Marking the 34th Birthday, Reflecting on the Year That Just Passed

Two days ago, I officially entered the 34th year of my existence. As it was a weekday, there was little in terms of celebrations, with the day marked by work as usual, and the night marked by preparations for the next day. Thankfully, as a married man living with my wife, I was not alone for my birthday. Despite her usual working-until-late schedule, she celebrated the occasion with me with some late-night food and watching YouTube videos. Given the circumstances of my life in Chiba, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and another workday the day after, I could not have asked for a better low-key celebration.

Indeed, looking back at the year that just passed by, nothing changed my lifestyle more than the fact that I decided to get married. Despite some initial reservations about what marriage to a Japanese woman would be like from an idiosyncratic cultural perspective, it has turned out well enough. For all the daily tediousness of working from home in separate rooms and the routine-like weekday nights and weekend outings, the process has gone much smoother than I would have ever expected, and having a spouse has proven to be neither a mental nor a physical burden, or indeed even a distraction, in any way.

But marriage is perhaps not my most significant accomplishment in the past year. After some four years of grinding away as a Ph.D. student, I finally got that piece of paper that certify my graduation in late 2021. Having long decided that my next career destination is not in academia, the Ph.D. diploma has come years after I joined the workforce full-time as an employee at Blackpeak, where I continue to toil to this day. Finally ending a chapter of my life that began back in 2017 is both a source of relief and anxiety, as the on-the-surface accomplishment of being called a "Dr." does not amount to much in real life.

Perhaps that sense of unease is what has driven me to educate myself further in my free time, often without a consistently clear direction. From finishing an online course that certified my ability to teach English as a second language, to concluding a series of tests to become a Certified Fraud Examiner, and not reading through hundreds of pages of an online textbook in a bid to make myself an Anti-Money Laundering expert, I am, often blindly, embodying the spirit that education does not finish the moment one graduate from a university.

Of course, I could not have done all these courses outside work had it not for the work-life balance provided by Blackpeak. The fact that the work environment is marked by a great sense of work-life balance means that I can work regular working hours and do not feel tired enough that I cannot do productive learning in the after-hours on a day-to-day basis. Having just passed my four-year mark at the company, I continue to appreciate this aspect of my current work, perhaps much more than the compensation or the work content.

That said, there are always new challenges that can be undertaken in the current environment. Studying for certifications will eventually come to an end, and having those certificates means little if the skills they entail are not used in a professional setting. In the coming year, I will have to think about how to leverage what I accumulated in the past year, whether it be the Ph.D., the work experience, the certifications, or even the marriage, to take on new challenges that will stimulate further personal growth and development.

What does that mean in reality? At the moment, the answer is a resounding "I don't know." But behind the cluelessness should be a sense of discontentment, a continued dissatisfaction with the status quo, and always exploring new opportunities and ideas. That could come from work, private life, and everything in between. As COVID-19 (hopefully) recedes in the coming months and the ability to travel more freely is within reach, opportunities that have been lost to people around the world for the past few years can become available again.

For some, "34" may sound old, or it may sound young. But the reality is that 34 is just a number that should not hinder any sort of behavior just because of some subjective connotations behind it. Being 34 does not mean one is too late for doing something, nor does it mean it is too early for something else. But a birthday is always a good reminder that a new start is present, and a year ahead can, and should be just as exciting and accomplished as the previous one. How so? Who knows? But a new blank page has just opened up, and it is time to start writing.