By John Tan 

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we had to stop dreaming and grow up to meet the standards expected of us. We get bombarded with questions like “When are you getting your own property?”, “When are you buying a car?”, “When are you getting married?”, “Why aren’t you earning big salaries?”. These questions keep replaying like a broken record player and don’t seem to stop.

In this 21^st century, we have become enslaved to our works despite not loving what we do. Most of the times, people work just because they have to make a living. So it’s not uncommon to find that many are not satisfied and content with their own lives. But why is this so? Are we really merely existing and not living our lives?

Business studies students will be familiar with Maslow’s theory when they study about motivation. His theory suggested that should these deficiencies– self-actualization, esteem, love, safety, and physiological needs if not met, individuals will feel anxious and tensed which then leads to unhappiness. In short, if people are not inspired then they are not able to reach their full potentials in life. It makes sense.

Thomas Edison was an American inventor who became successful through his invention of the electrical light bulb. It wasn’t until the 1000^th time that he managed to get it to work. Mother Teresa was the recipient of the Noble Peace Prize award and her charity was world-wide recognized. She had the privilege of meeting with Princess Diana and Ronald Reagan. Late Premier Lee Kuan Yew who successfully lead the 3^rd world country to become the 1^st world Singapore we know today and Mark Zuckerberg who became the first world youngest billionaire with his Facebook page.

Although the figures mentioned are in different fields, they are each successful in what they do. They showed us what it’s like to be inspired and to do great things. They had dreams and worked their ways towards them. While inspiration can come from different sources – love, faith, or desire to connect the people, as long as one is inspired, he will be able to reach his full potential.

There is a saying that goes “just because you are an adult, it does not mean that your whole life should revolve around your work, life is more than that’”. While making a living is important, we do not have to give up on our dreams. We can still do the things we love. Happiness is different for everyone. You can make a child happy by giving him ice cream, make a hungry man happy by cooking his meals and make a girl’s day by giving her a flower.

Even if you have not to figure out what you want, you can always start simply by having a bucket list. The satisfaction that you get accomplishing something is what makes life worth the challenges. It’s never too late to start looking for special things in life that makes us who we are. As for me, I think I better start practicing on my guitar before my memory fails me.

            

Image taken from http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/work-life-featured.jpeg

By John Tan 

  From modeling to acting, she can do it all. Cara Delevingne was born in England and started off modeling at a tender age of 10. She was discovered by an agent at her school (the same who discovered Kate Moss). Even though her height did not reach the minimum requirement of the modeling industry, she was still accepted. Since then, she became the face of various magazines and appeared on ad commercials like Chanel, H&M, and Burberry. Besides that, she also won the award for Model of the Year twice at the British Fashion Award which is a rare accomplishment for many. However, modeling was never her first choice as she always been passionate about acting. “I basically gave up on acting because trying to get an agent was impossible. Everyone said, "You are just a model..I really wanted to beat it, if that makes sense. Win it.”

   Recently, Cara officially quit the modeling industry seeing how badly it affected her self esteem. “If you hate yourself and your body and the way you look, it just gets worse and worse”. She further explained by saying "It's horrible living in a world where I'll get a call from someone saying, 'So-and-so says you were partying a lot and you were looking this way and you need to lose weight.' It makes me so angry. If you don't want to hire me, don't hire me." She also stated that she felt empty while pursuing modeling. “I ended up feeling a bit empty. Fashion is about what’s on the outside, and that’s it. There is no searching, it’s just creating pretty things.” 

Cara Delevingne at the MTV Movie Awards 

In addition to that, the modeling industry also made her develop the skin condition psoriasis due to her heavy schedule (53 runaway shows per week). Despite this, the modeling crew was just painting her whole body with foundation. "People would put on gloves and not want to touch me because they thought it was, like, leprosy or something," she said.

Cara also spoke on how she could not refuse to pose sexually for the camera since she was a teenager because she was a newbie in the industry. "I am a bit of a feminist and it makes me feel sick," she said. "It's horrible and it's disgusting. [We're talking about] young girls. You start when you are really young and you do, you get subjected to … not great stuff." 

Things are pretty good for her now because she finally got the opportunity to pursue acting. With a very slim acting resume, she managed to land on movies like Anna Karenina, The Face of An Angel and of course Paper Towns (who can forget her in the movie). Nearly 200 actresses auditioned for the role of Margo in Paper Towns but Cara managed to ace the audition just by having amazing chemistry with the lead actor, Nat Wolff. She has a very free spirit which is identical to the character Margo in the film. Moreover, Cara is also going to be in hit movies like Suicide Squad and Pan. Nevertheless, working in the movie industry has its fall. Cara still experiences sexual harassment in the acting industry which is worse than the modeling industry. But Cara never let this stop her. "I am very good at standing up for myself now, and for other people," "If there is injustice I will flip out. If someone is crossing a line, they will know about it and so will everyone else."  

"I am a lot harder than I was and I feel like all of that modeling, life, rejection, everything, was preparation for this, and now that I am doing this I am the happiest person in the whole world." It’s good to hear she is in a happier place in her life now. :) 

References

 1.   Ailbhe Malone . (2013). 21 Things You Didnt Know About Cara Delevingne. Available: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/things-you-didnt-know-about-cara-delevingne#.mbLNg3gAm4. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

2.   Char Adams. (2015). Cara Delevingne Says the Modeling Industry Made Her 'Hate' Her Body. Available: http://www.people.com/article/cara-delevingne-model-acting-hate-her-body. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

3.   Emily Yahr. (2015). Cara Delevingne explainer: Who is she and how did she get the lead in ‘Paper Towns’?. Available: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style-blog/wp/2015/07/27/cara-delevingne-explainer-who-is-she-and-how-did-she-get-the-lead-in-paper-towns/. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

4.   Ellie Krupnick. (2015). Cara Delevingne's Reason for Leaving Modeling Shows How Toxic Beauty Standards Have Become. Available: http://mic.com/articles/124126/cara-delevingne-s-reason-for-leaving-modeling-shows-how-toxic-beauty-standards-have-become. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

5.   Lauren Alexis Fisher. (2015). CARA DELEVINGNE SAYS SHE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A SUPERMODEL IN THE '90S. Available: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/models/news/a10962/cara-delevingne-wsj-magazine/. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

6.   Char Adams. (2015). Cara Delevingne Says the Modeling Industry Made Her 'Hate' Her Body. Available: http://www.people.com/article/cara-delevingne-model-acting-hate-her-body. Last accessed 29th September 2015.

7.   Valerie Siebert . (2015). Cara Delevingne Opens Up About Struggle With Psoriasis, Saying It Made Her "Hate" Her Body. Available: http://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/cara-delevingne-opens-up-about-struggle-with-psoriasis-saying-it-made-her-hate-her-body-67085. Last accessed 29th September 2015.