Being Grounded

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I bring you a short piece after a hiatus from writing...

Being Grounded

            I am very pleased to note, that after eighteen years of life, I have not been grounded before. Now you readers may be thinking, “BUT NOW YOU ARE!” However, I am more than happy to tell you that you are incorrect. Hence, I have no experience of being grounded whatsoever, as the topic implies. So, how can I write about something I have no experience of? Arguably the best orator and leader of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar shares his feelings, “experience is the teacher of all things”, and this proves my inability to be in the shoes of someone grounded. If you have been grounded once (or perhaps, multiple times) and were hoping to relate to this piece, I am honoured to pass you the thought that you have come to the wrong place. On the other hand, if you were hoping to know the implicit reason of my title, I will have the distinguished honour of calling you my guest to this piece I have to offer.

Spidy gets grounded too!

            As I have written above, I have not been grounded by anyone after being alive in this world for eighteen years. Why the italics? Well, it is simply because I have been grounding myself.

            Growing up in a typical lower-upper-middle class family, my parents have always been overprotective of my safety. I recall my inability to go out with my friends at the tender age of 12 to Berjaya Times Square as it was a shopping mall, hence “it is out of bounds and extremely dangerous”. Sure I could go to shopping malls with my parents, but not with my friends without a guardian. And you all should realize that at this age of twelve, people start to turn away from parents. They not only experience the Oedipus Complex (where one rejects the same sex parent in favour of the opposite sex parent), but also experience the global phenomenon of peer pressure. Now it must be remembered that the young age of twelve, one can be easily influenced. Consequently, with this rejection from my ‘tiger’ parents, I started my little rebellion.

            Now this isn’t the type of child versus parents’ rebellion that are so often exaggerated in the newspapers (children suing parents under the UNHCR’s children’s right area). It was a thinking rebellion against society. Why do we have to follow our parents’ decisions/orders/advices/commands? In simple terms, it is all linked back to Confucius’ great idea of filial piety. The significance of what he said was so revolutionary that it actually governed the system of government during the Han dynasty (Newman, 2001, p.342)*. Living in south-east Asia, it is amazing how strong this belief is in spite of the large population of individuals who do not believe in Confucianism.

            Now to ground a person is rather easy. First off you must sever ties with global trending issues. Personally, I did not care about the Gangnam style phenomenon until it hit a billion views on YouTube. Even then, I refused to watch the original video as I do not want to contribute to the statistic on Google [this is ironic because I take so much pleasure in looking at my blog views which Google has provided me since I revived this blog] and be influenced by it. Awareness must take a back seat in one’s drive to be successful. Recently there has been this hive about Harlem Shake and my close to zero percent curiosity in global trends has brought me to Wikipedia where I find it not amusing at all. However, I do see why people get hooked on it as much as Psy and his supposed humorous dance. In particular reference to this piece where the writer explicitly writes her feelings towards the role of leader and follower, it is understandable why individuals want to participate in these events. With a follower following a leader, other followers will eventually come to support and join in.

            Next, you must be a situational introvert. People who know me well will understand the irony in saying the word ‘introvert’ as that clearly does not suit my description. Well the extremely loud laughter and Shakespeare like scansion that I use when I read is my small step to be outgoing. To be a situational introvert, you must withdraw yourself from big discussions involving many people (no matter how intricate the issue is) and find a little corner to do work (or in a typical teenager’s situation, the bedroom). An article from Forbes clearly states how combinations of spaces allow these situational introverts to excel and while people like you and I do not enjoy the luxury of such places, we clearly can do our best and ground ourselves.

            Lastly, I grounded myself by being socially non-active. This is rather obvious; avoid social contact and you won’t have the need. Sure I do get lonely sometimes, but I have trusted friends to contact and a Malaysian kopitiam is never too far away for anyone nowadays!

            With this, I leave you my three simple methods in grounding a person without being forced to. Follow these three unguaranteed rules and you’ll be bound to find results.

P/S: I am so tempted to include: Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, but judging from the seriousness of my tone in this piece, I shall refrain from doing so.

*Newman, G. (2001). Echoes from the Past: World History to the 16^th Century. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited: Toronto. 2001.  

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