My premature exit plan from corporate world
I know, it’s only barely the start. Nonetheless, I’m still enjoying and committed to my current full-time job.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past three months since the start of my first job. People have been asking me what my long term financial goals are. It made me start to think about having a whole working life ahead of me. Imagine retiring at 65. I’m 23 this year. That is a whole 42 years more of work. What can I do? Where can I go? Will I even live that long?
4 years ago, during my admission interview into university, I told the professors on the other side of the table confidently, “I have no plans for what I want to be in 5 years’ time but I know I’m not looking for a 9 to 5 job that confines me to the desk, and I believe that a Social Science degree can open up more doors for me to figure out what I want to do in the future.”
Look where I ended up right after graduation. The decisions that led up to where I am today were definitely considered management of the tension between relevance and identity, a concept learnt in a School of Thought lecture I had the opportunity to sit in not too long ago. I’m not giving up on my ideals, not right now. I’m building the pathway to learn and harvest the skills I’d need to be where I’d really like to be.
At this stage, I’m not thinking about quitting prematurely in a professional career that has barely begun. Probably just getting ahead of myself in making plans on what I can do after corporate life. Just to keep me going, and to keep me in a forward-looking state. These ideas running around in my head help me to stay positive that my life will not be confined to the four walls of the office at Level 10, or the borders of this tiny island. What scares me about these jumpy thoughts is whether I will have the capability to pull them off. They are starting to form a coherent storyline in my head, but I can’t be sure.
In the short span of nearly 3 months, I’ve thought about becoming a freelance writer, an artist who needs a lot of practice before I can make any money out of my work, and a bookseller. My flighty self is telling me to be a digital nomad once I’ve set up a strong foundation.
Having a bookshop has been a dream since my secondary school days when Tumblr had these pictures of amazingly beautiful vintage bookshops around the world. The young naive self wanted to set up shop and lounge in the bookshop to read, and read. Of course, today I realise how much hard work, passion, and dedication a bookseller needs to survive the trade, as with any other business owners do. Over the years, I’ve been randomly thinking about what kind of bookshop I’d have, and none of the ideas have been very concrete or compelling.
Finally, something clicked recently, and I found myself imagining the details of a bookshop I want to work towards to. Details that are down to the sections of my bookstore, the furnitures, the vibes, and the purpose of its existence. My mind raced with ideas while I was reading the first chapters of The Reluctant Capitalist: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. I have no idea what the whole industry entails. This book is a gateway to exploring the ideas of the role of booksellers in today’s context and how different stakeholders play their role. It’s a book on bookselling from the Sociology perspective! I got way too excited to read it even though it may be slightly dated. The only gripe I have is that the library only has one copy in the reference section, and I couldn’t finish it in one sitting. The initial chapters had me thinking about how I should start collecting information about publishers and distributors — where do I actually source these books from? Still a big question mark now, but I’ll find my way eventually.
Before I forget how my different ideas form a coherent plan… I’ve read so many stories about the pros and cons of going all out nomadic that I still aspire towards it but cautious enough to jump in only when I’m ready. I hope that writing can form the basis of my remote work life while I hop from city to city, town to town, to seek out stories of people behind the bookshops that have stood their grounds in changing times. It may take me years before I get there, but I remain a hopeful optimist that the physical bookshop will still have its place in our world. I’m not ready to believe that eBooks will eliminate the book industry completely in this lifetime. While I have started using a Kindle whenever the need arises, I still find the physical book a comforting article to hold, and the reading experience dissimilar.
While I seek to learn the stories of others, my story will hopefully turn out to be one of aspirations chased and fulfilled, without regrets from this day on.
When my days feel weary and dreary, I hope for the spark in my eyes to return. I cling on to the very hope of getting out of the fog and into brief moments of clarity. However brief these moments may be, they reassure me that I’ll rise out of the misty shroud again.
Would love to hear your thoughts about the digital nomad life, or your experiences in indie bookstores that make or break your impression of its longevity. :)
