Tag: reflection

“To change your life, you need to change your priorities.”

Mark Twain

One of the most significant lessons I have learned in the five months that I’ve been in Australia is the difference between what’s most impressive and what’s most important.

Here are some examples from my own life:

Impressive: I worked for a globally recognized brand. In my job, I have been able to visit markets in Alberta (Canada), Saskatchewan (Canada), Ontario (Canada), Illinois (USA), Manila (Philippines) and New South Wales (Australia). I have personally met or corresponded with executives and leaders throughout the global system, to the point where we are on a first name basis.

Important: As a part of my role, I had the unique opportunity to approve donation and sponsorship requests for organizations and non-profits that supported families in need, at risk children and youth, local sports teams, and large scale community events.

Impressive: While working full time, I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Leadership in an 18 Month accelerated program and graduated with Great Distinction.

Important: After dropping out of University in 2015, I honoured my mothers wish of seeing her only child complete a degree in the country she immigrated to over twenty years ago.

Impressive: While in Australia, I lost over 25lbs and have kept the weight off. I dropped two pant sizes and a shirt size.

Important: I have learned to love myself and make myself a priority by getting into a regular workout routine and incorporating balanced meals into my diet.

Impressive: I found a job in Australia that gives me a generous rate, allows work life balance, has taken me around the country, gives me flexibility to work four days a week.

Important: I have an opportunity to help a small business significantly improve their operations and efficiency to best serve their clients and the meaningful connections I have made in almost four months of being there has made my time in Australia less lonely.

We often put all of our energy into the things that are most impressive – they are things that look great to other people but sometimes offer us zero personal fulfillment.

What gets left behind and often forgotten is what’s most important – the thing that often serves others instead of ourselves; the thing that often serves a higher purpose than our own.

Think about it for just a moment? What would happen if you put in all of your energy into what’s most important instead of what’s most impressive?

When I arrived in Australia, I had not let go of my career. I desperately wanted to jump right back in with the Australian office which I was in communication with every month leading up to my arrival. It would have been so cool to continue my work with a global company in another market in another country? That would be pretty impressive, eh?

That being said, my friend Kyle who ultimately left Australia to live in Canada gave me a massive reality check one day while I cried to him on the phone. Should I have been given the opportunity, I would have gone back to the life I had left behind in Vancouver. I would have gone back to working 5 – 6 days a week, multiple hours of unseen overtime, glued to my work phone, responding to emails that could have waited until the next day, and filling my free time with finding something else work related to fill it with. Oh, and the commute there and back would be three and a half hours a day.

So, when the job offer came from that company to support them in their Customer Service Call Centre for one of their largest nationwide campaigns, I faced quite the predicament: play it safe and go back to what I knew or be patient for the right opportunity to present itself.

Nevertheless, I presented some terms to counter their offer: I wanted to work Part-Time, just four days a week, Monday to Thursday would suffice and I would take the job.

They said, “No.”

I realized my value and what I needed from a company while I was in Australia. I reminded myself, I am in this country on a Work & Holiday Visa; I need to work to fund my holiday – and I need to enjoy every moment of my holiday. That is important.

So I moved on.

I chose me, and I don’t regret one minute of it.

You see, when you choose to focus on what’s most important vs. what’s most impressive, a transformation within you occurs.

It’s very liberating.

Staying true to what I needed from an employer, I sought jobs that would allow me to work part-time and in an environment where I could meet new people.

Today, I live and breathe it – at least for the six months that the Australian Government allows me to work there.

I am so thankful I waited for the right opportunity, for I have met some extraordinary individuals who have changed my life for the better.

One of the strengths of my employer and his company is the ability to take random strangers from all around Australia, and bring them to a place where they identify common interests, passions, desires, personalities etc.

That’s just at the events.

Now, imagine a bunch of strangers from different walks of life finding this place of work. Where we see each other at least five days a week, for eight hours a day, and learning more and more about each other as the days go by. A bond begins to build, you see things in them you strive to achieve. While some only worked there for a season, in that time we were able to build a relationships that went beyond the workplace.

Back in Canada, I used to give the sarcastic response to, “How’re you doing?” with, “Oh, I’m living the dream.”

When Australians ask me, “How’re you going?”, I can honestly, whole heartedly, without a shred of uncertainty, look a them in the eye and say, “I’m living the dream!”

Choosing to pack up my life and move to Australia was impressive, but why I have chosen to stay is important.

F A M I L Y

I always felt disconnected as everyone in my family lives in Australia and the Philippines, while I lived in Canada. Sometimes, they would visit us and sometimes, I would visit them.

I wanted to learn who they were, what’s their story, and where is there common ground.

There is one person who brings us all together, despite our differences and that person is my Granny.

In the year 2000, she came to Canada to live with us. In 2002, she came to visit us again. In 2003, I lived in Australia with her. In 2010, we visited her in the Philippines to celebrate her birthday. In 2015, I visited Australia and lived with her while I was here. In 2016, I visited her twice a day, everyday in the nursing home she was living in. In 2018, I went to the Philippines to celebrate her 90th birthday. In 2019, she was brought back to Australia and I was given one more opportunity to be near her.

You see, she now has dementia. She barely remembers who you are, and when she does she becomes overwhelmed with emotion and then quickly forgets who you are until you remind her again.

While this can be an exhausting and sometimes frustrating pattern, it is very beautiful with her childlike innocence.

We received a phone call letting us know she was going to be brought back to the Philippines as her health took a sudden turn and perhaps being in a familiar environment surrounded by her family in the Philippines would help improve her health; it has in the past.

So we all went to see her, and despite the drama that comes with every big family, we put it all aside to see our matriarch for what could be the last time and it was such a great time – my heart was full.

My cousin, Nina came to visit from the rural areas of New South Wales for a weekend. It’s always great to see her, she doesn’t come up very often as it’s about an 8 hour drive to get to Sydney from where they are.

Nevertheless, she finds time and I was fortunate to squeeze in a visit with her.

While Nina has many accomplishments: married to her high school sweet heart, three beautiful children, a great job as a Teacher – one of the most significant ones is she is the only one in our family to have gone to Grad School! Yup, my cousin recently finished her Masters of Teacher Librarianship – the first to reach that level of higher education.

I always knew I would not be content with my undergrad, but I also did not believe I had the ability to complete grad school, let alone be accepted into a program. However, watching my cousin and her resilience in completing her graduate studies while being a full time teacher, a mother, a wife, and running a household was just the kick in the ass that I needed.

So, I applied for Grad School.

I’ve been met with some success in offers and have also been greeted with some rejection.

To date, the most significant offer I’ve been given is by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney to complete a Master of Education in Learning and Leadership.

While I’m extremely grateful for all of the graduate study offers I’ve been given to date, I have to weight out all of my options as I determine what program will best serve me in reaching my goals.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to these days. I have seven more months of my Radical Sabbatical to spend learning, growing, and exploring – we are entering the summer months in Australia, I am very excited!

I am choosing to make a conscious effort everyday to put my energy into what’s most important vs. what’s most impressive.

How about you? What would your life start looking like if you poured more of yourself into what’s most important vs. what’s most impressive?

Looking at every situation you’re faced with using that pre-frame will change your life.

After all, it changed mine.

Onwards,
-Zaighum