Freedom
It’s been a whirlwind of activities and seriously I’m facing fatigue… Even the long weekend didn’t quite top up the energy level. There were tonnes of things to do, preparing for the little one’s arrival, spending more time with 宝贝, fulfilling family obligations, cramming all the work I have in the little time available.
Yesterday evening I received an email. A colleague of mine has just resigned after 8 long years. We were not the best of friends, but we did have some kind of friendly competition over the years for our sales results. And we talked about some issues that bothered us. Operationally, his leaving didn’t have any impact on my work. It’s business as usual.
The working environment has evolved over the years. Change is inevitable and in some areas, it’s for the better. However, this direction may not be what we “signed up for” when we first joined. The sales environment is a harsh one. No one is indispensable, not even if you are the TOP sales. This should be the way a company operates. The livelihoods of others shouldn’t be held at ransom by a handful of people. This is from the perspective of the business owners. Life goes on without a hitch. Besides doing sales and managing teams which we used to do, we now have to grapple with proposals, management meetings, extra committees, speak at public seminars, fluster around when top North American executives drop by for a visit. When faced with the top management, say politically right things to keep things amicable.
It’s a feeling of deja vu. Hey! Didn’t I leave the corporate world so that I could leave all these stuff behind? I find myself being drawn into them once again. Everything that I hated doing. Attending meetings which I frankly think is a waste of time, (non sales revenue generating activities), listen to people argue about what to do, only to end up at square one. Obligations to attend big group meetings with agendas forcefully put together for accountability purposes. Dragging myself out of my bed to attend something that I don’t believe in. Saying things that are superficial and not being able to tell people off in their faces?
He wrote on his facebook “Freedom is treasured above all”. Have I forgotten that I used to have control over my time and activities? Without having to account on why I’m absent for some silly meeting because I simply feel like doing something else?
Have I forgotten that sometimes freedom is as simple as being able to choose to read newspapers leisurely on a Monday morning (instead of rushing to the office to mark my attendance for a meaningless meeting)?
Living is not enough. One must have Freedom, Sunshine and a little Flower – Hans Christian Andersen