Staying focused and happy at the same time

In the aftermath of the massive Japan Earthquake that has literally moved Japan and the Korean Peninsula away from Asia and even shifted Earth’s Axis, thousands lie dead, hurt, lost and in search for a recovery.

But far away from the epicentre of the disaster, many of us continue to face the desperate need for economic mobility, social monility, acceptance, happiness. Bad news is, there’s no rescue package coming our way any time soon.

This is one of those afternoons, where such disheartening and silent protest from my social circle struck me as both coincidental and necessary. Literally, in the short span of 24 hours:

• A programmer friend complained to me that there’s no future of working in Singapore having his skills not appreciated.
• A colleague has been said to want to leave the organization, following the footsteps of 1 who just left and another leaving this week.
• A friend email me a poem (see Annex below) that screams to be left alone to complete her work.
• Another soul lamenting over SMS that everyone expect her has been promoted in the company, sensing that she lacks the recognition she deserves from her boss.
• A friend on gtalk having a super depressing day because of lack of family support for her work endeavors.
• A potential customer of my sheet music canceling his order as stress level builds up for their upcoming performance, having to kill ideas of collaborating with a singer.
• An entrepreneur having headaches about the hiring situation in Singapore where the premium for foreign skilled labour continue to climb but the local talent pool glue themselves to high paying MNCs.
• Another friend/colleague telling me that she’s uninspired by the state of things in her department where she wanted to make a difference.
• And finally a colleague who dragged me out for coffee as we revisited some of his uninspiring experiences in the past prior to transferring away from his former department.

An emotional Tsumani for me I guess, and privilege, for me to be the private confidante of their issues. But I want to say one thing to everyone: I too have HUGE emotional problems – some of which has lasted many years, and wouldn’t go away regardless of how I count my blessings.

And most importantly I want to remind everyone, quoting the gtalk friend, that: Every minute spent unhappy is a minute less to spend happy!

In life, we won’t get everything we want.

Especially in an adult world, where human being built tight social and economic hierarchies (usually called families and companies) where expectations are set and yet very often times not met. Mind you most of us are knowledge worker / student / professionals these days already, not factory droids who can be easily rewarded per unit effort we put into our work (move one bag of rice for 10 cents), our relationship (kiss me once and i’ll make one dinner for you), or our life (When I have my earphones on, you shall stay away from me).

We sometimes need to make a conscious effort to focus and stay happy, and anticipate shit. It can be the shitty email that keeps boing boing boing around, it can be the irritating colleague who shouts at the top of their lungs even when having a private discussion. It can be the boss who rather promote the person he’s closest to and not the deserving one. It can be the customer, the vendor, the government, the co-worker etc. that’s not performing up to expectations.

Because we cannot keep them away from live, we should learn to embrace them and, like Taichi, use the power against them, making you a true untouchable emotionally. By sharing it with me (or your favourite listener) you have made the first step, now you need to listen to yourself – you probably know how to solve the problem.

Then solve the problem.

And be happy!

Ok?

Annex: Poem by anonymous friend – to which I want to say: You’re not alone! But, you will not be alone until you work from home! 🙂

With emails and requests mountain-high,
Why can’t people make up their mind?

Instead to wait for those on holiday
Before I can send my answer
And say, “please go away!”