A Networking Dinner

A break from my travel posts! I still have a backlog of travel logs from Copenhagen to Rome...it's going to last me till next year haha.

Tonight we attended a networking event with alumni from a couple of industries: a full range of financial sector players as well as the accounting Big 4. I roamed about and spoke to many different personalities... (one of whom was drunk, haha!)

I wanted to jot down some of my after-thoughts. Firstly, i felt that i could observe the 'comfort circles' they have built for themselves. It shows pretty clearly, from the things they talk about, the attitudes they portray towards certain issues such as career choices and development paths. It appears that based on the values and mindsets you hold towards the world around you, the same environment can provide different insights and knowledge for different people. You even absorb information selectively, to support your pre-existing perceptions perhaps. It's very interesting. I acquired some very valuable AND different advice from different personalities.

Of course, it makes a difference that they are from different industries. Yet I feel that these people have actually drifted towards the place where they feel they belong. And once they fit in snugly in these comfort circles, it reinforces their attitudes and perceptions towards things. I guess this is probably necessary for a stable, happy life: to find somewhere you belong, and mould your environment as you see fit. The environment may be simply the decor of a home (this is big for my dad!) or the way you make out the world to be.

I cherish my student life now, because we have the time to explore our passions and interest, to forge and reforge ourselves in a continual journey of learning and growth. To constantly be able to throw ourselves into new, uncomfortable places. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to go on exchange in Europe, and to travel alone around the US and Europe. I just had the intuition that i could not find the next stage of self-development in Singapore. And i was right. I wish that i am able to convey the lessons learnt in my travel logs.

In the meanwhile, though, I will continue striving on, in this next phase of learning. Let me pray that i will never fall into a comfort circle - yet. It's just too early to stop learning, to stop failing and making mistakes, to stop doing what i love, to stop having fun...

It's too early to stop living life the way you want it. Differently.

... and farewell, Steve Jobs. Your life will be forever remembered as an inspiration to all.