This is the first time I am writing from a cafe. Actually, this is the first time I’m IN a cafe this late. To me, there’s a very thin line between leisure and wasting time, so I tend to avoid both (and then I wonder why I am often stressed, haha).
One thing I struggle with life in Malaysia is to find a good balance. People talk about work-life balance a lot. For the most part and for most people, that is the core of the struggle — to strike a balance between work and life.
Despite whatever is being said about our Malaysian work force (the negatives), I meet more hardworking, committed people in my daily interactions than lazy, unmotivated ones. I appreciate working with these people not only because their good qualities sometimes brush on me, but also they make my life easier. I don’t know how balanced their lives are but their ability to perform their duties well makes me think that they’re coping just fine.
Having said that, there is another group of people (who to me are extremely imbalanced, from my opinion) who work to death. These are the workaholics. I detest this group. Not because they make me look bad (I couldn’t care less if they do), but because they make my life difficult. These people do not understand that we work to live and not the other way around. They set ridiculous deadlines, schedule meetings at less-than-favorable hours, and plan work that coincide with public holidays and weekends when they could very well avoid them. While I do not have issues with their over-commitment to work (it’s their choice not to have a life beyond work), I am annoyed when they are dragging me down with them, sometimes forcibly. I previously wrote that I hate dictating people and these are of no difference. They expect the rest of us to work like them, embrace their values. DICTATORS!
Hanging out with them also proves to be a bore because all they care to talk about is WORK. I usually withdraw from such outings as soon as I possibly could. For the love of God, I have so many other better things to do than to yap about work all day and night.
