Since moving to London, starting my life all over is like hiking the Himalayan mountains. Well, I have not physically climb the Himalayan mountains but I’m pretty sure they ain’t easy. I spent a decade in building a career in Asia with hope to achieve extraordinary outcome. I made it from a small town to Singapore regional hub managing a global brand for a few countries. But hated my life because I hardly get to see my partner. Life is a trade-off game. Fortunately, with regional role came global opportunity where today, I am able to explore the other side of world.
My life was not a walk in the park at the beginning. The opportunity required me to start with smaller portfolio and a pay-cut due to different country salary band. The trade-off, probably a better life? At first, I questioned if all these are worth my sacrifices. Can I achieve a better life eventually? On top of adapting to new culture, adjusting to new surrounding, rebuilding social life in a new country, and forgoing the used-to-be took me a few years.
Life is a series of trade-offs. In my attempt to ‘have it all‘, I found myself frustrated and blamed how unfair life can be. Something just got to go. I took some time to find good in the new path I’ve chosen, and build upon it. Most of the time, I reminded myself about how miserable my life was back in Asia. I could hardly see my partner, lonely dinner, etc. If you want to know more about what it takes to be a chef’s wife, you can check out my previous post here.
Finding the good in my new path is mainly a mind game. I have to really look at the positive changes that happened to me despite small. Because these are small positive changes that happened gradually, it is so easy to take them for granted and overlook in rewarding these little changes. Human is so weird, we often focus on the big wins. When we don’t achieve them, we sulk.
I thank my partner for constantly reminding how our lives have improved since we moved to London – work-life balance, flexible and trusting work environment, and family dinner every night. Whilst standard of living still posts to be a challenge, we both find that an adequate family life is better than a lavish empty one. If we want something more, we’d better be ready for another trade-off.
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm