“Ganma, what did you want in life when you were twenty?”
“I wanted a lot a lot of money. I wanted a husband who would love me. And I wanted cute children. Now I am very happy.”
“Daniel, what do you want in life?”
“I want to be happy. I want to have a meaningful job. It should also give me enough time to take care of my family. I want to educate my children and teach them the correct things. If you do not educate your own children, who will?”
Mum:”I think it’s good to be a teacher. It’s stable and managable.”
Ganma:”Why don’t you become a teacher and work in the education sector? There’s a huge market here. Parents are much more willing to spend money on their children than on themselves.”
Jeffery Hong:”Actually a Chinese teacher is a good job. I listened to my Chinese teacher last time and took it. You may also want to consider it.”
Dandan:”I have never thought I would become a teacher before I came. Looking back, I don’t regret.”
What do I want in life?
A husband who loves me. Lovely children. Live close to my parents. And maybe hopefully friendly parents-in-law. Keep in mind that I am marrying a family.
No matter what happens, these people will always be around to support me and bring me happiness. They will never leave me.
What kind of job do I want?
One that develops me, challenges me and interests me.
One that involves a lot of travelling, constant learning and adapting to new environment.
One that gives me plenty opportunities to meet people from all walks of life and talk to them.
One that never bores me.
One that is meaningful, that contributes to the overall well-being of others.
“autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward”
Will I want the same kind of job when I turn thirty, forty or fifty years old?
Will I want to move from place to place after I freshly start my family and then later have children? Remember that travelling around for work is completely different to travelling with family.
Do I really want to spend so much energy on travelling and adapting to new environment?
Won’t I feel TIRED to find my way through sometimes?
Do I LOVE FREQUENT long flights?
Do I LOVE the jat-lag?
Do I LOVE to work when I feel sleepy and homesick?
Don’t forget that I have been living in the same house for more than ten years and I still always want to go back there.
Maybe what I want truly is a lot of money and a lot of holidays so I can travel with my loved ones? This sounds a lot more fun and relaxing to me.
Will I still want to meet total strangers and find ways to get to know them better when my family member falls sick and needs me?
After all, though I have met and talked with so many people during the past four years, only the ones I spent the most amount of time with became my friends still in contact. When it comes to socialsing, the more the merrier may not be true. Only in-depth interaction fosters total trust. Only heart-felt understanding brings about emphathy. I just simply do not have enough time and energy to know everyone well. Is it really wise to continuously expand my social network just to wait for the occasional sparkling enlightment? The size of my immediate contact zone is fixed. When new people come in, some of the old friends must exit. Do I want different small groups of people know bits and pieces of my life here and there or a steady group of family members and friends who know almost everything about my life?
Draft Two:
What kind of job do I want?
One that develops me, challenges me and interests me, and at the same time manageable so I still have good control of my life.One that never bores me. (filled by the first criterion)
One that is meaningful, that contributes to the overall well-being of others.
Now it looks much more friendly and desirable to me.
What kind of job do I want to avoid?
One that requires me to be out of the house at night frequently. I dread it when I lose my peaceful evenings to do whatever I want.
One that is highly stressful. Well this will cause me to lose more hair and soon I will be bald.
One that is super demanding and imposes a lot of deadlines. Oh no! I wanna breathe!
One that involves a lot of risks and responsibility which my decisions made will affect a lot of people’s lives. –> This is totally contradictory to my motivation to become a public servant - to address the root causes of problems and make changes to improve a lot of people’s lives. Oh no…>_< But I know I will die early of guilt and stress if I make any wrong decision and make many to live a more miserable life. T_T…
I'm tired….I shall stop this seemingly complicated thinking now and go brush my teeth.
Mum, I don't wanna work… Can you work and feed me all my life?
