If not now, when?

Introduction

Suffering from pancreatic cancer, dealing with a mother enduring dementia, and overcoming the loss of a father, Singaporean artist Danny Raven Tan has lots of advice to share with the youth. Danny Tan visited UWCSEA revealing his life to grade 9 students. He talked intently about his life story and work, explaining how he had worked as a building estate manager early in his career, pursuing this career in hopes of pleasing his parents. During this process he found himself hating his job. He said that the only thing he enjoyed about this job was decorating the interior of apartments and other small rooms.  Danny told us about how the biggest regrets on deathbeds are “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” and “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard”. This really got me thinking about my life and how I should lead a life that I want to live, not a life my parents want me to live.

“If I don’t pursue my dream now, then when?”

-Danny Raven Tan

Background

Danny Tan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010. Although he overcame the physical aspects of his pancreatic cancer, the mental aspects stayed. He said that depression overtook his body. He realized during his period of depression that his life was going nowhere, that he was not doing what he wanted to do, and to overcome this, he had to tell himself that “there is no point wallowing in your own shit”. Danny quit his job at LASALLE College of the Arts in 2015, after six years of employment to take care of his mother suffering from dementia. It was at this point he decided to follow his passion for art. He started painting in his HDB flat and decided to pursue his dream as an artist. He co-founded the Tiffin Gallery with his friend James Tay. The Tiffin Gallery is located in Danny’s HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio. “It is actually a space where we created to bring the arts closer to the community”. The Tiffin Gallery held its first show ‘Un*listed’ in 2016 and was well received by visitors of the gallery

Obstacles

Danny Tan has gone through many obstacles in his life. From cancer to dealing with a parent’s death and everything in between. Although these events took place, Danny seemed to have an overall positive energy surrounding him. A light that is filled with happiness breaking through the darkness of his challenges. This, to me, was very inspirational. The fact that Danny can overcome his obstacles and make the best of his situation really makes me wonder if I could do the same. If I could hurdle over the obstacles stopping me from reaching my dreams if I could find happiness and make the best out of any situation whether big or small.

If not now, when?

Happiness is something that everyone craves in life. Specifically, the happiness of pursuing a burning passion, and/or the happiness of spending time with loved ones. During his presentation at UWC that day, Danny Tan talked about happiness and how we can find it. He talked about how the number one regret on deathbeds is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me”. Danny talked about how we don’t live our lives to our fullest and how we should be who we want to be. These two points stuck out to me the most, especially the point of being who we want to be. Throughout life I had always thought I needed to get a high paying job and prove to everyone that I was capable of greatness, but what I did not realise (until Danny’s presentation) was that all I need to achieve greatness is to live the life I want to lead and be happy with my decisions. Thus bringing me to my point, “if not now, when?”. If not now, when are we going to change? If not now, when are we going to pursue our passions and hobbies? If not now, when are we going to spend time with the ones we love?

Life will always have its ups and downs, somethings are not going to turn out how we expect and that’s something we’re going to have to deal with. Throughout the last few weeks, I have been heavily reflecting on my life. On how I can live my life to its highest potential and gain everything I want to gain from it. I’m only 15 at the moment and I wonder if by the time I’m 51, would I have followed my passions, and overcome my obstacles, as well as Danny Raven Tan has.