Paul's Fulfilling Life

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I must say that it is indeed an unexpected year of twist and turns. Work I would have expected myself to be in the job that I have held for quite a while to go on, given the uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, as the Chinese saying goes, 天下没有不散的宴席 , I had to go after I was placed on no pay leave in February, just before Chinese New Year. Little did I expect that it would be a time of instability for me as I have tried my best to fit into 3 organisations within a short span of 6 months but it did not work out. I am just glad that I managed to find my mojo back in mid-August when my first boss took me back after an interview with them. It has been a great 4 and a ½ months so far.   After going through so much job changes in a year, it really changed my perspective and outlook of life. The 3 unsuccessful jobs caused my confidence to be at an all-time low. One of the jobs caused me to go into a near m...

  Today is World Mental Health Day. If you asked me two years ago, if I would have thought that I would face a mental drain this year, I would say no. But like what the title of a James Bond movie, “Never Say Never Again”, it taught me that mental health is equally important as physical health. Like what a long time ICQ/Blogger recruitment consultant friend shared with me before I started this job recently, “Take a break before you start, do not rush into it.” I am glad I took the advice and am thankful for having an understanding boss, who took me in when I was at the lowest point of my career and gave me the free hand to manage the work portfolio, thus helping me regain my confidence and faith in myself. To this, I am really thankful to my colleagues, who made me feel welcome and really assisted me when I needed it. Some of you may wonder how I managed to overcome this dark 6 months of my life. It is fortunate that I have kept my singing lessons active and my ktv interest group...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I am glad to share that I am coping well with my current job after many false starts this year. It has been a difficult journey in the past 6 months, but I am glad to say that I am seeing light at the end of this tunnel. I must say my confidence level was at its lowest, especially at the last job that did not work out. I would like to thank my boss for giving me the opportunity to work with him again. I am happy to see that he has expanded with a new portfolio, which I am helping to manage the tax matters of the clients in this portfolio. I used to hear people say people working in corporate services firm should not stay beyond 3 years. In all of my working career, I have outlived this mantra and stayed beyond the 3 years cycle. I stayed more than 4 cycles for one of them.   You may have thought why I did not wish to move. For me, moving forward to a new career is not easy. Prospective employers will try to lower the remunerati...

  It has been a month since I last blogged. I feel sad to share that the new job did not work out as well as envisaged. It caused me to be near a mental breakdown. I shall not go into further details as I wish to put this dark episode behind me. The good thing is that I have managed to secure employment before I tendered. It feels good to have walked away as I certainly do not wish to become the 16-year-old student who was in the news recently. Although I have hoped to start almost immediately, I feel that it is good for me to have a break as well so that I can clear my mind before I am recharged for my next assignment. I have thought about exploring Singapore using my “Singapore Rediscovers” vouchers but as Singapore is still in Phase 2 “Heightened Alert” at the moment, it is better to shelve the plans for now. I know I have not been my usual self since I took up this job. A few of my friends who saw my Facebook posts expressed concern as they wanted to see the cheerful Paul...

  It has been a while since I last blogged. I have been an emotional roller coaster ride in the last few months, ever since I was placed on no pay leave by my ex-boss just before Chinese New Year.   Although I left with the security of securing a job first before moving on, the 2 jobs that I had did not work out as envisaged and I made the decision to move on as the onboarding for newbies had been poor, and I was not able to build a good rapport with my new colleagues. The fact that we had to work from home results in breakdown in communication sometimes, so I believe face to face interaction is still required in such circumstances. Even then, a suitable time frame should be given to the new hire to adapt to the new surroundings and new work processes. I agreed with my friend, who is a recruitment consultant, who shared that starting a new job in this pandemic is indeed a challenge. An employer has to ensure that there is a proper onboarding process as different companies in...

  COVID-19 restrictions set by the Government meant that Chinese New Year was a muted affair for me. Not that I do not enjoy it, I actually liked it as this meant that it was a good excuse to avoid pesky and inquisitive relatives asking when are you getting settled down.  It gave me an opportunity to step up on my preparation of my volunteer community tax e-filing programme for self-employed individuals. I managed to recruit a few volunteers during my enforced break for Chinese New Year. I was asked to work from home by my boss after issues occurred in office again. To me, working from home is about the same as working in office, just that my boss will continuously doubt that if I am working while I am home or busy with my own personal stuff. Since the pandemic, I had worked from home for about 7 months. The good side about working from home, is being able to sleep in later, saving travelling time, do not need to navigate the two high step entrance at my office building, which...

  I was hesitating if I should get my flu vaccination done for a while. A bout of flu in the past week and the need to go back to the office everyday since Phase 3 hastened the need to get myself vaccinated with the flu vaccine. Even though the COVID-19 vaccine has not been rolled out to the public yet, I thought a normal flu jab shot would help in protecting myself and others in this pandemic. I would like to thank my doctor, Dr T H Chia for his fast and efficient service in helping me to get myself jabbed. Thanks for the discounted price for the vaccination and your advice on getting the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available.