I was having a brief stint as a safety standard engineer in Japan, my home country. The job was boring but cushy: 9-to-5 work in a stable company with reasonable salary, zero overwork, and occasional field trip. I had perfect work-life balance, enjoying scuba diving and weekend rock-bottom-band.
But somehow I started to drop interest in almost everything. To find out what was missing in my life, I got a job that allowed me to fly around Asia, and eventually settled in Taiwan, where I am now.
Five years have passed and I realize I have almost forgotten why I came out of my home country. Did I find the missing parts in my life? No. But instead of having the naked 3 A.M. terror of regret, I find myself relatively calm: I say to myself, So what?
I remember the days I spent in Malta, a small Mediterranean country, as a kid in an expatriate family. I had a habit of stomping the ground, not being able to digest the fact that I was in a place far, far away from where I had been born. Everything–even the ground–looked like a fragile dream, waiting for the moment to disappear. I felt like I belonged nowhere, becoming invisible, enjoying floating and fearing free-falling at the same time.
I see what went wrong during those years in Japan. I was trying to ground myself, looking for something that anchors me into the accepted lifestyles that surrounded me. When I couldn’t fine one, I looked outside. In doing so, I became anchor-free, which I really wanted to do without knowing.
I thought I was going to find myself. What I really wanted was to lose myself, again.


Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
Thanks post excellent post nice to read thanks for the sharing this with us.
Type Of Essay
Sorry I thought you were commenting on another article. If you want to listen to more such webinars, join BrazenCareerist! It’s worth it just for the sake of broadening your network.
I am glad you liked it. Although writing each day is important, I find that having several hours of uninterrupted time is really important for creating coherent entries. I need to buy Venti size in Starbucks for appreciation 🙂
Thanks so much! This is an invaluable summary I might get 🙂 you know, I could waste quite a time to ask for these advices from real ppl
Glad you liked it. Well they were just scribbles on my notepad and next time I should put more meat around them, hopefully with my own real experience!
Great overview because I missed this webinar but I’m hoping to go to the next one. Thanks for writing this up. I love being self-employed, the opportunities are open and I can do it all from home in my nightie:)