The New Chapter. That's what I'm calling the life that I'm living now. I left my job on 31st May 2009 and decided to spend the following year or so living my life to the fullest. It is something that not many Singaporeans would venture into, especially with the economic crisis then. And there is no such thing as gap year in Singapore. Most would just go through the motion of studying, working, and settling down.
The awakening moment came when I was representing Youth Expedition Project (YEP) under the National Youth Council (NYC) Singapore for the 2nd Singapore-Thailand Youth Workers' Exchange Programme in Thailand in February 2009. I was chatting with my friend who was in the International Affairs department of NYC during the trip when she strongly suggested that I should join the Ship for Southeast Asia Youth Program (SSEAYP). I was definitely onto it and so I asked whether was there any limitations. She said something that struck me almost like a lightning bolt - "30". Not the number of participants but the age limit. I was not bothered that it involves two months of preparation or the two months away from home. I realised at that moment I was not getting any younger.
Only three years left before turning 30. I started to think more after the trip, and even discussed with my female office colleague (who was married) about life. It was then I knew that I would not want to grow old, then only to look back in life and dwell on the fact that I had not done this and that, or have no interesting or exciting stories to tell my children. The thought went on for quite a while - going through all the motions and possibilities. Can I survive without a permanent job? Will I get a job when I decide to return to reality? Will I grow old and find out that it was the worst decision in my life?
But wait... ain't all these the worries that everyone has and eventually obstruct them to venture on? I'm no entrepreneur but I know we sometimes have to take risks in order to gain. What is there to learn from life if it is all smooth sailing? We wouldn't know what went wrong and can't learn from our mistakes, right?
One morning in April 2009, I went into my office, had another chat with my colleague and that was it. I typed out my resignation letter, signed it and went straight into my Director's office. Oh wait... he's out of office for a meeting for the rest of the day... Darn it! Anyways, I got it to him the next day, and surprisingly he was supportive of my decision. To date, he is still my 'Boss' - afterall, he's the only one I've got. Haha!
On 31st May 2009, I officially left my job and since then been actively traveling in and out of the country for projects, events, camps etc. It's been an amazing time. Definitely something that I couldn't do while holding a permanent job. And of course I had to spoil myself. I had basically screwed up my biological clock indefinitely - waking up past noon and sleeping at dawn... but hey who cares!
With all the travel and new exciting stuff I'm doing, people kept asking about them. Eventually the thought of a blog came to me to document all these, but I delayed it for a long long time. I've a very bad habit that many do not know of - I'm actually a lazy bum. And oh yes... especially on my birthdays, I always grounded myself at home as my family don't really have the habit of celebrating birthdays. It was good quality stay home time, but of course it only last till a group of your friends unknowingly plan something for you and try to drag you out of the house with some other cover-up reasons. You culprits know who you are!
While I do all these fun stuff, I also had to survive. I went back to my old work place and did assignments for them. At that point of time, when I filled up forms or any of the sort, I faced a difficulty when I came to the space asking for my 'Occupation'. I initially penned down' Unemployed' but I realised it doesn't suit me - I didn't want to get employed! So eventually I wrote down 'N.A.'. As time went passed, I got enrolled in as part-timer for the education department of the zoo and birdpark so I changed to 'Free-lance Guide' and it stucked ever since. For my worries, so far so good. Surviving on my part-time jobs. And to my surprise, I got more job offers after I left! I'm a lucky bastard I guess?
Anyway, this blog is now set up to backlogged all my trips and document any future stuff. And I also decided to use it as my online journal to ramble about day to day stuff.
Cheerios!
SJ
Some numbers for your fun reference
41 - The number of days it took me to consider about leaving my job.
0.5 - The number of days it took me to decide, type, and send in my resignation letter for my job.
264 - The number of days between my resignation and the birth of this blog.
72 - The number of days out of the 264 above that I was out of Singapore.
6 - The number of countries I've been to within the 264 days above.
2 - The number of hours I took to craft and complete this page!
