Claudia Chan

What if before we’re born, we had set an intention to learn a lesson? 

Maybe it is to learn what love is. 

Maybe it is to learn to be free. 

Maybe it is to learn to speak up. 

What do you think yours is? 

Since I was a teenager, probably around 14/15, I started wondering what the purpose of my life is. 

I remember one morning, I was having a lot of trouble getting up, and my mom’s response was, 

“Yes, I know, but that’s how life is like, you finish school, get a job, and that’s how life is (which I take it as, and then you die).”

I remembered thinking.. Really?!

I was so appalled. Because if that is true, then why am I brought into this world if that is all there is? 

I grew up very bitter, and I was very much against my Chinese background. I felt trapped by all the rules and expectations. 

I tried many different things, but every time when my mom found out what I was doing, she was pretty much against it. 

I tried starting new businesses, I went dancing, I went out with guys of different backgrounds. 

I still kept going. 

When it came to starting new businesses, I found myself unable to get very far each time. It was really frustrating!

I thought it was because I didn’t know what I was doing, or I wasn’t given the proper opportunity, or I wasn’t meant to do it. 

That’s when I started working with mentors and coaches. 

Here was what I found. 

You know the saying, “The only person who’s holding you back is you”? 

As cliche as it goes, it was true. I was the one holding myself back.  

It was a huge battle. 

I had to work a lot on myself. I had to break through all of the thoughts and beliefs that I grew up with. I had to understand myself based on my cultural background, how it shaped me into who I am. 

One day, I heard one of Teal Swan’s teaching called “Tutorial For Life” 

The premise was, before I was born, I had an intention to learn a lesson. So I chose the “perfect” parents, the “perfect” surroundings, the “perfect” condition to be born into. 

And that clicked for me. 

I always wanted to have a voice, yet I always felt stifled. 

What I was born into, was what I needed. How I was raised, the course of my life, the conditions that I believed held me back… 

I had to understand why they were there in the first place. 

So that I can breakthrough all of them in order to expand. 

I have to breakthrough to find my own voice. 

And this is the beginning of my journey. 

You may be on a different journey. 

When you have those quiet moments and you reflect on your life, what is it you truly want? 

Maybe you want to feel more love? 

Maybe you want to live more of a simple life? 

What is it that you yearn for? 

What do you think your journey is about?