What is my life’s Work?

I think every moment of my life is plagued by this question. 

What exactly is my life’s Work? What exactly am I put on this earth for?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always felt like there was more to Life than what I currently know.

If you find yourself in an echo chamber of constant complaining and whining about how stressful and meaningless work is. Or worse, everyone around you seems to always say “Well, that’s just the way things are!” (Forgive me while I roll my eyes at that statement.)

You are not alone. Better yet, you are in the right place.

I’m on a mission to challenge the way we view Work and how we define milestones in life.

In my day job, I interact with people who have contributed decades of their life to this one career, in the same workplace. I respect and admire them, I really do. The honest truth though, is that I don’t ever want to be like them. Granted, I may well change my mind one day. But for the foreseeable future, I would hate myself if I continued along their same path. And I rarely use the word “hate”.

I’m fortunate to be born in a relatively modern city in an otherwise developing country, to a family with loving and supporting parents. Though not exactly visionary, they do plan ahead and are willing to pivot when necessary.

This has afforded me much luxury, in terms of living outside the box and exploring alternative paths in life.

I never graduated university, I don’t think I ever will.

And I’m okay with it.

As far as society is concerned, I am a failure. The fact that I was born into the Asian culture of meritocracy doesn’t help my case.

But again, I am okay with it.

Why am I okay with this?

Because I found a different path to a meaningful life in this modern world, and I intend to walk it.

The Why

Why, why do keep wanting more? 

Do you not already have enough? 

Are you not already happy with your life?

These were the questions my mother asked me during a recent heart-to-heart conversation.

My answers came in the form of further questions.

If you could be happy and provide more for your family, would you not?

If you could make more money and in turn help more people, would you not?

Can we not be grateful, yet at the same time believe we can do more in life?

Can we not have enough, yet still pursue constant expansion and growth?

These are all paradoxes in life. Some we shall explore in future issues. Most you likely have encountered in your own life.

One thing is for sure, you have to choose your own stand, based on your own life and context.

The How

I have a very bad relationship with waking up. And yes, I do mean literally waking up from bed every day and going about daily life. My Christmas wish this year would be to wake up at the time I want to. As opposed to rolling around in bed, not getting up until I have to.

One day, I woke up (ultra reluctantly, might I add) and it hit me that I was not excited about life at all. It seemed like I had lost almost all zest in life.

I knew I had to do something about it. I had to turn my life around. 

But how?

This brought me on a journey of questioning everything I never bothered doubting in my life, and coming up with a framework that, above all, saved me from myself. Again, more to come in future issues of The Zeitgeist. 

Hopefully it will help you too.

Connecting the dots

At the ripe old age of 21, I got involved with a life coaching group. I had next to no idea what “life coaching” even meant at that time. Come to think of it, the friend that got me into the program used the term “technology” to describe the life coaching processes. 

Not sure how intentional or ethical that was, but note to self, terminology is crucial. That’s why I always emphasise on the importance of intention, context and perspective.

Despite going all in and doing everything that was taught, I never did understand what it was all about. There was mention of working on your life and finding joy, but try as I did, I didn’t manage to ascribe much meaning to the experience.

At 31, I feel like I have enough accumulated life stories and experience to share with the world, without sounding like an immature, self-entitled kid. And at 31, I realise something that is fundamentally true: 

My Work is my life and the stories I tell from it.

What is your life’s Work? Well, let’s explore and find out together in the upcoming weeks.

Welcome to The Zeitgeist.