After I was born, life became a lot simpler for my parents. They were now eligible for a PR and citizenship in Australia. As a catholic family, my parents baptised me at the local Parish church, Our Lady of Nativity. They made many friends at this Parish and chose a lovely Lebanese couple to be my Godparents. My mother spent most of her days taking care of myself, whilst on the odd occasion, babysitting for other mums. Once I grew up, she later found work as a secretary for the Australian Defence Force. My father continued to labour shift work in the railways as both my parents sought to save up for their very own home.

The next 10 years flew by quickly. We had many visitors from overseas that would stay with us until they found their feet and began their own lives in Melbourne. Many of these visitors were my mother and father’s relatives that had now made Melbourne their home after escaping the civil unrest that was rapidly escalating in Sri Lanka. It was a mass exodus for my family that saw themselves leave their homeland in Sri Lanka, and settle in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Children are very observant beings, and as a child I used to watch everything happening around me. I observed the ups and downs of our family life. Days like Christmas and Easter would bring so much excitement as our family got together to celebrate a life of freedom in Melbourne. Yet there were also days where the stress of work and paying the bills would be so overwhelming that home was not home anymore. With perseverance, my parents managed to take out a loan and buy a home. A couple of things happened at this stage. They rented out the property so that they could get an additional source of income. But the tenant wasn’t paying the rent and damaged the home. My father would also later lose his job in the railways. Train guards were being retrenched to cut costs on the public transport system and so my father was offered a package sum of money. So when all these things started happening, my father made a bold decision. We left the old weatherboard house and decided to move in to the property we were leasing. Just as they fixed up their old home, they did the same to their new home and this time, our home didn’t have grass growing inside!

The second thing my father did was start his own business. Over the years, my father had developed a passion for cooking, and he became quite good at it. When he was a police officer in Sri Lanka, he would often order his meals and then inspect how the food was being made in the kitchen. And through this he developed a knack for cooking and even created his own recipes. He used to often say that he believed his family had bad luck in business, a mindset that would not serve his ambitions. But even so, he decided to use the package money he was given, and start up his own take-away food business. I quite admire my father for doing this. Back then, there was no internet or the modalities that are accessible to us today. To market this business, we went door knocking and placed leaflets in mailboxes. We also made a large neon sign in an attempt to attract customers.

After 2 years, we had to close shop. The location of the shop was in an arcade area of a busy strip and rent had gone up. With a family to feed and a home to pay for, my father gave up on this dream. Now, I always say that if you believe in something, you have to be persistent. Persistence is the key to success. But this shows you how hard it is to persist, especially when you have responsibilities. And from my observations of life, I believe people give up on their dreams because the obstacles that lay in front of them are so difficult to overcome.

The recipe for a fulfilling life I think is very simple. Belief. Believe that things will work out, believe in yourself and your abilities. No-one else in this entire world has lived the life that you have. This makes us unique and means that we have something valuable to offer others. It’s the truth. And be mindful of your thoughts because your thoughts are powerful. You are a product of your own thoughts. Every single thought that wanders through your mind will impact in infinite ways how you physically live out your life. Even if you aren’t aware of it. That’s how powerful your thoughts are. Your thoughts may make you alert to something that you may have neglected to look at. Or perhaps an opportunity awaiting in the wings that flies away from you when your thoughts are diverted to the practicalities of life. And that’s why it’s so important to believe in yourself. Your belief is proportional to what you materialise. The more belief you hold within yourself, the quicker your desired outcome will materialise.

We can’t discount our responsibilities in life. We all deal with whatever is in front of us. This is also the truth. Yet even if you do nothing towards manifesting your dreams, simply having that belief and faith in yourself is enough to make you subconsciously create the life of your dreams without you even realising that it’s happening. It may not happen when you expect it. It is an eventuality through an accumulation of decisions that you make throughout life stemming from your thoughts and the actions that are manifested from them. Holding more belief in yourself will make this eventuality arrive sooner.

No matter what the circumstances, my parents persevered in faith. My mother had a car accident driving to work one day. She recovered but was not able to work professionally again. My father, having closed his shop and accepting his own responsibilities as a father and husband, now looked to the newspapers in his search for another job. And so their struggle continued…