This blog is big on personal resolutions, most of which, after even the most fleeting reviews of which shows that most never even come close to being fulfilled...or the efforts of working toward fulfilling them even being shown. Instead of choosing to work toward something, the author instead focuses on grabbing whatever interesting that comes his way, hopping from one country to the other, one job to the other, one experience to the other, without seriously thinking of the consequences involved, or where such adventures will take the author next.
Each hop, though, is in some ways a maturing experience for the author, who, above everything else, learned that planning ahead is often futile, and despite becoming more aged and settled down, he has not yet become that person willing to stay and develop in a particular places for years at a time. In light of such self-realization, it is perhaps more unfortunate than not, and going against his own instinct and naturally reflexive desires, to take up another six months of employment with the same company, in the same job, and at the same place.
But, alas, the professional world is not a world for adventurers, and even in a company reputed for its fast-moving nature, both operationally and geographically, staying on and develop something substantial, for self and company, will require a bit more time commitment that a pure-minded adventurer is willing to give. Yet, adventures do require capital, and the capital needed is certainly becoming more and more difficult to acquire once one gets older but without acquiring a fuller and more comprehensive skill set to show for the passage of time in the real world.
And frankly, the older one gets, the more risk-averse one does get, no matter how adventurous the person innately seems to be. One does not feel as comfortable in strange new settings anymore, and with work piled on, one is simultaneously less willing to just drop off all the work to someone else, cut all ties with a place, grab all the luggage, and simply disappear. But even then, as time lengthens on the author's time in Manila, he will have to commit to some sort of resolutions, both to maintain his connection to the world outside Rocket Internet, and of course, not to lose himself as who he really is.
The first sounds rather counterintuitive but would be more necessary as time goes on: more time needs to be spent on learning more about the country and the people. The author has been keenly observing the country from practically day one when he arrived, but to this day, he cannot get away from a distinctively "outside observer" sort of presence. The approach is more out of dismay rather than out of particular necessity - it happens because the author has failed so far to become one with the locals, causing him to be rather than superficial in analysis while retaining an unnerving "foreigner's bias."
The second involves being able to see the country in a holistic, internationalist perspective. As a country of islands separately geographically and historically from rest of Asia, Philippines is, unfortunately, full of people who lacks international experience of any sort. Their views of what are outside of their home country comes from limited info trickling through biased and sensationalizing media forces. Thankfully, with more influx of foreigners, this is slowly changing, but to get a more full-on view of the foreign impact on the Filipino psyche does require more research.
And to see the Philippines more deeply and more internationally will involve more traveling, of course. For the first six months, the author has been stuck in Luzon, with only a couple of trips outside Manila due to bad transportation and a busy working schedule. The next six months (hopefully the last six months in the country) will require much more traveling, physically visiting the 7000 other islands in the country to get a taste of how diverse the country is. It is the least the author can do to get some nature and work-life balance...
Finally, and a bit unashamedly at this point to say, but a new job search process will soon begin, both with Rocket Internet and outside of it. Given the author's educational background, business is not his thing, nor will it ever be. He does believe in gaining experiences doing different things in different places (doing business in Manila being one of them) but ultimately, a humanist at heart must devote himself at studies of human societies, not exploitation of it for financial profits. Sure, business does benefit some, but too limited to help the most needy, and the next goal must be to pursue the latter...
Each hop, though, is in some ways a maturing experience for the author, who, above everything else, learned that planning ahead is often futile, and despite becoming more aged and settled down, he has not yet become that person willing to stay and develop in a particular places for years at a time. In light of such self-realization, it is perhaps more unfortunate than not, and going against his own instinct and naturally reflexive desires, to take up another six months of employment with the same company, in the same job, and at the same place.
But, alas, the professional world is not a world for adventurers, and even in a company reputed for its fast-moving nature, both operationally and geographically, staying on and develop something substantial, for self and company, will require a bit more time commitment that a pure-minded adventurer is willing to give. Yet, adventures do require capital, and the capital needed is certainly becoming more and more difficult to acquire once one gets older but without acquiring a fuller and more comprehensive skill set to show for the passage of time in the real world.
And frankly, the older one gets, the more risk-averse one does get, no matter how adventurous the person innately seems to be. One does not feel as comfortable in strange new settings anymore, and with work piled on, one is simultaneously less willing to just drop off all the work to someone else, cut all ties with a place, grab all the luggage, and simply disappear. But even then, as time lengthens on the author's time in Manila, he will have to commit to some sort of resolutions, both to maintain his connection to the world outside Rocket Internet, and of course, not to lose himself as who he really is.
The first sounds rather counterintuitive but would be more necessary as time goes on: more time needs to be spent on learning more about the country and the people. The author has been keenly observing the country from practically day one when he arrived, but to this day, he cannot get away from a distinctively "outside observer" sort of presence. The approach is more out of dismay rather than out of particular necessity - it happens because the author has failed so far to become one with the locals, causing him to be rather than superficial in analysis while retaining an unnerving "foreigner's bias."
The second involves being able to see the country in a holistic, internationalist perspective. As a country of islands separately geographically and historically from rest of Asia, Philippines is, unfortunately, full of people who lacks international experience of any sort. Their views of what are outside of their home country comes from limited info trickling through biased and sensationalizing media forces. Thankfully, with more influx of foreigners, this is slowly changing, but to get a more full-on view of the foreign impact on the Filipino psyche does require more research.
And to see the Philippines more deeply and more internationally will involve more traveling, of course. For the first six months, the author has been stuck in Luzon, with only a couple of trips outside Manila due to bad transportation and a busy working schedule. The next six months (hopefully the last six months in the country) will require much more traveling, physically visiting the 7000 other islands in the country to get a taste of how diverse the country is. It is the least the author can do to get some nature and work-life balance...
Finally, and a bit unashamedly at this point to say, but a new job search process will soon begin, both with Rocket Internet and outside of it. Given the author's educational background, business is not his thing, nor will it ever be. He does believe in gaining experiences doing different things in different places (doing business in Manila being one of them) but ultimately, a humanist at heart must devote himself at studies of human societies, not exploitation of it for financial profits. Sure, business does benefit some, but too limited to help the most needy, and the next goal must be to pursue the latter...
Comments
Post a Comment