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Dr Jessica Yeo | Sydney Ortho
Exactly 21 years ago, my parents chose the unthinkable - to leave behind their comfortable middle-class life in Singapore and move our family to Brisbane, Australia.
My brother and I were already studying in good schools, we were financially stable and had extended family around. They didn't know anyone in Brisbane and would even have to run a business to be granted residency. So why?
Looking back, my parents sensed that doing the status quo - pushing their kids to study hard, come first in class, get into the best university and be miserable their whole childhood - just didn't seem quite right. Surely they thought there must be a different way to life where their kids could have better opportunities and the space to dream of their future beyond conforming to fit a mould in society.
So for years they adopted the immigrant life and started from nothing- sold vegemite sandwiches, learned how to cook fish and chips, worked the graveyard shift at the post office, all so we could have a better future.
20 years later, I realise my parents were teaching me the meaning of hard work, never settling for less. I've achieved things I wouldn't have dreamed of if my parents hadn't given up their comfortable lives. I practice in a suburb in Sydney where there are lots of Asian immigrants like me. As a bilingual English and Mandarin speaking orthodontist, I get to connect with lots of patients and their families with similar backgrounds and experiences, and help them understand their dental and orthodontic health in a way that comforts and reassures them.
I'm forever grateful to my parents for taking that risk.
