I live in Australia. My American friends are surprised by the amount of annual leave, sick leave and long-service leave that Australian employees are entitled to. Indeed, Americans work harder than Australians in general because the United States has a competitive culture, whereas Australians are much more laid-back and relaxed. But when I went to France, I was seriously surprised by the way French people operate – many of them have two months off in the summer! Yes, I understand that school holidays can be that long in the summertime, but that policy actually applies to the majority of employees in France. This is so eye-opening.
- Life has different stages.
When I was in primary school, I didn’t study very hard. I grew taller faster and had lots of fun with many friends.
But when I was in middle school, I studied so hard that I was in hospital in the end.
When I was in senior high school, I studied less hard. Then I studied harder at university.
After graduation, I had my first job which gave me five years of relaxation.
Then I was doing my Master’s Degree – I studied reasonably hard. After graduation from university again, I worked extremely hard for ten years.
One day I realized that my most important goals were achieved already, so I resigned from an organization in which the management team was unnecessarily annoying.
People couldn’t understand why I would resign at that time because I hadn’t found a new job yet, but only I knew why I resigned – I didn’t need to be in that stressful workplace anymore as my most paramount goals had been achieved at that time.
Honestly, that workplace’s environment was good in terms of the conditions, yet my managers were too difficult for my liking.
As a result, I resigned after carefully thinking about that for a while.
After sending the resignation letter to HR and my managers, I started a new chapter in my life – I began to live a relaxing lifestyle again.
There is a time and a place for goal-setting and being a high achiever; there is also a time and a place for enjoying life and smelling roses.
I became a lifestyle entrepreneur after resignation; hence, I was able to travel internationally while working on my computer each day.
- Striking a balance is key.
Now I still travel internationally and I take my laptop with me all the time because I run my location-independent business online.
I wouldn’t say these days I don’t have to work, as my online business isn’t completely automated, but I have to say that right now I’m not working as hard as I used to be because this is a new stage in my life. I worked incredibly hard in the past, so now I deserve a brand-new stage in life: Now I simply strike a balance between doing meaningful work that I thoroughly enjoy and living an enjoyable life at the same time.
Life is short; thus, we must make every day count. I know this sounds like a cliché, but it’s clearly true. I will travel internationally more often in the future just to make my life more rewarding.
“When we travel internationally, we get new perspectives.”
