我就喜歡這樣的妳

Write about a person who inspires you. What makes this person unique? What traits to they posses that you hope to develop? 

For those who are still struggling for courage.

A story that encourage you to step out your comfort zone.

You don’t have to amuse others but you have to be what you are.  

A person that inspires me to find courage

Tzuchun Lin

"LOOK! A SHOOTING STAR. MAKE A WISH ", a girl said with an excited tone. 

A star can not only help you to make a wish but also lead you find a way home. Honestly speaking, most of the time we are wondering, hesitating, and don’t know how to do. Therefore, in your lifetime, there are some shining stars that lead you to go forward on the right path and they are just like dragonflies skimming the surface of water, and they will never notice that they are so influential that the water rippled and rippled further and further. Thank God that he gave me a coach that showed me the correct attitude toward life.  Just like Professor Morrie said in Tuesdays with Morrie, "The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves, and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.” Like Morrie, my coach adjusted my attitude toward life and encouraged me to keep pace with him though he will never stop and wait for me.

YES!  YOU! JUST YOU! KAIZA LIANG is the most shining star that led me out of me little world, was setting me on my journey to unknown fields, and encouraging me to take the challenge that was beyond my ability and grow stronger in the process. Kaiza was my college classmate and he was also one of the best role models who encouraged me to break my rules again and again and he reminded me that there is no limitation; the only limitation is the one you set up by yourself.

Looking back to the first day of college, there was a small class of about 30 people and the weather was as hot and humid at noon as usual. None of us were paying attention. For us, the class was over. My mind was focused on what I was going to do next?  When I noticed that the class was over, everyone had gone, no one wanted to stay or hang out with me. I was kind of shocked and depressed because we usually ate lunch together in my high school. Now in college, I often felt lonely and I didn’t know what to do most of the time. I felt I didn’t fit in. Most of my classmates had dormitories so they could take a rest or have lunch in their room, but I didn’t have one and I had to find a space on my own.

At that time Kaiza caught my eyes and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was the icebreaker when others kept silent he was always the first one who broke the silence. He noticed my stillness and we started to talk. “It takes some time to adjust myself from high school to college, from dependence to independence, and from group to individual,” I said. He replied, “Are you NUTS? Of course. Everyone has a different class schedule. Now it’s time for you to be the master of your education and you have to arrange your life on your own.” At that time, Kaiza was not a kind and warm person and sometimes he was tricky and mean, too.

He always looked so confident while he was talking and he was just like a transformer who changed to fit in any circumstances to deal with different types of people. It seemed like he was never worried about the relationship with others and he always had some ways to deal with difficult people. “Let’s go dancing on Tuesday night and I will see you on the first floor. See ya.” Kaiza said and he was gone. “Is he going to dance in the night club? What does he mean dancing?” I asked myself. Though there were hundreds of questions in my mind, I showed up on the next Tuesday night.

Aha, it was a dancing club of my school and we were going to have a performance in the end in December.” Without hesitation, I took the challenge because dancing with Kaiza was relaxing and funny. However, before going on the stage we invited an instructor called ShengMei to help us. ShengMei would adjust your pose one by one and once the flow was not fluent we had to dance again and again. The atmosphere was nervous and serious and it was my first time to do the rehearsal with other dancers. Suddenly, “TzuChun” I heard my name, “Gosh, its ShengMei the instructor.” She was not satisfied with my movement and guided me one-on-one. There was no reason why I burst into tears and couldn’t stop which frightened all the dancers and I went home without saying good-bye. It was the last rehearsal we had and tomorrow was the performance day. 

I cried all night but I decided to finish the performance with other dancers. I knew that I was not that perfect but at least I tried my best.  Although I quit going to the dancing club after that, I never gave up dancing till now.

Kaiza opened a magical gate to the wonderland. He guided me to challenge myself and follow his steps one-by-one. He gave me the enormous courage to step out of my comfort zone and inspired me to be a better person day-by-day.

Meanwhile, Kaiza was my tough coach and without him my life will be full of limitations. When I was a sophomore we planned a trip to the middle of Taiwan and we worked together to find the hostel, booked the ticket, planned the schedule and so on. One of the activity was going through the green tunnel by bike and I couldn’t ride a bike at that time. Thus, while everybody was riding on their bikes I stayed in stillness. “No one will wait for you and you have to keep up with me or you stay here,” Kaiza said and just rode on his bike slowly. Knowing that no one was going to stay with me, I tried my best to follow them. Although I had to get off my bike to make a turn, but I never gave up and finished the activity together. While taking a rest in the hostel, Kaiza came to me and said, “I don’t know that you really can’t ride a bike but now you can ride a bike now. Congratulations!” Sometimes we just needed some pressure and conquered it.

Kaiza helped me to develop another skill. He guided me to finish something on my own and he gave me the enormous courage to challenge myself, and made me believe that there was power in me.

The last lesson Kaiza taught me in college was independence. When I was in junior, Kaiza, his friend, and I planned a trip around the island but we have different opinions about the route. “If you are not happy with it, you don’t have to follow me. You can go on your own trip and we can meet somewhere,” Kaiza said. It dawned on me that “Gosh it was the last lesson Kaiza wanted to show me from the first day the girl who wanted to seek for someone to rely on. Today she could plan and go on a trip on her own. I was so touched at that moment and I said “OK” and next time when we met was in the south of the island.

Kaiza is not just my friend, he is my coach that instructs me go through each period. Kaiza is devoted himself in dancing now and he's doing really well with it. I wish I could find something I really interested in and keep my faith in it. Though I can't be as shining as Kaiza, I know I am heading on the right path. He is the shining star in my life. Thanks for being that shining star that allows me to follow.

People are not born with braveness, and they have to break their limitation to construct it again and again. Now, I am in the US alone, and many people say, “You are brave.” In fact, I am not brave at all. I am just willing to step out my comfort zone and give it a try and my dreams will come true step-by-step.

I encourage you to give it a try, even though it may be something you are not familiar with, just give it a try and you will never know whether you are the next shining star in someone’s life. You never know the ripple that you were causing in that pond with that little stone of kindness that you share with somebody else.