Thursday, September 15, 2011

Personal reinvention

Personal reinvention. Does that sound like something only someone older would partake in? What about the younger generation? Is it possible for us to go on a journey of personal reinvention too?

I imagine that when people think of personal reinvention, it would entail someone who has been in a rut for years, decades even. Someone burnt out and going through the motions day by day, suddenly deciding, “Fuck this shit I’m dealing with this once and for all”.

This would basically mean youngsters would not be qualified for a personal revamp because why would someone so young need to reinvent themselves anyway? Aren’t they IN the process of inventing themselves?

People tend to forget about how they were like when they were younger, about how being on the cusp of adulthood could suck so much. Memories of drowning in the sea of all the uncertainties, the worries the anxiety fade away as the years go by. Many suppress the memory of going through depression at that point in their life.

Truth is when you’re in your twenties, you’ve had enough time to develop some sort of personality and attitude, making you somewhat set in your own ways; yet your inexperience and malleability leaves potential for change.

And that is when the personal reinvention could come in.

I, personally am looking forward to a personal reinvention by way of becoming someone… lighter. Less bogged down by my own thoughts, less self conscious, and more importantly, less subservient. I have been spoon fed and obedient for the majority of my life, and it is really time for a change.

I may be over generalizing here, but I think this is mainly a problem spawning from the Asian culture. Since young, Asian children have been taught to obey and not to question. Obeying meant respect, and respect ranked high in the Asian household curriculum.

On top of that, voicing out in my house would almost always lead to a confrontational climate in my house, thus keeping quiet was pretty much my viable option to stay sane. Years have gone by till I finally realized how much I actually owe myself in thinking for myself and growing on my own.

To be honest I do not have an exact plan on how to go on this journey. All I know is that it is long overdue and it is a learning process. I just hope that I can slowly wean off the overbearing, overprotective hands of my parents and make it on my own, for real this time.

There will be no guidelines or tips here, because at the end of the day aren’t we all just learners? There is no set formula, no definite answer, just us trying our best to make the sense of things.

The romantic notion would see me packing my bags and jetting off to Europe for a self-discovering trip, and maybe I will.

We’ll see where things go.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Today, I feel inexplicably fine :)

Gotta claim victory where I can get it right heh

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Last night as I lay on my bed, my mind drifted to the possibility of writing again, of becoming a columnist of some sort. As the reality of graduation draws near, thoughts like these come often nowadays, especially when all lights are out and there's only a slither of moonlight resting on the sheets. In that window before your mind thankfully succumbs to deep slumber, it ponders. Ponders about past mistakes, about the future, about possibilities.

Truth be told, I have no idea what I'm gonna do after finishing my degree. I feel like I'm long overdue for a gap year, to just take time to travel on my own and absorb experiences on my own, without being spoon fed or coddled. But that would take money... and do you think my parents would actually let me travel on my own like that?

Doesn't it suck how everything revolves around money? Don't you just feel sometimes that the foundations of capitalism and consumerism need to just crumble so that everyone can go back to basics?

The basics, the simplicity of just being. The universe has no rhyme or reason, and WE do not have a purpose for existence. Yet we go on searching high and low for that purpose, just because humans are purpose-seeking creatures. So at the end of the day, you either create your own purpose, or you'll end up searching your whole life. It is basically arbitrary. Man is condemned to be free.

Wow ok I went on a bit there about existentialism ahem.

The basics, I think for me the basics involve the written word. The beauty of the written word can be... breathtaking. Recently I discovered this blog A Gold Noise, and I've fallen in love with it. I'm glad that there are people out there who are so at ease with the written word and can be so effortlessly graceful with it. Yes good writers make it seem effortless, that they strung out beautiful sentences out of pure talent and make readers sigh internally, gratefully.

So that's how I got to thinking about having a column of my own, in a magazine or a newspaper, anywhere. Something to support my other job, an illustrator or something arts related. Which would be silly of course, by my parents' standards, cos both jobs aren't even traditionally money-making secure jobs. To them it'd be like taking a ratty rag with holes in it to cover up the holes of another shitty rag that's trying to keep the pipes from bursting WTF.

And another question pops up which is, what the hell would I write about? I have such limited life experiences and knowledge to derive from, and judging from the dearth of stuff I write about here... I don't know.

One thing's almost certain, tonight I'll probably be drifting off to the same thoughts again...