Our Journey - Part 3

Designed in Hell

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Have you ever just done your own thing, minding your business when out of nowhere, everything feels like it's starting to fall apart one thing at a time? That's what happened to us after several years of pure happiness and high energy. After many discussions with our parents, we made a life decision as a family about our education. We knew it would be looked down upon but we also knew it would be the best option for us. Unfortunately, the people we expected would support us were the angriest and had the most to say. They were extended family members.

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One day we were studying in the city with our mother when Relative 1 saw us and went straight to Relative 2 to speculate why we were there and how it was wrong without ever asking ourselves or our mother a single question about what was going on. In the days and weeks following, these relatives along with other relatives and members of the community were pressuring our father into leading us astray from our vision so that we might go for a job or career that was deemed "safe" by society. They were unwittingly projecting their own limitations onto us but we knew our capabilities better than any of them did.

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Despite this background noise, we travelled interstate with our family to meet with international manufacturers at an exhibition. At this time, we were 16. We collected contact details and all the necessary information we needed. Regardless of the negativity that had begun clouding us, we still felt excited after being able to inspect the quality of the products that were showcased. Strangely enough, going to that exhibition is what set the wrecking ball into motion which would open up Hell on Earth for us.

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Upon our return home, the pressure from our relatives intensified. They realised we were extremely serious about our brand and maybe they were just scared for us. It was also suggested that sometimes, people are not genuinely happy seeing others live their dreams when they themselves didn't have the courage to. Whatever the case, our father eventually succumbed to all the talk and insisted we do a trial for a trade. For as long as we could hold out, we resisted. We knew he believed in us, he was with us on the trip but as with many parents, he is not as steadfast in holding his ground when it comes to outside coercion.

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After much tension, we agreed under duress to do the trial. Mentally, it was the worst two weeks we've experienced. It may not sound so bad to you but the the fact we were basically forced to do something we didn't to want to made it a huge deal. We woke up angry, went to work angry and came home angry. We had no appetite and barely spoke a word to our father. We had never experienced anything like this with him before. We felt like we didn't even know him. Looking back, we knew it took a toll on him too. After the trial period was over, he saw that we had stopped working on our brand. We started wasting time with friends, playing video games and being unproductive. The one constant that we had in our lives who helped us out of that hellish pit of despair was our mother.

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Even though the two weeks of the trial were a nightmare, we truly became aware of how grateful we were to have been born to our mother and into the Gonzaga bloodline. Our mother is rebellious at heart and nobody around would be able to tell her what her children should and shouldn't be doing. Her family dynamics are very different to our paternal side and it's a beautiful thing to witness. In my mother's family, they can disagree and even disapprove of each other's life decisions however they will stay 100% supportive, respectful and proud no matter what anyone else feels or says. If we ever become fathers one day, we will hold true to this family tradition and lead by this example.

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With sometimes gentle, other times aggressive nudges of encouragement from our mother and her family, we dragged oursevles out of the abyss and returned to personal development. We were told to use people's judgements and doubt as motivation so that's exactly what we did. We returned to working on our brand and with consistency, we bagan to feel alive again. We could feel the tsunami coming if we just kept going. But as with life, it wasn't going to be smooth sailing, for along with our tsunami came some crabs in a bucket.


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