Clear skies and sunshine

When I was in Morocco, a young man who could speak fluent Arabic, French, English and Berber claimed to have the secret to learning many languages: "Be unemployed,” he told me. “Without a job you have a lot of time to learn."

I must have missed something because the stretch I had without a job brought me no nearer to linguistic brilliance.

But I dare say, if I had time on my hands, I might instead be enjoying some peace and quiet. My most vivid memory of Geneva is sitting by the lake and enjoying the scenery. It was the social norm – on fine sunny days, everyone was there. An ex-schoolmate recently sent me an email concerning sharing of poetry, and in response, I decided to write something to remember that communal spirit of taking a moment to appreciate life:

The Sunshine Collective

The brevity of flowers in the summer
Deters not the arrival of pots upon pots
As the planter of life, the gardener
Lays out the rows of fresh plots
The varieties growing by the hour

They sway in unison with the breeze
Delicate petaled heads held high
Such cordiality solely to please
As visitors mill idly and sit by
For the season's declaration of colour

November 2019

 A record of that scene - sometime in 2016. 

With a string of exams I took just over, I hope for my outlook ahead to be similarly idyllic.

Happy December!

On zeal

I have a terrible commute to work. There are four or five possible routes to choose from; none are good.

But though I dislike the commute, it struck me one day that I never disliked the journey because of the destination. I always wanted to reach the office at the end of the ride. It’s been exactly a year at my current job so far, and there’s never been a day that I didn’t want to go to work.

It’s life-changing to be doing, for the first time, something that I truly want to do.

My current job is at a charity, and I think I love it because I feel that what I do has meaning. It’s nice to see the smiles on our beneficiaries’ faces, and to realise that people who need help are receiving it. It’s a joy to make a difference in other people’s lives.

I’m not the only one who feels this way – many of my colleagues have similar views, and it’s very telling of how strongly they feel about their work when you see them spend out of their own pockets to give back to the organisation. I think it’s a pleasure to be amongst such passionate people.

I’ve met two people recently who inspired me in a similar manner. One’s a middle-aged lady who embarked on three careers in the span of one working life, as a businessperson, a teacher and a lawyer. Those were not easy career switches because you need (many long years of) training to go into teaching and law. The other’s a pastor, whose work is difficult and family life even more so. Yet both set their hands to what they do with zeal.

Now that I know what it means to be doing work not because I have to, but because I want to, I really hope I’ll take this attitude of doing things from the bottom of my heart to the next job.

For now, I’m cherishing everyday and figuring out how to have even a fraction of that lady’s energy.