Tag: dreams

If there’s one question I dread the most in a job interview, it’s “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

I don’t even know what I want for lunch, let alone the next five years of my life. Sure, I’ve been taught model answers to impress employers, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s honestly a freaking scary commitment to make.

Recently, a Redditor posed this question to Singaporeans:

“Corporate slaves, how do you stop dreading going to work every day?”

To which the top reply began with “Welcome to work life bro.”

Top reply from Redditor aSingaporean: “I envy those who love their work and love what they’re doing.”

Indeed. Welcome to work life.

As a (relatively) young Singaporean who has come to realise the importance of money in modern day life, this is highly relatable. When I first graduated into the working world, I was on hindsight, naively idealistic. “Money isn’t everything,” I used to proudly proclaim. “I’d rather earn little doing what I like than be paid well doing something I hate.”

However the truth is, the moment you start becoming financially independent is the moment you realise that money is important.

Yet, the scariest part of this ‘welcome to the work life’ notion is how everyone of us relate to it. It is scary because there’s this sense of aimlessness and purposeless that is so pervasive in our society.

This concept of us having to work till we die just to survive in Singapore isn’t new.

All my life, I’ve heard people sigh over not knowing what they truly want in life (myself included). A lot of us end up just cruising through, hoping that someday, somehow, we will find a deeper purpose. And until we do, we will continue to put up with jobs that we convince ourselves to stay in, and we will continue to despair over having to spend nine hours a day, five days a week for the rest of our lives, selling our soul to work just to earn money to live.

We’re But A Nation Of Corporate Zombies

Image Credit: Yoga delle Stelle

It’s a problem of the privileged. For our previous generations and the poor, the need for survival far outweighs the luxury of achieving ideals in one’s career.

However, having grown up in an entirely different world where survival isn’t a concern, the many opportunities we have been given have inadvertently spoilt us. Where there isn’t that pressure of survival, what we face is a deep longing to chase something that fulfils us. And for many of us, we either don’t know what fulfils us, or we are too afraid to chase it.

Our perpetual state of mind
Image Credit: YourTango

Perhaps it’s our upbringing. We're all moulded according to a default educational structure set out for the masses. Grades were everything and scoring well in school pretty much determines one’s journey ahead—score well and be rewarded a smooth-sailing journey ahead, else, be prepared to work extra hard in the future just to reach a level playing field.

And when there's no more academic excellence to pursue, it is very easy for one to feel lost. We have never been taught to pursue excellence in non-academic interests, or rather, it is always not a priority compared to scoring well in our English, Math, and Sciences.

Having worked with batches of interns across the various jobs I’ve done, I can confidently say that a lot of JC, polytechnic, and university graduates don’t really know what they want to do or where to go after they graduate.

“Maybe I’ll travel first lor, see how.”

“Not sure leh, see what opportunities there are out there first.”

Everyone is just lost. There’s no clear direction in life. When we have reached that point of our life, no one’s there to tell us what to study or what to do anymore. And that can be very scary for a fresh graduate, because we want to prove our worth. Even our first job has to be ideal, because we know how important a first job is and how it is going to affect our resume and portfolio.

Many youths I’ve spoken to who has taken a gap year shared how they’ve had to convince their parents, because taking one year to ‘find yourself’ is a waste of time in their parents’ eyes. However, it is often this one year of exposure and experience in the ‘real world’ that matures us. For some, it is what helps them find purpose, or at least, it is what shows them what they absolutely do not want to do. But I believe there is also a large number of people who teeter on, just getting a job for sustenance and wishing for change to happen.

Nothing’s Going To Happen, Bro.

However, purpose is also a choice. And a lot of us end up never finding our purpose because we are too afraid to pursue what we want.

Most of the time, it is not that we don’t know what we want in life, but we are too afraid to acknowledge those dreams we have. Pursuing dreams is hard work and as with anything, a risk.

It could be that we are worried about finances—what if we lose money? It could be the self-doubt and fear that we aren’t good enough to ‘make it’ in Singapore’s ultra competitive landscape. Along with that, there’s the fear that we will be wasting time if our efforts go to nothing. Even with advice like ‘don’t be afraid to fail’, the possibility of failure and ‘losing face’ from failing is terrifying, and it deters a lot of us from dipping our toes into new territories.

We end up creating excuses to convince others and ourselves to stay within our comfort zone. At the end of the day, we just follow through the motions, waiting for something to happen. This will cause anyone to get jaded very easily and very quickly.

The only way to find purpose and be happy with our life is to figure out what we truly want and more importantly, to work for it. And it’s encouraging to see more and more Singaporeans quitting their corporate lives in their late twenties to thirties to pursue what they’ve always wanted to do: in starting their own fashion label, running their own hawker stall, and many more.

There’s no way to achieve perfection in all aspects of life because life is just that short. It really goes down to knowing what we want to prioritise.

It doesn’t matter if we are driven by money or if it’s a desire to do social work, because as long as we know what to work for, half the battle is won. Because only then will we be able to figure out what we can do in our everyday lives to fulfil ourselves. And nothing ever comes easy, so either we get busy living, or get busy complaining.

Also read: A Letter To The Singapore Government, From A Young Singaporean.
(Header Image Credit: <a href="

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough." These are the words I’ll cling to for the rest of my years, no matter what anyone will try to tell me. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been told to “get a degree”, or better still, “get a degree with honours.” And after that, get a job. Growing up, it’s always felt like there was only one route to success—one that my parents, relatives, and Singapore society have already mapped out for me. Exploring isn’t encouraged. Stray a little from it and your life is basically ruined. It’s almost as if if your dreams didn’t fall on the beaten (to death) path, it's not worth having. And if it doesn’t earn you much? That makes it all the more pointless. “Dreams will be dreams”, our painfully realistic fellow Singaporeans will tell us, reminding us again and again of the risks of going our own way, the risks of pursuing what we truly want, as if it were already guaranteed that our dreams wouldn’t work out. But is it so wrong to want more than just a 9 – 5 office job?

If you have a dream, keep it big

Don’t let anyone tell you what to do or who to be. Cliché as it may sound, stay true to yourself. Living out someone else’s dream isn’t going to make you happy. Don’t belittle your dreams or let others make you feel foolish for having them. It’s good to have ambitions. It’s good to work towards something you feel deeply passionate about. Whether your dream is to be an artist or the CEO of your own company, keep dreaming, and keep those dreams big. Always make sure your dreams scare you a little, so they give you that rush of adrenaline you need to break out of the status quo.

Dare to talk about your dreams

Let’s face it. If you can’t even bring yourself to talk about your dreams, how will you have the courage it takes to achieve them? If you have a dream, own it, no matter the judgment or the looks people will give you. Own it, even if no one else gets it yet. Also, remember: the friends who support you and your dreams are the ones you should keep close. These are the people who truly understand you and have faith in your ability to turn your dreams into reality. While negative voices tend to be louder than positive ones, it’s important that you block them out and be receptive to support and advice from those who truly care. Don’t suppress your dreams, chucking them into the deepest recesses of your mind, wishing them away. The best way to keep your dreams big is to talk about them, and to speak them into reality, no matter what naysayers might say.

Find ways to make your dreams a reality

Making your dream a reality will require some strategy. It can’t come true if you don’t plan for it to happen. An important step to achieving your dreams is to break your bigger goals—those seemingly impossible ones—down into small, achievable objectives. Start small, and don’t discount your first steps, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. If your dream is to be an artist, set aside time to nurture your artistic abilities and sensibilities. If you dream is to be a musician, perhaps it’s time to start singing some covers and putting yourself out on YouTube. Who knows what’ll happen from there? Along the way, look out for helpful classes, short courses and get professional advice when you can. It’s also good to surround yourself with the right people, people who are interested in and are driven by the same things you are, so you can help each other along. These steps may seem small at first, but over time, if you keep at it, you’ll find yourself that much closer to your dream than when you first started out. People aren’t afraid to have dreams. What they’re afraid of is chasing them. It’s easy to give up halfway and to let all the negativity surrounding you get you down, but here’s the thing about having a dream: you’re not going to have many supporters at first. Try something different, stray from the status quo, and leave behind the people who only ever put you down. Chasing your dreams requires stamina, faith, and a truckload of courage. There’s nothing wrong with envisioning something different for your life—a different picture of success. Like with most things, if you want it, it’s your responsibility to you to go out there and get it.