My life has never felt so 'balanced' before.
My typical day starts with a short stroll early in the morning to my school. And it will be an hour or so of teaching Chemistry to the IB students. I will return home after my class and will usually have some time to either read a book, surf the net or study Swedish online before preparing lunch for SH. He's back at noon and we'll have lunch together. Then I'll be at the bridal shop for 3 - 4 hours before heading home to do some baking, read my book or finish some housework/schoolwork etc and prepare dinner. After our dinner, we'll spend some time together watching movies, playing boardgames, eating icecream or just talking about our day.
A dear friend posted a question recently: Are you spending time on what matters most to you? Her question makes me wonder if I will ever return to full time teaching. In SG, it's a perpetual struggle to keep everything like family, friends, work, dreams, personal time in equilibrium. Unfailingly, I end up in difficult situations where I have to choose between work and the rest (family, friends, dreams, personal time) and the former prevails (quite regrettably) most of the time. I used to spend so much time working in school, but does this matter most to me?
I think I'm somewhat enlightened by my stay in Sweden. Life can be balanced and happier. Of course, there go my monthly pocket money and big fat bonus at the end of the year! =b
Hey hey, haven been following ur blog for a long time. Browsing my favorites and was reminded abt ur blog :) I'm happy to read this post, coming from a workaholic Fangting! :) Hee but i guess this is something truly lacking in Singapore, or mayb if we focus on our expectations in life, and is willing to do with smaller pay check, we can also achieve balanced life in SG? I realli dunno. Hmmm how I wish for time like u have to cook and bake and read! I haven been reading in a long long time!
ReplyDeleteIt is really awesome that you can experience this. I also experienced this after I moved to Bangkok. Everyone is just as busy, they have their jobs, their kids, their wives, but everyone is a lot happier and feels more free. Life can be happier, and my wife has given up her paycheck to join me in the fun. It sucks, though, that we only get to realise this after we leave Singapore....
ReplyDeleteHey Eddie, thanx for dropping by! Haha I stalk your blog and it's really interesting reading about your life in Bangkok. We really love our life now, but I'm just wonder if we will get caught up in the rat race again when we return to SG.
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