Roald Dahl once said, “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

I am not sure when it happened, it came to me later than I would have liked. A spark of inspiration, a path that was hidden to me, now opened. It felt as if I had found a hidden key.

I once watched a movie of a limbless person whose sole dream was to be a sprinter. The movie made me sad, but nothing more than that. I didn’t know it then, but it internalised the need to help others.

I wouldn’t say that I was a self-centred person, neither would I say that I was compassionate. My goal in life was to be an investment banker, make a fortune on the stock market, retire at an early age and travel around the world.

Years into my life I found that I had taken a different career path to the one I had imagined. My occupation was making prosthetics, such as artificial limbs, and even though this is not what I had dreamt of, I found it very joyful and fulfilling.

My inspiration comes from the beauty and potential of my surroundings; it is the magic of the world around me. I get peace of mind when I see my work changing someone’s life by enabling them to do what they could not do before.

It had, however, been a mystery to me how I had deviated from my goal of being an investment banker. My ‘aha’ moment came when I recalled and realised, in true hindsight, that the film that I had watched had impacted me greatly.

If I am being honest, I’m still in my ‘aha’ moment. It has made me realise that we can all be touched, even involuntarily, in ways we may never imagine. That which touches us varies, it might seem insignificant at first but if you let it take it’s course you will never be the same again.

Things are harder to come by if you’re inclined to just sit back and wait for them to happen. The whole idea of an ‘aha’ moment is that it should come as a surprise. One should learn to appreciate what they have in and around them, so that when such moments come with clarity, without distortions, you may ride the sudden wave of awareness into a greater knowledge of yourself.

Our perceptions of what surrounds us are very important, all around us we see beauty or chaos, abundance or lack thereof. The most important question we should be asking ourselves is how we can change our world.

I will admit, destiny does sound a bit cheesy, but it is a useful word that encapsulates the essence of finding your true calling, and time spent doing what you love is never wasted.

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