A game that no one ever wins, but still, a necessary and steep learning curve for those who have lived their entire lives sheltered, and supported by parents.
When I turned 25, I started logging in my weekend activities. Without surprise, the most common activity I had on weekends was ‘work’. As if my usual 8am to 7pm weekdays weren't taking up enough of my time, my career had seeped into my weekends as well.
Back when I was in uni, I had lots of time and energy, but unfortunately no money. At this stage of my life, as I grow my career, I have money and energy, but no time. That's the price I pay for freedom - the freedom to make my own choices, maturing into an adult as the natural next stage of life.
Sometimes I do wonder, what's the point of working myself to exhaustion with no time to truly spend what I've worked so hard to earn? However, this is exactly the game that no one wins - and is a harsh fact that every Gen Z will learn to accept.
Forty years from now, I'll see myself at the other ends of the triangle - retired, with money and time, but without enough energy to do all the things I wanted to do in my 20s.
While work-life balance is the usual talk of the town, it's very rare to see individuals that truly have this balance. Those that do - I would consider masters at managing life.
The goal is perhaps not to have everything, but rather enough experiences to look back at life without any regrets. At the end of the day, the only person stopping you from having the right balance of money, energy and time…. is YOU.
What are the things you need to be disciplined with, or that you need to cut from your day-to-day, to make life fulfilling, even if you may not have mastered the triangle of life yet?
As we're more than halfway through the year, perhaps a midpoint self & habit audit is due.
Have a good think about it.
C Chai (crystal.chaijeecheng@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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