Enough have been said about my unconventional life and lifestyle. Mom used to lament about my extremely independent nature and highly unconventional interests and lifestyle.
Right up to the middle of this year, I was still living the life of a minimalist, which means that my humble abode was truly a humble dump. Ha ha ha … For years I have been living like a varsity student with the barest necessities i.e. a small fridge and a very basic stove (courtesy from my eldest sister who left it to me when she moved to her own condo), a 14 inch TV (on loan from my Aunt), no washing machine and second hand furniture which was bought from my ex-roommate (when she moved out a couple of years back).
It’s not that I was “kiam siap” (cheap) but I really couldn’t be bothered with the comforts of life then. That was partly due to one of my previous jobs; which I lived almost out of a suitcase in those days. The other reason was that I didn’t want to be tied down by mortgages and loans. Nor do I want to have a lot of stuff with me to carry around when or if I move. Of course the real reason for all these is that I want to be financially independent. I want to be able to move jobs without worrying if I need to feed my house or my car or so on and so forth. I also need to save money to feed my one great passion in life ~ TRAVELLING.
Now, when it comes to travelling, I am equally unconventional. Not only do I not travel in comfort or go by tours, I also do not travel to normal destinations. My friends could not quite fathom why I insist on staying at backpackers while we could now afford hotels. They could not understand my fascination with countries like Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Nepal, etc. They could not understand why I would seek to suffer by trekking in jungles and mountains; and living in shelters or tents. What could I say? How could I explain it? It’s in my blood I suppose. Or perhaps this is a way for me to “suck the marrow out of life”! Ultimately, it’s a combination of the challenges these travels post and the people I meet while I am backpacking. There is so much to be thankful for in life when you see how much these people live without. Yet, they live a simple and happy life.
In the last few years, I have finally succumbed to a life of dependency. I have finally bought myself a condo. My memory of how that happened is still pretty vague. I am not quite sure what transpired! All I know is the pain I feel when it comes to paying my monthly instalment. Bear in mind it’s not an asset to me as yet but a liability. I don’t own it, it belongs to the bank. Mom and Dad could not be more ecstatic. It was such a relieved for them to see me finally grounded. To them, I am finally spending my money wisely i.e. buying an asset instead of frittering my money away on intangible travels. There is hope yet for me! Ha ha ha … As for myself, lately I find that I wanted someplace permanent to return to. Perhaps I am finally ready to grow roots. Or perhaps my wanderlust has been tempered somewhat with age. In any case, I am still as keen on travelling and backpacking as before. In fact, these days, I seek more exotic places. It’s just that I want to come back to a home base.
Whatever it is, all I ask of the people I know and love could be summed up in the following poem/ quote entitled Different Drums and Different Drummers; which is an excerpt from a book entitled Please Understand Me.
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Different Drums and Different Drummers
Excerpted from Please Understand Me
•If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me that my want is wrong.
•Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.
•Or if my emotions are less than yours or more given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.
•Or yet if I act, or fail to act in the manner of your design for action, let me be.
•I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will only come when you are willing to give up changing me into a copy of you.
•I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend, or your colleague.
•If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself to me, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might finally appear to you as right for me.
•To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness.
•And in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and far from seeking to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences.
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3 comments:
ummm.......you have changed cup or water
A group of working adults got together to visit their University
lecturer.
The Lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned
into complaints about stress at work and life.
The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment
of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain
looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.
The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for
themselves. When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the
Lecturer spoke: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the
cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."
"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, monies and status in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."
"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."
Now, may I loan this wunnerful book of yours?
Kena cari la dik. Can't remember who took it from moi! :p
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