Travel and Personal
Where are you?
I was going to write about something else, but that topic has to wait. I just stopped chatting with two of my friends, and my time online confirmed a rather massive shift in my life – and those of my friends.
My IOMBA class of 2005 was, prior to the IOMBA, mostly financially secure and settled. We came from Canada, USA, India, China, and several countries in Europe. While most of us had work experience in at least 2 countries, we were still very much based in specific countries.
Today, that is no longer the case. One of my friends is in Zurich, but it is not certain for how long. The other has been in Pakistan, moving there from Rome a few months ago. In a few months, she will have moved back – or on. I, myself, am in Nairobi and it is uncertain where I will be in two months.
It is an interesting reflection on the choices people make. Was it better to be a regional marketing manager for a leading sports brand or be a roving disaster relief specialist; a product development engineer in telecommunications or a program manager working on emerging market strategy and sustainable business models; a financial investment advisor or a program manager for renewable energy? The later choice, without exception, meant a paycut and disruption to ‘normal’ life.
What is it that drives such change? What drives humanity? I’ve always thought it was an innate desire to know what was out there and what one could achieve. That is why we climb the highest mountain, dive the deepest sea, sail around the world, and reach for the stars. Perhaps that is why we have chosen this life. Because we are not satisfied just with what we have – or had.
I don’t mean to glorify this choice. Everyone finds satisfaction in something, and this was it for many of us. The world takes all kinds of people to make it go around – even marketing managers for leading sports brands. And as long as there are enough that give that option up, it will continue to go around. I know some that did make that choice – they are on skype. They answer your call by saying – not ‘how are you’, but ‘where are you’!
Personally speaking, there is a certain restlessness somewhere.. I am not comapring it to short turnovers you and your friends seem to have
, for me the turnover time is considerably slower, 3-4 years or so my feet and mind begin to itch. Thats not to say that within those 3-4 years there aren’t umpteen trips to other places in between. But after those 4 years, its always seems time to move on. Maybe after some years the itch will cease, and settle to domesticity, but even then the world is always out there to beckon!