Following my own path and finding contentment in what I do

Is it OK to pursue a path less travelled and find success on your own terms?

For the final learning session of the Singapore Children's Forum (SCF) 2021, held on 18 September, participants heard from someone who had lived that question and turned it into art.

Ms Faith Ng, Associate Artistic Director at Checkpoint Theatre, writes stories for the stage. One of her most personal works is “Normal,” a play first staged in 2015 and restaged in 2017, drawn directly from her own experience as a Normal Stream student in Singapore. It explores what happens when young people don't fit the mould and what that might actually mean for them.

Faith brought that same honesty to her session with the SCF participants, sharing four things she wished she could tell her younger, teenage self.

Four lessons worth holding onto 1. It's okay to make mistakes. The mistake isn't the whole story. How you pick yourself up afterward often matters far more. Mistakes have a way of making us more mature, more empathetic, and more forgiving of the people around us, too. 2. It's okay not to have all the answers. It's brave to say, 'I don't know' and 'I'm still figuring it out' when you feel uncertain about the future, and how it might turn out. Life is a journey through highs and lows.

3. Spend time with yourself. Doing so allows us to ask ourselves, "Who am I?" and "What do I like or dislike?" instead of following the crowd. Asking ourselves "What kind of learner am I?" (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc.) is useful as well, not just for learning in school, but for shifting our perspectives and helping us develop a growth mindset when we encounter challenging situations that take us out of our comfort zones.

4. Surround yourself with people who lift you up. The people around us shape who we become. Ask for help when you need it. You don't have to figure everything out alone.

What the participants shared Faith's session left plenty of room for the young people to share their own stories, and what came out was striking. Students from more academically renowned schools and those from other schools found themselves on common ground: academic pressure, the weight of expectations, and the feeling that they have to perform a certain version of themselves.

But they also pushed back on the idea that learning only counts if it happens in a classroom. Young people can take the lead on discovering what genuinely interests them, outside of formal schooling. Faith echoed this: being gracious to yourself when you fall short, and permitting yourself to try again, matters just as much as any grade.

Many participants left the session feeling genuinely encouraged and grateful to have already started discovering where their interests and talents lie, whether in podcasting, dance, biomedical science, or something else entirely. Grades are one measure. Contentment and satisfaction in what you do is another, and arguably the more lasting one.

Why spaces like this matter

The session closed with something easy to overlook but hard to overstate: young people need platforms where their views on the things that affect them are genuinely welcomed. When those spaces exist, with adults showing up ready to listen, it becomes possible to build policies, programmes, and initiatives that actually serve the best interests of children and youth.

SCF is one of those spaces. And conversations like this one are exactly why it exists.