Apart from cooking and hosting guests over Chinese New Year Holidays, I’m so grateful for downtime to catch up on blogging, reading and self work exercises.
Social media always makes life look so much more groovy than the reality. I am in a great place, but I have a nagging feeling of not arriving yet in the right place. And I am still looking for myself and yearn to wake up every morning feeling like I am ready to tackle all the things I’m great at, instead of putting in 200% of trying to get a task done.
It’s tricky when you have many strengths and so many interests, and then financial responsibilities whether it’s the mortgage or parents’ mounting medical bills that insurance unfortunately doesn’t cover. Pursuing what brings you joy then becomes a luxury and privilege.
I spent the first 8 years of my working life paying off student debt and never quite had the luxury to go into full pursuit of what brings me joy. Unlike many friends and or my husband who is in a career purely out of love and passion – chefs, doctors, engineers, programmers, they eat, sleep, and live their jobs because it’s such a core part of their lives, like a main artery that runs through what they do. All the other things they are good at remain as hobbies.
My husband has so many passion points from DJ-ing off hours to doing all sorts of sports and it’d never have to compete with his culinary profession.
What happens when we have multi passions? I am still trying to figure this one out. From Marie Forleo B School classes, to plenty of classes I’ve taken on Creative Live, which I study after work hours so that I keep growing and feeding my soul as my day job doesn’t offer any growth or motivation. I’ve found Danielle Laporte’s Firestarter sessions quite inspiring – she really demonstrates the power of the written word.
I don’t believe in a perfect job, and I am more than thankful for the opportunities that have come my way. As a full time consultant, 85% of my time unfortunately is glorified intern work, and 15% of the time actually really utilises my expertise in strategy for marketing, branding and social media. I’d love to get more great projects that actually pay for my time and expertise, rather than plugging holes in projects.
The book “How will you measure your life?” got me thinking about motivation and growth, which is so important to living a meaningful life. In 2016, I prioritise learning and development – whether is to mentor others or to continue to grow myself, jump at all opportunities to contribute my expertise.
Some day, there will be a time to only do the things that bring joy, and more importantly be of service to others, and to fill a need that would in one way or another help someone.
