At 44, Pan Xiaoting once failed as an art student, switched to billiards and worked hard to become a benchmark, refusing to settle for others' expectations and living in a clear and free state.
Pan Xiaoting, 44, has recently sparked widespread online discussion with a set of before-and-after photos, but few people know the story of when she was 15 and was seen crouching outside an art studio in tears.
The young girl who had failed the national art exam by a mere 0.5 points that year would later rise to become an unparalleled icon in Chinese women’s billiards.On a winter night when she was 15, she crouched on the steps outside her art studio, clutching her crumpled report card. Afraid to cry out loud, she buried her face in her knees, suppressing even the slightest tremor in her shoulders for fear that passing classmates or teachers might notice.In 1997, following her father’s advice, she took up billiards. At the time, the table was nearly half a head taller than she was; she could only reach the cue by standing on two bricks stacked on top of each other. Day after day, she spent her time in the billiards hall,the frayed edges of the billiards cloth and the sweat-stained patina on the cue’s grip all serve as testament to that unknown, grueling struggle.
Year after year, she kept at it relentlessly, filling an entire cabinet with trophies of all sizes, and became the one and only iconic figure in the world of women’s billiards in China.
The outside world only sees her glamorous lifestyle; rumors suggest she’s quite wealthy.lives in a spacious duplex, uses her own money to sponsor promising young billiards players, and is quietly preparing to open her own billiards academy—yet the public focuses all its attention on the fact that she is 44 and unmarried, hounding her with endless questions.
She had never felt pressured about it. Others either said she was too picky or worried on her behalf, but few ever seriously considered that she had built her stable life through hard work, step by step—and there was simply no need for her to settle for less just to meet others’ expectations.
In the course of a lifetime, who hasn’t compromised their own feelings a few times—either to avoid others’ judgment or simply out of the habit of just getting by?
If you can live your life without having to worry about what others think and without settling for less, that’s what it truly means to live with clarity. If you, too, refuse to settle, don’t pay attention to what others say—holding on tightly to the days in your own hands is what truly matters.
