Our Dream
How did this start?
In 2008, I was 16 years old and suffered what I thought was a massive failure. Soon after, all the energy I had was sucked out of me, like air escaping from a balloon.
Slowly but surely, I became stuck in a toxic cycle of anxiety and depression that I just couldn’t get out of.
Over the next 8 years, I became a self-improvement junkie, spending all the money I had on self-help books and motivational seminars, desperately hoping to find self-esteem and happiness in the success formulas preached by too many motivational gurus.
Yet after spending all this time and money, I still didn’t feel happy or confident.
If I was being completely honest, I was hoping for someone else to tell me an answer I could only ever hope to find within myself.
But where to begin?
I discovered that perhaps the path to finding our answer begins with a meaningful question. Perhaps it starts from inner reflection.
Could meaningful questions create change?
Questions are the gateway to new possibilities
We see the world not as it is, but as we are
Questions help us look deeper within ourselves, to become more aware of how we see the world and make choices.
When we become self-aware, the number of choices available to us expand.
And it is in this space we can begin to find happiness and maybe go beyond it to joy.
When choosing a job, what if we asked:
What is the leap I need to take to bring me closer to my heart’s longing?
When worrying about money, what if we asked:
What is my relationship with money? Has it served me?
When confronting anger, what if we asked ourselves:
What do I feel I deserve that I am expressing with my anger?
Questions are the gateway to community.
Unlike an answer, a question opens up an opportunity for conversation, a chance to have an authentic connection with another person.
Meaningful questions bring us closer together, to uncover the richness of our shared experience of being human.
Simply put – meaningful questions help us discover we are not all that different. In struggling to answer them, we are all in this together.
And maybe because of this:
The quality of our questions determines the quality of our lives.
Our dream for this website
We hope to curate personal stories of Singaporeans from all walks of life that pose meaningful questions to help you connect with yourself, discover the richness of who you are and experience more joy!
In short, we want to feature questions that matter.
For young adults venturing out into the wilderness of the real world, leaving the safe harbour of school and structured life, may the uncertainty of sitting with the meaningful questions on this website help you cultivate your moral compass and uncover what you stand for.
We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.
If you are feeling discontented and want something to change in your life, may these questions create a space for reflection and open you to new possibilities.
Most importantly, it’s also about feeling.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
May this website create opportunities for you to feel.
To feel that tingling, that inner sense of warmth, that overwhelming emotion rising from your gut up to your heart when you know you’ve just read a question that will move your life in some way.
Our invitation to you
1. Read
Feel free to read the content curated here, reflect on the questions shared and share your own discoveries from these reflections in the comments section if you’d like 😀
2. Contribute
If you’d like to contribute your articles, share your reflections or explore ideas for meaningful projects you’d like to start together, visit our Contribute Page to learn more!
3. Invite
Know someone who’s shared a meaningful question with you recently? Invite them to share their story by sharing this page with them!
I hope The Happy Singaporean can become a community-led platform for anyone who’s interested in reflection, joy and purpose to find their voice and showcase their talents.
So… in the spirit of this website, I’d love to close this introduction by inviting you to consider the question:
What question have you been postponing that will have a meaningful impact on your life today?