I really should be studying right now but taking a break is always a welcome respite, especially when it means I can take some time to write here. I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter online about quarter-life crises and since I’m turning 25 in a couple of weeks, I had been wondering if I too should be in some sort of existential crisis. The truth is that there are some heartfelt issues but I’ve also been revisiting the five life goals I established 5 years ago and I’ve decided to use them as a base to leap over this crisis of identity.

I’ll be finishing school once again, but this time I’m finally going back to work for the Economic Development Board of Singapore. It has been a long time coming. I got the scholarship six years ago and have developed a relationship with them. Yet, in these six years, both of us have changed slightly beyond recognition.

I have become a lot more progressive in my values and more rooted in truths about our lives. I have built friendships that span the globe and have seen what it means to truly care for someone else. I have also seen what it means to lose someone, whether it be to death, drugs or any sort of dread. I have understood that experiences matter more than arbitrary metrics and that society can be both incredibly problematic as well as surprisingly hopeful.  Chicago and London have become new homes for me, still secondary to Singapore but important enough to have heartfelt memories that are deeply embedded. These four years in the western hemisphere have taught me many things. I have learned to value the positives, critically question the ambiguous and condemn the downsides.

EDB too has changed, structurally. I am ready, and in all honesty, have no choice but, to apply myself and fulfil the driving reason of my initial application: to give Singaporeans jobs they are passionate about and to make Singapore competitive on the global field.  I have friends in the organization, and colleagues with similar energies as me. To live as a working man, saving for a future and being financially free, seems like the endpoint I’ve been building for this past six years, but we know it’s only the beginning.

I see my life as a story waiting to be written. Each chapter is rich, full of adventure and mystery, entangled in risk, reward and utter luck, but each chapter is also the prelude to the next. The past six years of my life are what I will remember as “The Exploration”, a manifestation of my inner will to be independent and to discover who I am as well as the rejection of every sad trope that adults grapple with on how they did not fully exploit their early youth. I wanted to live life fully every day of my life, especially while I had the energy and opportunity to do so, and I am incredibly satisfied with how I did it. I travelled, felt love, gave back love, got lost, was found, tore down structures and witnessed monumental parts of our history. I have stood in the heat of some of the world’s most iconic moments and have lived to tell the tale.

The next chapter, unnamed for now but assuredly spanning the next five to six years, will capture me as a young adult. Seeing my life as a storybook has allowed me to plan out my life, loosely of course, with one focus for each decade. Early readers of my blogs will remember the five goals I set for myself years ago. I have taken the time now to revisit them and make them not only more explicit but also updated to fit my current profile. For accountability and curiosity, you can see them here

My 20s will see me wrap up my travel career and laying the groundwork for the project of my 30s: talent management. I will not let myself be trapped in a cycle of work and rest without time to continue being a source of energy and curiosity. I will live and love. Ultimately, my time on this world will be dedicated to exploring the beautiful parts of our human experience and empowering the creation and generation of more beauty. If you want to join me on any of these journeys I am embarking, I would be ecstatic at the companionship.

Quarter life crises are a result of the liberation from the state-led propaganda to live one’s life according to some set of norms. Once you realize you can live your life freely, then as Sartre famously declares, you are condemned to be free. You must make meaning of your life and you must choose to live with those consequences. I have chosen to live passionately and will continue to do so,.