Rejoining The Rat Race

A surge of adrenaline hit my chest. My heart missed a beat. I couldn’t breathe in. A two-sentence email had just ruined my life. The email cordially informed me I had no job. My nine-week-old baby gurgled at my feet. How could I look after my new family without the job?

From that moment, all my decisions were tinged with panic. I applied for a job in Singapore. I didn’t get it. I sent a follow-up email asking to be kept in mind for future vacancies. Well, what do you know, another vacancy just opened up. I applied again, this time successfully.

We left Vietnam for Singapore, swapping a noisy, polluted, crowded city with footpaths filled with motorbikes and plastic tables and chairs for a clean, quiet city with parks and orderly intersections. I swapped a precarious part-time paid-by-the-hour working life for full-time hours, health insurance, paid holidays and a public transport commute.

Working full-time is tough. It sucks up so much time and energy. I’m not sure I made the right decision but we’re stuck with it for now. Like cubicle-dwellers around the globe, I live for weekends. And holidays. And I plot another escape from the rat race. I’ve done it before, with wonderful results (Darling Man, beautiful baby). Let’s see what we can manage next time around.

By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.