Reason simple, because I can't blog every week anymore. Or more rather, blogging is sadly not my priority now. Work is.
I have a lot to report since my last blog, which was like almost a few months ago. I firstly revived my blog for the purpose to push myself to a continuous weekly blog but it only lasted for like a few months. Now that I have switched department to a much more busy department, finding the time and energy to blog is in itself difficult.
Quite long ago (which is like a few months), PM Lee mentioned of a Work-Life Balance Lifestyle.
Hey I'm not wearing Pink!
Well to be honest if you want to truly achieve it, it can be done; under a lot of determination and stamina that is. For the first few weeks when I switched, I could hardly get myself doing anything at all. I had to struggle with well.. myself, to get myself used to my commitment and the whole process of rescheduling and redirecting my energy to doing the things I have to do.
Furthermore, during that period of time I had my tuitions to handle. 3 of my students were entering into the final phase of their A lvl and they are simply eating up more of whatever is left of my energy.
Well USA has the SAT. How bout that?
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't dislike my current job at the new department, the people are nice and helpful and the mood is not tensed. I loved my tuition lessons and the interaction with my students. I used to think that people who don't do anything else but work are lazy and unmotivated. Well, I guess I don't have the rights to say them anymore cause I fell into that state once. For the few months to getting used to my new department I totally lost the motivation to do anything else, such as exercising, researching on my stocks and even to play game. All I do whole day after work is either accompany my girlfriend if not youtubing or facebooking. Those two I tell you are the ultimate time-wasters. I didn't have the motivation to plan anything, or do anything productive. I led a very mundane and boring life for that few months. It's only until recently that I starting to slowly getting back into pace.
That's when I realized this, what PM Lee was saying was actually not something that can be easily done. Because right from the start, there is no Work-Life Balance itself, this 2 things cannot be quantified or compared that easily. How are you going to measure them? The amount of time spent on each and see which takes up a bigger percentage?
I termed human in general going through several phases of their life. My thinkings have changed a bit since the last time and it could change again when I enter the next phrase of my own life.
If she's your baby then you know you're fucked.
1. 0-10 years old: The Shaping Up Phrase
You are basically wasting your life away, however during this time it's also the time when you absorb whatever is around you the most. Your character, personality, tendencies and hobbies are the ones being developed at this point of time. So whatever you are thinking right now, is probably the result of the influenced you had at this phrase. However when you are this young, you won't give a shit about anything. Because you don't have any opinions at all during this time. Your whole brain itself is still not developed.
That's also a reason why I don't like to deal with "people" at this age. Because they can't think, no matter what you tell them they won't understand the reason behind it fully. I still remembered trying to reason with my Pri 2 chinese kid telling them why is it so important for her to study. Boy was I wrong, there's no point in that at all!
So there's no 'balance' at all at this stage cause if the person can't even know why is the meaning of balance, there can be no balance. Balance have to be instilled by the parents and we know how are parents are.
STOMP is your friend when you need dumb pics.
2. 11-16/17/18 years old: The Experiencing Phrase
This is the age when we slowly come out of that dazed mode in our infant years and start to think things through ourselves. We experience the different notions of emotions and get into our thinking of future bit by bit. They won't think too much in that though as it is still scary. Political view, religious views, ideas, emotions, love, character etc all this things will be fully crunched out at this time. That's also why they call it the rebellious times; because we will come out from being obedient to experiencing things ourselves, even if we know it's bad.
It could be argued that this is the most important time of our lives. Well there's no such thing as MOST important phrase. It's just that this stage would always feel special in our lives as our energy is endless and we would want to break every rule there is or to feel the acceptance in society.
At this time, there's no 'work'. Work is being termed as studying and it differs among people whether we will like our 'work' or not, depending on the outcome of 'The Shaping Up Phrase". However, there's plenty of time for life. After all this is the best time to get life, because life is the most interesting right now. So yes there will be balance, and it comes easily.
Who the fuck needs library when you have Mcdonalds!?
3. 19-23/24/25 years old: The Studying Phrase
We have matured, we have understood life and experienced things. We know what we want and we know the steps to it. Now its the time to learn the skills and knowledge needed to get there. And hence with our mature minds, studying comes almost naturally. It may not be just studying books or for your exams but you are studying skills now. Skill that you may or may not need for your future. Regardless you will need them, that's why you're studying now... voluntarily. Because you know you will need it and it can only do you good, no harm.
When I mean studying, it also means social skills, learning soft skills, understanding human relationships and how to leverage on them, be it in a positive or negative way. Hence this is also when things starts to slowly clear up and you begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel for your future or survival.
You may have already started work like Takahina at the age of 24, but even work now is learning. Because you will see that society itself is like a big classroom for people to study it. Nothing is for certain now but at least things would have shaped up slowly in the form that you would have liked. You may already start to begin a relationship with your partner in life, and even that is a learning experience, for things are now serious. You are not that fledging youngster still stuck in puppy love.
You are hungry now, you are desperate now. That's why you study life now, by working life.
Work should mostly takeover our life, at least in a positive sense. The yardstick of Work and Life would be more tilted towards Work, but not yet fully leaning to just Work. But.... it will get increasingly difficult to shape it back to the balance it used to be when you're just a teenager.
Yes, Office Lady is now officially a cosplay.
4. 24/25/26 - 35 years old: The Working Phrase
Imagine a role playing game. You are now at level 80, almost fully efficient at whatever you need to know through your years of grinding at school, workplace and house. You have the high level weapons and equipments you need in order to fight the final boss. You are confident that you can win and whatever enemies that is being thrown at you, you are more than sufficient to handle it alone.
However, you are not content with just finishing off the final boss. You want to explore the game more, you want to see is there anything else that you left behind, any more rare items or challenge bosses for you to seek, any more side quest left behind still unsolved. Yes you are now at a stage whereby you are bored.
You can complete the game easily but you are bored that things are gonna end just like this. You trained for 25 years, only to end the game like this? NO WAY! You want to make sure that you have unlocked every secret in the game before you fight the final boss.
It's just like real life. You are addicted to work just like how you would be addicted to role playing game. You have (or you think you have) the skills needed to go through life similarly to being high level in a RPG. You have the gadgets that you need and you have a partner with you in life just like how RPG we will always form groups. But you wonder how far you can go to achieve your goal. How successful in life you can go and is there more in life to explore? Are there more skills you can learn for your success? Are there more money and opportunities that you can obtain? Is your partner the best partner to go with you on the final phrase to the final boss?
Very often it is at this stage you would start to doubt yourself. Doubt yourself and asking yourself is this what you really want and what you really need or is there better choices out there to better your chances. And it's this doubt that makes you work even more. Work so much more in fact that the lever of Work and Life would always be tilting to work. The balance is gone at this point and its very understandable as once you pass this stage and saved your game, it will be the final boss. Life? What is that?! I need to work to see how far my chances are!
There will be no Work-Life Balance at all at this point, reason being our minds would be the one hindering us from it. Because of the doubt and questions we have, we cannot stop working towards what we want and exploring. Very often, you have to PUSH your mind to allow you to enjoy life and to experience life.
Uncle wants his Kopi Break.
5. 35 - 65 years old: The Settling Phrase
You have worked long enough. You have explore far enough. Now you are tired mentally and physically. You want to settle down. You finally decided to fight that final boss and felt that your current stats, level, equipments, partner is the best one. Even if there is more to explore, you find that you are getting too old for that. Time to end this, time to enjoy life now.
Yet during the period when you're enjoying life, you can't help but reminisce of the past when you're young, energetic and full of zest. You may try to restart your engine to rush again but eventually you will just stop it as gradually you will see no point. You feel sad, sad that your game is ending soon. The report card of life named Death will approach soon and you pray that you have done well in life. You pray that the game will have a good ending.
This years are filled with mixed feelings. As you want to enjoy life, you will find that life is not that enjoyable any more. What you want more is peace, that peace that will continue through until your funeral. However inner peace is more than often, unattainable. Thanks to the depressing feeling of death, regrets would start to overflow. You would have hoped that you worked and study more, hence you pin that knowledge and thinking onto your offspring who more than often can't be bothered with your nagging.
However, the thing is the game has already been fully explored by you. You have overwrote your save data and there's no turning back any more. Be it whether you have fully tried your best or not you will always have that lingering bitter feeling inside.
Work Life is already balanced. But even so you won't be happy.
Ah Po, Kua Simi?
6. 65 - death: The Dying Phrase
My choice of words are very direct. Face it, you're gonna die soon so might as well face it in it's full glory. All the diseases, illness, handicap is gonna attack you head on and you can only rely on your own power (coupled with medicines and healing magic such as 'surgery). You may die early, you may die late. But regardless the game will end and you're gonna die. Similar to playing "Slender", you're gonna die no matter what.
Don't Play this game unless you wanna scare yourself
But you face death, you will try to see glimpse of how well you score. However you can't see well anymore, you can't remember that young kid who always follows your son and calls you Grandpa. You can't hear well any more and the drum beats always seem to be going too slow or missing beats here and there. Hmmm, that's odd.
Then you would have understood at that point of time, when suddenly it all comes back to you, from when you're a baby all the way till what you are now. You finally comprehended this thing that there's no such thing as Work-Life Balance. They are essentially the same thing. You have to work to maintain life. And you spend more than 75% of your life on work itself. Aren't they the same thing then? You would have hoped that work would have been much better then.
The report card of life will be handed out without you knowing how well you have scored. People around you are gonna comment on your results, yet you can't say a word in protest. But hey, at least you managed to last this long. Life is not an easy game and for you to be able to work till this far is commendable by any cause.
Then in heaven, your partner will sit beside you and ask, "So, have you enjoyed your life?"
How would you answer then?
1 comment:
so true so true bro..
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