it's been 6 months since i left service. and i think it is a good time to recap what i had gone thru and consolidate as i charge ahead.
family
i had made my family one of my main aim during this period of unemployment and as it stands, things couldn't have been better. during this period, my brother got married and our relationship improved quite a bit. my relationship with my sisters remained status quo. as for mum, since i left service, she had undergone the knee replacement surgery, suffered a few bouts of pneumonia and diagnosed with early stage dementia. the daily visits that i do to engage her and to massage her had been useful in slowly down her dementia. and this has been the most meaningful thing for me. i am glad i made the decision to take this break and spent time with her. this will be one of the key thing i will remember in life.
career
since signing up for the programme some 3-plus months back (coming to 4 i think), i have been thru a whole series of activities including some psychoanalysis tests, resume writing, career coaching, and now finally the process of career placement. this last part involves some rather intense job search efforts on my part in the visible market and friends while the consultant management side focuses on circulating my resume to headhunters and their network. it has been a rather tedious process but i do admit finding myself slowing down my momentum after the past few weeks of job search. i guessed my procrastination mode has crept up again. and probably the daily visits to visit my mum using public transport saps me of my energy... heh... i think i will need to push myself a little more on this front.
personal
personally, i had committed a lot more focus on my physical and spiritual health. i can say all these efforts have also paid off. the initial health scares turned to be false alarms. nonetheless, it was a good reminder that i should not take my health for granted and that i should eat well, rest well and maintain a good and healthy lifestyle. today, i am very much more rested and healthy. as for spiritual health, after more than a decade of non-action, i finally took refuge. i also attended a series of meditation classes and learned the basics of how to do meditation. i am sure this will contribute to my own betterment and further calm myself and help me focus my energy on positive actions over time.
psychologically, i had been warned that i will face depression, i will face disappointment, etc as i go through my job hunting process. but frankly, i have not really felt disappointed or depressed. perhaps just a little worried about how long more i would take before i achieve some constant income input again. but certainly, i am not depressed, not yet. i am still hopeful and i am still mentally prepared to remain unemployed for the next half year plus. so, from tis perspective, if i could land myself a job within the next 6 months, i would still be within my target! and looking at it from this perspective, i am still ok. (actually, i had initially wanted to give myself 2 years break but decided that 1 yr would be more than enough!)
financially, i had made an review of my finance planning and re-balanced quite a bit of my commitments and coverage. i need to start to project my needs and harmonise my immediate needs with my medium and long term demands. and as of today, barring any sudden change in demands, things are still unfolding according to my plan. but i can expect myself to do some major overhaul of my finances soon. my housing loan lock in period will end next month. that means i can start considering re-financing. but considering my employment status, i think the bank would probably not allow me to do so! heh heh... so, i can expect myself to be looking for a job and once i got my new job, i should start to immediately refinance my housing loan, and probably even buying a hdb flat! heh heh... lots of things to do once the job-front is settled.
personal development-wise, i have been doing a lot of self-reflections and reading. other than two or three recent books, the bulk of the books i had read were fictional and did not really contribute much to my own personal development (or perhaps, they helped me learn to write better? heh heh). but i am gradually moving my reading interest to cover more topics such as leadership and motivational books that are more directly related to my personal development. the reading of some of these books have motivated me to relook at how i spent my days and motivated me to live my life in a more disciplined and focused manner. i aim to continue to read more of such books in the days to come.
ok, shall stop here. need to go back to my routine and to focus again on my job hunting process!
:-)
family
i had made my family one of my main aim during this period of unemployment and as it stands, things couldn't have been better. during this period, my brother got married and our relationship improved quite a bit. my relationship with my sisters remained status quo. as for mum, since i left service, she had undergone the knee replacement surgery, suffered a few bouts of pneumonia and diagnosed with early stage dementia. the daily visits that i do to engage her and to massage her had been useful in slowly down her dementia. and this has been the most meaningful thing for me. i am glad i made the decision to take this break and spent time with her. this will be one of the key thing i will remember in life.
career
since signing up for the programme some 3-plus months back (coming to 4 i think), i have been thru a whole series of activities including some psychoanalysis tests, resume writing, career coaching, and now finally the process of career placement. this last part involves some rather intense job search efforts on my part in the visible market and friends while the consultant management side focuses on circulating my resume to headhunters and their network. it has been a rather tedious process but i do admit finding myself slowing down my momentum after the past few weeks of job search. i guessed my procrastination mode has crept up again. and probably the daily visits to visit my mum using public transport saps me of my energy... heh... i think i will need to push myself a little more on this front.
personal
personally, i had committed a lot more focus on my physical and spiritual health. i can say all these efforts have also paid off. the initial health scares turned to be false alarms. nonetheless, it was a good reminder that i should not take my health for granted and that i should eat well, rest well and maintain a good and healthy lifestyle. today, i am very much more rested and healthy. as for spiritual health, after more than a decade of non-action, i finally took refuge. i also attended a series of meditation classes and learned the basics of how to do meditation. i am sure this will contribute to my own betterment and further calm myself and help me focus my energy on positive actions over time.
psychologically, i had been warned that i will face depression, i will face disappointment, etc as i go through my job hunting process. but frankly, i have not really felt disappointed or depressed. perhaps just a little worried about how long more i would take before i achieve some constant income input again. but certainly, i am not depressed, not yet. i am still hopeful and i am still mentally prepared to remain unemployed for the next half year plus. so, from tis perspective, if i could land myself a job within the next 6 months, i would still be within my target! and looking at it from this perspective, i am still ok. (actually, i had initially wanted to give myself 2 years break but decided that 1 yr would be more than enough!)
financially, i had made an review of my finance planning and re-balanced quite a bit of my commitments and coverage. i need to start to project my needs and harmonise my immediate needs with my medium and long term demands. and as of today, barring any sudden change in demands, things are still unfolding according to my plan. but i can expect myself to do some major overhaul of my finances soon. my housing loan lock in period will end next month. that means i can start considering re-financing. but considering my employment status, i think the bank would probably not allow me to do so! heh heh... so, i can expect myself to be looking for a job and once i got my new job, i should start to immediately refinance my housing loan, and probably even buying a hdb flat! heh heh... lots of things to do once the job-front is settled.
personal development-wise, i have been doing a lot of self-reflections and reading. other than two or three recent books, the bulk of the books i had read were fictional and did not really contribute much to my own personal development (or perhaps, they helped me learn to write better? heh heh). but i am gradually moving my reading interest to cover more topics such as leadership and motivational books that are more directly related to my personal development. the reading of some of these books have motivated me to relook at how i spent my days and motivated me to live my life in a more disciplined and focused manner. i aim to continue to read more of such books in the days to come.
ok, shall stop here. need to go back to my routine and to focus again on my job hunting process!
:-)
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