It had been almost 2 weeks since I returned from my trip to
Japan and I still could not move on. Japan had been amazing! It was even more
memorable since I got to spend the whole 8 days with my family.
And now, I have returned to this ordinary, mundane life as a
ward pharmacist at this particular Multidisciplinary Female Ward at this small
district hospital-where-everyone-knows-one another situated at this secluded rural
district in Kelantan.
Back to the same, unadventurous routine. I must say that I
got bored of joining the ward round, looking at the patient’s medical charts
and lab investigations, with nothing much to be intervened other than to ask
for a new prescription to be issued as the present one is almost expiring, and occasionally
correcting the wrong frequency for Tablet Cephalexin.
And on weekend, there is nothing much to do. No cinemas, no
shopping malls, even the library is not opened on Friday, and that I doubt it
offers more interesting titles as compared to the existing ones I currently have
in my bedroom, carefully selected from the Big Bad Wolf Book Sales.
I scrolled through the instagram feeds and stories of this
famous web establishment, and I couldn’t help but to marvel
and envy those who were working there. Imagine, getting paid to travel and
write about it? Which are the two things I love the most! I want to work for this web company! Even when I was a kid, I wanted to be like Samantha Brown,
famous for her Passport to Europe and Passport to Latin America series. I
yearned to have adventures like the presenters of Globe Trekker, Megan
McCormick, Justine Shapiro and Ian Wright.
But of course, almost 20 years later, here I am, working as
someone so much different than what I had dreamed before. I could afford to travel
here and then, at least once a year, Alhamdulillah. But to be paid to travel is
an entirely different story.
Which leads to me thinking later on, if there comes an
opportunity, say, a company offering me a post as a full-time travel writer,
and is going to pay me double than what I’m currently earning now, will I leave
my job as a pharmacist? Sounds tempting, isn’t it?
And without hesitation, my immediate answer would be,
*drumrolls*
NO.
A big NO.
Of course not.
I am surprised at this answer myself. I had always been
yearning to lead a jet-setting life, escaping to different places and having
fun without a worry for deadlines, KPI, HPIA, audits, those kind of boring
office stuff, or even, worried that I might have dispensed wrong medications to
my patients.
Surely if such opportunity comes, I would just grab it
without thinking twice?
I guess it shows that I still love my job. No matter how
much someone is going to offer me, no matter how interesting that job scope
might be, I could never bear to leave my profession as a pharmacist.
This is what they called an unconditional love, isn’t it?
As no matter how average I am as a pharmacist, I still love
to read about antibiotics and their spectrum of activities, I still love going
to ward rounds, I still love to talk to my patients, I still love listening to
case presentations, I love to impart this little knowledge that I have for
others to learn from, during those monthly CME sessions.
Plus, I am still finding that satisfaction of becoming a
pharmacist, it’s going to be there, someday. I am still waiting for that moment
whereby I am at the peak of my career as a pharmacist, and until I reached
there, I should never leave my job.
The Chinese adage said ‘In order to enjoy something, you
must be good at it’. And that in order to be good at something, you must
consistently practice and practice and practise!
My job might look mundane from where you see it. But it is
all a matter of having the right perceptions. I have the power to change my
insight, to transform something that seems boring to one that is really
interesting!
It is all about having the right attitude. And comparing
your current job with the jobs of others you wish you had is just useless.
Just like in a relationship, you have to make efforts to
ensure there is always love between you and your partner. Life is not entirely
good.
The doctor might have wished he had chosen to become a
teacher, who could enjoy more holidays and seemingly less workloads. A convenience store worker might have berated
herself for not studying hard enough so that she could take Law and become a
Lawyer, consequently having a high salary.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
We would always want what we perceived as something good.
We want something from another person’s plate.
And what should we do now?
Just take care of our own patch of grass, and keep on
watering it, nurturing it, so that it will stay green, even the greenest out of
other patches of grass. Who knows, beautiful stalks of flower might even sprout
out from the ground.
I am not saying that you should not step out of your zone to
chase after your dreams. If you really think that you really wanted to become a
singer, or a fashion designer, then just go for it.
But if you’re thinking to switch your careers after having a
rough day at work, and looking at other people’s seemingly fun and easy jobs,
wishing you have theirs, then that is an irrational, unrealistic way of
thinking.
One thing I learned after venturing into the working adult
world is that, everyone has a stress of their own. Every job is stressful. It
is how you managed your stress that would determine the outcome, whether you’re
happy or not.
For now, I’m going to devise a plan to make my job seems
more interesting, and that I’m looking forward to go to work every day.
I just have to water my own patch of grass.
And also, I have to work to fund my travels, LOL.
Thanks for reading!
