Fili’s world

Some friends have been telling me about their dreams of taking a time off to go and pursue their fantasies, even “at the risk of losing what they’ve achieved so far”. Asking for my advice, I try and let them know that they are not alone and that it is a fair dilemma that isn’t necessarily as bad as they might think it is.

A British gal I met in Northern Vietnam in her one week Vietnam trip is now returning from 6 months around-the-world after quitting her journalism job. A Canadian friend is traveling around India thinking about her lawyer future. An Israeli hi-tech friend who fell in love with China has given up that career for a year+ to pursue simple English teaching where his new passion is. A couple I knew just came back from 6 months tour of Central America after quitting their jobs together to go on a very long honeymoon. A friend from Australia is rethinking her obvious career choice made long ago. Plenty of the western guys I met in Taiwan were searching for new directions in life. Almost every week or so I have a conversation with someone between the age of 25 to 35 who’s thinking about this.

For those friends of mine, who I care deeply for and obviously sympathize with their journey, here’s a small quote from a New York Times article I read this morning called “Life between jobs” :

“Generations before them, studies have shown, valued tenure and career advancement. But this group sees the chutes in the world as interesting as the ladders.
There are no recent studies of the employment patterns of Generations X and Y by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But it reports that even those born at the tail end of the baby boom held an average of 10.2 jobs between age 18 and 38, from 1978 to 2002. A 2004 study by the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit research group, polled Generation Y employees and found they were significantly more likely to leave their job than employees who were their comparable ages in 1977 — 70 percent, compared with 52 percent.

Some use quitting as an opportunity for a good, long visit back home, or to spend time with a dying grandparent. Others want the time to embark on real vacations or adventures.

And what’s wrong with taking all that ambition and putting it into a bus trip through India? A climb up Kilimanjaro? A month studying Russian in Moscow?
The trend, career experts said, is an outgrowth of today’s nomadic job culture, as well as an attitude among many young people open to adventure and big experiences ; and, yes, a bit of indulgence.
Why not walk away when you are young, energetic and have the opportunity to camp at the Grand Canyon? Or to visit all the national parks?”

“As the retirement age pushes farther back and the finances for that time of life are less and less certain, it was almost unconscionable to not take advantage of the opportunity to travel now when I had the money and the health,” he said.
He is not afraid of finding another job — believing his skills are in demand — and he is not tied down to any location. What worries him more is keeping from burning out again.
“The trick is finding a job that has the balance built in so that I don’t have to go off on a grand adventure to recover from work,” he said.

A study done by the Society for Human Resource Management found that when human resource professionals were asked to select character traits from a list to describe age groups, baby boomers were characterized as “results driven,” and “plan to stay with the organization over the long term.” Generation X, though, was described as “like informality,” and “seeking work/life balance.”

“To be unemployed for six weeks is a healthy thing to help you say ‘I am not defined by what I do,’ ” he said. “It helps to understand who I am, who my wife is, and that our identity is more important than anything we do.”
In the end, timing is everything.
“Why now when I’m 28?” said Mr. Aikin, the architect, about his coming motorcycle trip. “Retirement is too far away. And I was too broke in college.”