Tag: growth

“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton

Nothing is normal as I wrap up my first week in Australia.

For example, I have a the flu.

I do not get sick very often, this isn’t normal.

Today, I’ve been laying in bed with a bin full of kleenex on the floor beside me, bundled under the sheets, coughing and shaking, and lathered in every Filipino’s favourite remedy; Vicks (Biks) Vapour Rub.

Evenings are getting as low as six degrees celsius in Sydney.

I’ve noticed that homes in Australia do a great job letting out the heat in the summer, but are not built for insulation in the winter.

I haven’t experienced an Australian winter since 2003, and I was only ten years old; I didn’t really pay attention to the temperature back then.

I’m currently sleeping under a sheet, a duvet, and two additional blankets.

I remember packing clothes in my suit cases and saying to myself, “Flannel? In Straya? I’ll leave this at home.”

Regret.

For someone who is (f)unemployed and on a Working Holiday, I have been quite busy. It’s been go-go-go since I landed, I really haven’t given myself a “day off”. While the home that I live in is absolutely beautiful, I’ve never enjoyed being cooped up inside. Now I’ve been forced to do the very thing I don’t like doing. This isn’t normal.

On Wednesday, I went out to the shops to buy some sweaters, windbreakers, and shoes. Everything was on sale (and of course I went to K-Mart for the cheap stuff).

I even bought interview friendly clothing. A pair of black shoes, some slacks, and a purple and blue button down.

It’s time to start looking for work, something I haven’t had to do since 2012.

I’m not looking for anything specific, doesn’t need to be full time, doesn’t need to be in my field. Just needs to be something to do; I really need a social life and meet people.

I’ve sat in front of my computer looking through job postings on LinkedIn, scrolling through the hundreds of jobs that sound interesting and that meet my skill-set.

I really don’t know what I’m going to do.

Here’s the thing about being on a Working Holiday Visa in Australia:

1. You can work for any company for a maximum of six months
2. You cannot accept a Government job or work at a bank
3. IF you want to stay an additional year, you must do specified work in a rural area of the country; usually some type of agriculture job

Now let’s be real here.

Can you imagine me working on some farm in the middle of nowhere?

If you saw the episode of Schitts Creek where the Amish basically begged David’s family to take him back; that would be me if I had to do specified work.

I love being in Australia, I don’t love it that much.

Not a lot of companies want to hire someone, train them, integrate them into their system, then have them leave in six months.

I don’t blame them; but I wish they would give me a chance.

A lot of people have asked me why I would be stupid enough to move to the other side of the world without a job.

It’s a valid question, at times I ask myself the same thing.

I’ve been asked time and again why I didn’t try and arrange a job with my previous employer.

It’s not that easy.

You see, I’ve wanted to come to Australia since 2015 but one of the things stopping me was my love for my job.

So I used to hold onto this idea of living in the country I loved and work for the company that I loved.

You know the saying, “have your cake and eat it too”; that’s what I had hoped for.

I worked hard to build my network, I visited our Australia office in 2015, 2016 and 2018. I turned “LinkedIn Connections” into friends.

My colleagues in Australia encouraged me to pursue this dream. They would tell me, “you need to move to Australia already, there will always be work here,”

It wasn’t a promise for work, or a commitment in any way/shape/form. It was a possibility, a glimmer of hope; and it was the push I needed to pursue my dream.

So, I wrote some thank you cards to some of my old colleagues who are now my “mates” (their word, not mine; you’ll never hear me call someone “mate”. I prefer “friend” or “pal”) to simply say “thank you” for giving me the hope that I needed to pursue my radical sabbatical. Regardless of their decision, I couldn’t have gotten here without them.

Now, enough about the rant of my work struggles, let me tell you what I’ve been up to!

I finally went for a run this week, I need to find a new way to stay active while I’m here. I did 5km in my neighbourhood, it was glorious. I’m training for a 1/2 Marathon in Vancouver when I come back in 2020, I need to start training now. There’s an 11km run coming up called the Sutherland 2 Surf, all the locals have been telling me about it. I think I’m going to do it, it looks like a lot of fun. I might as well do something with all the free time that I have, right?

I did the usual tourist thing in the city. I went down to Circular Quay to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. I can’t even count how many times I’ve visited the area just to look at both sites; they continue to take my breath away.

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I went for a hike on Saturday with my cousin, Mahrck (Bubz to all of us). We went to Royal National Park. I’m very fortunate that it’s really just around the corner from where I live down in Engadine. You gotta look at this post I made on Instagram, the video of the water crashing along the rocks literally brought me to tears; I still cannot believe I live here!

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This is my new normal. I am letting go of the obsession of being in control and instead, face my radical sabbatical day-by-day. In doing this, I feel like I’m stranded in the rain (and it’s actually supposed to rain all week, sigh). Nothing is working out the way I had planned:

1. No job (not that I can even start till after July 1st)
2. Haven’t determined my running route (I know the beach route, need to figure out the neighbourhood root); I really need to get active once again
3. No social life; I need some hobbies (that’ll come with work and getting out of the house more often)
4. Wasted an entire day in my home due to the flu

I need to stop planning, and instead live in the present; truly embrace “Carpe Diem” – seize the day.

So, as I sit on the couch, bundled under a blanket with the rugby game playing in the background, I am reminding myself of two VERY important realities:

1. I am on a Working Holiday Visa, emphasis on the HOLIDAY part. I’m here because I was burnt out from my life in Vancouver and needed to completely disrupt my reality.
2. I JUST got here. I have 51 more weeks in this country and I can make it up as I go. It’s not all going to be figured out in one week and it may not be figured out until I leave.

I catch myself saying, “Zaighum, you need to be kind to yourself.” Try that sometimes, we are our own worst critic after all.

Are you in the midst of your own excessive rain fall? The torrential down pour can be frustrating, especially where you don’t see the sun breaking through the clouds. Sometimes we try and find shelter in things that still let the rain in or get completely blown away in the storm.

Don’t lose hope.

The rain will pass. The clouds will break. The sun will shine.

Your rainbow is coming.

Can’t wait to tell you what happens in Week 2, I think I’m going on a road trip…

Onwards,
Zaighum