1) the ones that tell you to climb up the corporate ladder, earn a chunk of money, settle down and live a middle class (if you're lucky, upper class) existence till the day you die.
2) and then there's what i like to call, the 'new society': the ones that judge you based on how well-traveled you are, or how brave you are to have quit your 9-5 job and started your own gig while traveling the world, or how noble you are for abandoning option no.1 and doing life the 'hipster' and 'unconventional' way.
like many post-digital millennial zombies, i've always felt trapped in between the two societies, though i mostly lean to option no.2 (maybe some of you too).
for a while there, i had bouts of feeling sorry for myself coupled with sessions of telling myself to focus on my goals, but i would usually end up distraught and wondering why i'm no #digitalnomad or #livingauthentic but stuck in my advertising job, clocking in and out, and living a 'regular life'.
it's not that i've not tried to apply for jobs overseas. i have.
it's not that i don't want to travel. i can't travel as and when i like because travel involves money and money doesn't fall out from the sky. i may have the luxury of traveling once a year but that's about it, with the type of salary I'm earning.
thankfully, i woke up this morning and had a new perspective.
as i observed the sun rising triumphantly above the clouds, i decided to give thanks.
and i decided that i will live my life as how i see fit whether or not it goes against what's trending or what societies no.1 or no.2 say. no one should put themselves under any form of pressure to be what society tells them to be. no one should compare themselves with what other people are doing. everyone is entitled to how they want to live their lives, whether or not it's climbing up the corporate ladder or 'forsaking all for the sake of #wanderlust'.
to recap, here are three things that I'm thankful for:
1. People: specifically my parents and my sister, my boyfriend, my Crave superheroes and my best friends + people that I care about and highly respect
2. Career: I didn't get into the fashion & lifestyle industry though magazines as how I hoped I would, but i made it work by going through another door: digital advertising. I'm excited (and scared) to work for upcoming (big) projects for big brands that will stretch me out of my comfort zone and take my portfolio to the next level.
3. Life: I'm thankful for the chance to live. To breathe. To chase dreams. To laugh. To love. To travel.
do yourself a favour and stop comparing. stop comparing with the #digitalnomad and stop comparing with the workaholic. do life your way. contentment and joy is on the other side, waiting to embrace you. write down your goals and dreams and work for it. shut off the noise and listen to your intuition. please go out there and live. stop wasting money on self-help books but pick yourself up and do what you need to do. stop living vicariously online and go on an adventure with yourself. just go out there and do it. eat well, sleep well, live well. most importantly, take care of yourself.
like how a wise woman once told me, 'living well is more than just organic fruit.'
i hope that you'll find the wisdom in that too.
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