the first steps to his dreams of becoming a director. He tried to get his hands on every piece of equipment and absorb every bit of knowledge he could to realize his dream.
In May of this year, Mr. Yang recommended Yizhong to the foundation to film a documentary for the June cycling trip around the island. This was the first film that Yizhong was to produce on his own. To make things complicated, a documentary of this nature was no easy task. He would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t nervous about the endeavor. Every day he worried about what unexpected situations might occur the next day. He stressed about retaking shots, missing shots, missed shot opportunities and insufficient planning. However, the courage he had to follow through with his dream of being a director did not fade in the face of these difficulties.
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Many sleepless nights, problems racking up, a 16-day shoot, reviewing footage over and over in the editing room. All this wasn’t just for the dreams of the cyclists; it was also for his own dream.
He is Yizhong, he is embracing his dream of becoming a director.
The Courage to Pursue Dreams – Gaocha
“The pressure from my school and my family was so great, it was impossible to find the courage to do what I wanted to do. Every time I decided to make a change, I would get scared and give up…“These simple sentences, written on the registration form, sum up the struggles in Gaocha’s heart.
Gaocha, a student at Chung Shan Medical University, has held leadership positions since she was a child. Examples of this include social activity leader, chorus president, head of department, etc… Seemingly her life was going smoothly, but this only encouraged her to stay within her comfort zone and not venture forth. She always took the safe and familiar route, making careful decisions with every step. She never looked up at her dreams just on the horizon. This was until one day when she saw the word “Courage” boldly written on an activity poster. It was then that she realized that she hadn’t ever truly understood the word…
Gaocha struggled with questions and hesitation for a long time, but finally decided to use her last summer break to do something different, instead of spending it in a lab. For a medical student, spending summer vacation in a lab is a necessary choice since there are practical skills that can’t be learned in a classroom. Doing it also has a significant, positive effect on future studies. For Gaocha, who constantly strove to excel in her studies, this decision was, without a doubt, a significant change from her normal routine. As one can imagine, external pressure, inner self-doubt and a sudden abundance of free time terrified Gaocha. She felt completely stuck.
Gaocha looked inside herself and remembered a dream she once had of becoming a tour guide. This dream always fell by the wayside before, but this time, she stopped hesitating and decided to do something about it. She immediately began researching information and testing requirements. Telling her parents of her plans went surprisingly well. She prepared for a few months and passed the tour guide exam as she had hoped. Gaocha then applied to a biotech company for an internship and also enrolled in summer school.
Gaocha looked inside herself and remembered a dream she once had of becoming a tour guide. This dream always fell by the wayside before, but this time, she stopped hesitating and decided to do something about it. She immediately began researching information and testing requirements. Telling her parents of her plans went surprisingly well. She prepared for a few months and passed the tour guide exam as she had hoped. Gaocha then applied to a biotech company for an internship and also enrolled in summer school.
This summer was much more fulfilling for Gaocha than summers past. She realized that she could communicate her ideas with her parents. Gaocha stopped living her life for the approval of others. She found the courage to pursue her dreams.
The Courage to Express Yourself – Nainai
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Perhaps in the eyes of the public, Nainai is a homebody. It may seem that she is content not having any real ambition, spending all her time playing online video games and chatting with online friends from all over the world, but in fact she is afraid of people. She is afraid of saying more than a few words to anyone.
“I don’t have any self-confidence …“ Nainai says that her parents’ high expectations make her feel that whatever she does is not enough, because she never gets their approval. Growing up this way, she eventually stopped trying to express herself. She became afraid to be different from everyone else and afraid of making mistakes. She became scared of everything that she thought she should be scared of.
To make things worse, when she was in second grade, she was bullied by a group of students who were among the teacher’s favorites. This left a scar in Nainai’s heart, but it didn’t change her good nature. When she was in third grade, one of her classmates had a learning disability and was shunned by the entire class. Only Nainai felt that there was no reason to hate him and tried to be his friend. She never thought that doing so would cause the class to cast her out as well. “At that time, I just couldn’t understand this world and I became lonelier and lonelier…” Nainai recalls.
From then on, she used online video games to express her emotions. Nainai felt that she could only truly express herself to the people online that she couldn’t see. The only people that she could share her thoughts with were her friends in the virtual world. For her, people in the real world were just too frightening.
However, she then enrolled in summer school, a place where you have no choice but to speak and cooperate with strangers. Every night there were discussions and people shared information about themselves. This challenged her many fears one by one. However, she says that here she feels like everyone is moving forward together. Everyone is willing to listen to what she has to say and she doesn’t feel alone anymore. Not only that, she also has the courage to speak her mind in front of a group of people.
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She also told us that she has found a close friend, a girl who was also bullied in school. Since they have similar experiences they understand each other’s feelings better. They made an agreement to work hard, come out of their shells and set goals to improve their lives.
In fact, what Nainai doesn’t know is that the moment she tried to open up to other people, she already came out of her shell.
Courage to Break Out of a Situation – Jiede
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On April 25th, 2012 a sentence posted on Facebook drew the attention of a young man. “There are some things that if you don’t do now, you’ll never do.” The bicycle trip around the island captivated his mind. “This is so cool! I want to go! !” These thoughts rushed through his head, but, after a while, the excitement wore off and the problems of reality emerged in his mind…
This young man, who is caught by his thoughts and choices, is named Jiede. His work-study program keeps him very busy. It is unlikely that he would be able to take 15 days off to participate in the bike ride around the island… After eight hours of deliberation, Jiede sent in his registration form!
After just three years working there, it is no easy task to ask for a long leave of absence from one’s only source of income. The sound stage company where Jiede works is part of a highly professional industry and summer is a time when business is at its peak. He is also only a part-time worker at the company. All these factors make it clear how difficult it was for him to ask for leave. However, he held one idea in his mind: “I want to go on this bicycle trip. I want to challenge myself to do something I’ve never done before!” This thought, the idea that he would be challenging a life he’d been living for three years, led Jiede to an even more drastic decision. If he wasn’t granted the leave, he would quit his job…
It was clear in his mind. He was prepared to start from zero when he returned. He also understood that quitting would cut off his source of income, but he said: “All I know is that if you don’t go after your dreams, they will disappear…”
Fortunately, Jiede’s boss granted him the leave but said one thing “I can’t help you if you lose your livelihood.” However, this only strengthened his convictions. As long as you are determined to pursue your dreams, the world will be there to help you.
On the day that the group set out, he told himself: “Jiede! We’ll meet back here in 15 days. This journey is your chance to change everything.” With this momentum, Jiede set out on a cycling journey around the island, one that he had never imagined he would do. The amazing scenery, the encouragement from strangers, the great treatment from the sponsors, the support from fellow cyclists… all these things gave the word “home” a new meaning to Jiede. Who would have thought that, no matter where he went, he was home!
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Jiede says that this challenge was a present for himself before he graduated. By setting out to do something crazy, he reached a new landmark in his life. In the future, he hopes to continue with activities such as going bungee jumping, climbing a mountain, crossing Sun Moon Lake, and of course most importantly – continuing to challenge himself.