What an irony. 2 years of silence after a post titled “A new beginning”
Laughing at myself. “How silly is this!”
Hello everyone, do you want to know what happened in those lost years?
Okay! Not that you’ve answered me. But let’s go! Walking down the memory lane with me. :D
June 2018. I got into a new job, it was something that I have wished! I wanted to join the business units. Time spent in manufacturing and in supply chain gave me an impression that the business units call the shot, they are on higher grounds with loud voices. I would love to be in that space someday. And the someday has come.
It was good because in the first 6 months of the job, I have travelled to many places for business trips. On my very first business trip, I went to Fukuoka Japan. I also brought along my mum, dad and hubby along, it was funny! I wonder how the other new colleagues would view me. But I didn’t think much of it, family is more important than their silent opinions of me. :)
The work was quite a challenge because it is a brand new space that I’m entering, I have to learn about Revenue Management, Attrition, Pipelines, Sales target setting, handling of off-specs sales allocation etc, it was a lot of new for me.
I tried my best anyway. There’s always a learning curve, I’m not a genius who will gain mastery in 1 month, based on my past job rotation experience, it typically takes 6 months until I feel confident of myself in a new function.
Looking back, the most memorable incident was over-working in bad posture, which resulted in ergonomic issues in my upper back, neck and wrist. The pain can be debilitating, I remembered feeling like there’s so much work in front of me and yet I cannot focus my mind to work on it because of the pain I was experiencing. As I am writing this on 31 Oct 2020, I am still suffering from it, but it is way more manageable now. I know what to do to make myself feel better and I know what to do to prevent the a serious relapse that would hinder me in my lifestyle.
At the end of 2018, I had a wonderful vacation to southern Spain. It was a real treat to the eyes admiring the mosque-cathedrals.
Then it was 2019.
I had quite a lot of changes within the year. The scope of my work fluctuated, the good thing was I got to travel to USA for the first time! I got to interact with senior managers and worked closely with them. It was a eye-opening experience for me. Of course, I brought my hubby along! Haha, that was his first time to USA too.
As my scope changed, I recognized a gap in my knowledge, I was struggling to understand Financial Accounting and how it relates to business actions. That was a rare time in so many years that I wanted to further my studies. I wasn’t thinking of an MBA, that would be too much for me to cope. In the end, I chose Harvard Business School Online! It was a 17 weeks program to give a introduction to Economic, Business Analytics and Financial Accounting. It was valuable!
It was valuable in my personal life too, because I ventured into US stocks market in Jan 2019. I started in SGX (Singapore Stock Exchange) but it was moving rather slowly. I wanted to enter a market that has higher volume and more movement. I started with learning the Warren Buffett style of investment from books related to him and also educational videos on YouTube. With a basic knowledge, I gained ~20% up by the end of 2019. I was pretty pleased with my results, albeit it is just one year, it hardly constitutes for anything as I am interested to invested for a long time. I have to work to replicate this results over more years to come.
In 2019, I was rather flustered with things at home. Mum and Sis were not exactly in their pink of health and I think about how to help them a lot. With effort and hope, I’m glad to say that we were all in a better shape at the end of 2019 versus the start. I was very grateful of my friends who extended their help to me when I needed it, they were so kind to offer help and blessings in the ways that they can. It was very touched. I have to remind myself that I extend my help to friends to when they needed it. Or even when they didn’t ask me about it. I have to try to extend my heart and feel for them, empathize with them.
There a memorable moment in 2019 whereby I went on a trip to Taiwan with my mum! Just us both :) I was quite afraid of it in the first place because sometimes I get impatient and had friction over small things with my mum. But before the trip, I told myself that I need to make this an enjoyable experience. I told myself to be patient and be kind with my mum. I think I did well, there was only one instance which I got irritated, and that was with technology. I didn’t know who to convert something on her mobile phone which I was not familiar with. I know that my mum can sensed my impatience and I was getting angry. I managed to resolve the issue and then explained to her that I wan’t mad at her but I was mad at myself unable to solve a technology problem and wanted to throw a tantrum. We spent time shopping and I was glad that I brought a huge ass luggage to help my mum lugged her goods back.
In September, my hubby and I went back to a beloved holiday destination of his. Queens town, New Zealand!
We had quite a rough start to our vacation, getting on edge with one another. Luckily we don’t get angry with each other for too long. I has a good time exploring new places and doing day hikes which may or may not took my legs... ha!
(Actually it did, my legs were sore for days)
Then we entered 2020.
The epic year.
The year with a black swan event.
The year of Covid-19, which devastated many families, which made everyone on earth experience fear or anxiety or uncertainty.
