I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hate talking about money. Unfortunately in an Asian society, the benchmark for success revolves around it. Work as well, since people need to work for money. Nobody really cares that you've traveled around the world, seen places, met people, become enlightened and happy. No, no one gives a shit. After being away for so long, the first thing people say is, 'So, I heard you quit your job and spent all your money'.
Sadly, I'm also in the position of being compared to a younger sibling, who has gone down the 'traditional' route in which money comes first. That is all fine and dandy with me, since each person has their own pursuits of happiness, but what I truly despise is being criticized blatantly for the path that I've taken. Without any attempt at understanding any personal motivations, the comments being made are 'it's stupid to take off and travel on a miniscule budget then come home with no job. Better to accumulate as much wealth as possible now and travel luxuriously later'.
Perhaps what they fail to grasp are all the other meaningful things one experiences traveling the way I did. Sleeping on stranger's couches, walking for miles alone in the snow and the cold, making human connections wherever I went because I didn't stay in a hotel - all these things have made me who I am today and this I wouldn't exchange for any amount of money. So I'm jobless now, but it's not the end of the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think you're brave to go the route you did, though personally I wouldn't have done the same. I'd have found a middle ground between a budget and luxury.
ReplyDeleteTake heart, what's happening is that people don't know where to place you in their understanding of things. To them by all accounts you should be miserable and regret the choice you made, but this is not the case and they can't reconcile it with what they've been taught. The question you need to answer for only yourself is "What is my measure of success?" and perhaps if the mind allows ask yourself what is the one thing that you have done or if you did would make the whole of your life worthwhile. Why not try to do that thing or do it again? Keep your head up.
ReplyDelete@Orhan: I like extremes. I'm also a masochist.
ReplyDelete@Rhino: I'm actually quite used to it, but just wanted to have a whinge!