Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

When a Musician Encounters a Mechanic

When 35 years old, I had an opportunity to be a music teacher in the U.S. At that time I was close to realizing my musician’s dream. However, my wife and I decided to move back to Taiwan and start over. After I returned to Taiwan, I worked in administration at a university for about a year. Then I planned to find a new job and settle down. While I was still sending out my resumes, my father-in-law asked me to join his business, buying and selling steel. I joined Tai Ji Men when I was still in college and have been practicing qigong and cultivating my heart since, which helps me keep positive thoughts and be in good health. Whenever I encounter difficulties in life, I can always take on the new challenges with a calm heart and play my part. Therefore, although I was in my mid thirties, I mustered my courage to face this big transition in life.

I had always heard that changing your career in mid-life was tough and had no idea what would happen to me. I had been heavily involved in the world of music since childhood, and different fields require different specialties. I couldn’t imagine how it would be like in a completely unrelated field. I felt strongly as an outsider on my first day at the new job, just like the words in a song go, "Taipei is not my hometown. In my hometown there are no neon lights."

There are thousands of items in the inventory of our company, all with different measurements. Steel material has different shapes: circle, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, etc. And, the quality has different grades including black, white, medium carbon, and high carbon. I was completely confused.

At first, I was in charge of taking phone calls and orders. However, older people in this traditional industry usually use jargons in Taiwanese and Japanese; this was a big challenge for me. One time I misunderstood a client’s order of "cutting 10 pieces of the black steel material in these measurements." Instead I thought he had said 70 pieces. When the goods were delivered, the buyer was shocked and immediately called to complain. Of course I had to pay for the additional 60 pieces.

The first time when I went to collect money from a factory, I felt quite scared the moment I saw the factory owner, who was tall, chunky, and tattooed. He didn’t wear a shirt on that day as it was really hot. When he saw me, he gestured for me to go to the office to collect the money. I was so nervous that I could hardly open the door. Finally when I opened the door and was about to enter the office, he yelled at me," Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear that I told you to remove your shoes?" I really didn’t hear him as it was so noisy in the factory, and I thought that he was going to beat me up.

After entering the office, I saw his wife and a baby. I explained to her the purpose of my visit and then started to talk about kids and the happiness and challenges associated with raising them. I naturally played with the baby. When the owner entered the office and saw me playing with his kid, he cheerfully asked if I had kids of my own. He changed his attitude towards me completely and started chatting with me. He originally thought that we didn’t trust his newly established company and were very anxious to collect his money for fear that his company would go bankrupt soon. Therefore, he didn’t like my visit at first. After we clarified the misunderstanding, there were no longer hard feelings between us. We even found out that we came from the same town. I had not only successfully completed my mission this time, but also made a new friend.

Shifu taught me to change my temper and be positive and happy, and that has become my motto in life. In Tai Ji Men I have the opportunity to participate in various events and cultural performances for public welfare. Through these involvements, I have become stronger, more observant of the society, and more capable to adapt my mood and attitude accordingly. From the sharing of other Tai Ji Men dizi about their work experiences in different industries, I have learned to be modest and willing to humbly learn from my colleagues. My co-workers are also willing to provide me with learning opportunities in the workplace. Gradually I have become better at what I do.

I am now in my late thirties; originally I worked only in the circles of music and arts, but now I have changed tracks and worked in a steel company. In this process, I have seen my colleagues work very hard to make little money to support their families, and I have also gained a deep understanding of my in-laws’ difficult path from rags to riches in the past few decades. Our generation’s good fortunate to enjoy good education, foods, and shelters was earned entirely through our parents’ blood, sweat, and tears. As an old saying goes, "Men should have the courage to take on responsibility and let go of the past." I keep reminding myself that I can’t be knocked down by setbacks in life and the future is really in my own hands.