After spending a year at my job in Hong Kong and 4 years in the same company, I realised things did not seem to be moving in the direction I thought they would. I did the sensible thing and initiated 'the talk' at work to discuss the way forward. The result of this was that my role was chopped off to ensure the request for a pay hike could not be justified giving me a lot of time to watch shows at work, read books during my extended lunch breaks as well as disappear to take a yoga class.
Having so much time on my hands was initially great but with time it led to boredom. The solution I thought was to look for a new job and so the hunt began. In the past, the hunt had been easy. I mean I was the only student from my batch who quit the campus job in 10 days and decided to do something that I like. Reckless? Yes, maybe. But in a month's time I had a job that I wanted.
Going by my record, when I got offered the first job I interviewed for in Hong Kong I was excited but it was also the expected the result. But well, Hong Kong and life decided to teach me some very interesting lessons. The job that was offered was withdrawn 4 days later - after a weekend spent partying this success.
I was devastated. Yes, the emotion was that strong. I remember calling in sick and staying home. All I kept thinking was how could this happen? There were many people I met in the next few months who shared similar experiences in Hong Kong which momentarily made me feel better but soon enough I would slip back and wallow in self pity.
After a few days I was back at the hunt. I pushed myself and contacted people I had never met on LinkedIn in the effort to 'network'. During this time I came across another very interesting profile. To ensure I was considered I followed up a few times and tried to reach the right person in the organisation to get myself an opportunity to interview. My perseverance to get the interview honestly shocked me. The good thing is that despite doing something so alien to my normal self, I managed to get that opportunity.
In the next 2 months I attended several rounds of interviews at this company and they all went well. Again I was confident that this role was mine. And smack came another lesson. You may be good, you may even be liked but the other person maybe just a little better. After this second failed attempt, getting myself to work was a laborious task. I regularly visited the doctor for medical certificates for all my made-up sick leave.
The dead end job, non-cooperative boss and tough job market in Hong Kong drove me to frustration and in December on a vacation in Cambodia I decided to quit this job. I did not see any point leading my life where I was bored, sad and frustrated for most parts of my day. Many people saw it as a sign of courage, but it was a hard decision to take. Circumstances drove me to this decision and that is how I embarked on my professional break which was going to last as long as I chose. This was a luxury that I intended to put to good use.
I wanted to use this time to breathe, unwind, meet family, learn something new, write and so much more. How much of that did I get done? Well, you will have to wait for my next post about this wonderful 193-day break; that is over 6 months!
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