reciprocated. or not.

many times, we just want our efforts to be reciprocated. because it makes you feel appreciated, content and not taken for granted.

we work hard for many reasons. we put in effort because of passion, goals, expectations, relationships, or simply for ourselves.

passion, because we love it. i trained hard because i like to dance. watching the pro ones dance makes me want to be like them. there are tone-deaf people who listen to notes every day to perfect their pitch. then there are the sporty ones who practise dribbling, shooting etc intensively to train their ball sense, or run regularly and constantly challenge old timings, pushing themselves more and more each time. we want the time put in to pay off with results, to sing with perfect pitch, to be more confident with the ball, to shave a couple of seconds off the old timing. we want to be reciprocated by ourselves and the new achievements we have accomplished.

goals, because we want it. i was willing to dance all night, because i wanted to win something in the competition and to put up a good performance. some people mug day in day out so that they can hit their first-class. some people aspire to earn their first million by 30, so they go into business ventures, entrepreneurship etc. we want a certain something, so we work for it. we want to be reciprocated.

expectations, because others want it. working in a group, we are constantly under scrutiny, criticism and the watchful eyes of somebody in whatever we do. we work hard, because we don't want tongues wagging and we have a image that we want to portray to others. because there is a goal set by someone else that we have to achieve. we are pressurised to, being fully aware that it could cost us a promotion, or a certain grade in our transcript, or our images and social lives. this applies both ways. when we have a goal for the group, we want the rest to work towards it too, because it takes coordinated effort for it to materialise. we want to be reciprocated by the efforts of the rest whom we are coorperating with.

relationships, because we treasure it. we ask our friends out for gatherings because we haven't seen them in a long time. we give them a call when time doesn't allow for a gathering. we spam their facebook walls. we talk to them online to catch up. occasionally, somebody tells us that he/she is busy and has no time to spare. truth is, everyone is busy. so that's why when somebody makes an effort, we should reciprocate it. when we can't afford the time, at least thank the ones who tried. again, this is a two-way thing. we should also be grateful to the ones who tried when we simply couldn't make time for them. they would want, too, to be reciprocated.

lastly, we work for ourselves. sometimes it's things we don't want, things we don't like, things others don't like... but we do it for the future, for the better. perhaps worse, sometimes, when we don't do it correctly. it probably isn't the best experience, it could be troublesome, arduous, and makes us want to kill ourselves sometimes, but we know the outcome will be sweet. so we grit our teeth and force ourselves to go through all the shit, for a shit-free life ahead. there are always sacrifices to be made, but they could be worth it. it's like eating a Sour Power candy. a sour experience precedes a sweet one, with your dental health at stake. we want to reciprocated for all that we had gone through to have the perfect outcome.


i don't think i've reciprocated the efforts of those around me enough, sad to say. on the other hand, have i been reciprocated? or not...