Month: May 2012

Different Dreams, Recurring Themes

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I recently heard about a really interesting blog link-up on sharing our dreams by my friend, Akhila. Inspired by her post, I would like to now share mine.

Childhood Dreams
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Growing up, the possibility to do whatever we want with our lives seems limitless. We’re taught to dream big as children, and my childhood dreams were certainly grand. While others dreamt of becoming singers, actors, or pro-sports players, my dreams were a little different. At first, I dreamed about becoming a pilot. Later, inspired by Li Ka Shing, the Zobel de Ayala Family, and Donald Trump, I dreamed about becoming a property tycoon. After 9/11, I dreamed about becoming a diplomat, or fascinated by the Jason Bourne Series, becoming a spy. During the market boom of the mid-2000s, I dreamed about becoming a professional day-trader.

Living the Dream?
At the heart of these dreams are some recurring themes: freedom, to live a life on my own terms; adventure, to grow through exploration of the unknown; passion, to work on fun and meaningful projects. Living the dream to me means living my life according to these principles. I may not be carrying out my childhood dreams at this moment, but I can say with certainty that the experiences and decisions I’ve made throughout my life have each led me towards living a life based on these values.

My Dream Today
Before, I equated living a dream to a specific profession. My dream today transcends professions. In addition to freedom, adventure, and passion, my dream is to live a life of happiness while making a difference. These are certainly generalities, and at times I find the lack of focus on doing (re: career) to be foolish. That’s not to say I don’t have specific professions in mind: I still want to live out my childhood dreams of becoming a pilot-tycoon-diplomat-spy-trader.

Reducing Hopelessness

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Here’s an idea that I’ve been chewing on lately: reducing hopelessness. What do I mean by this crazy, seemingly idealistic concept? Before I go into the details, a little detour into the topic of poverty reduction is in order.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve thought a lot about the thesis of Jeff Sach’s, The End of Poverty. He argues that although poverty still exists, through further effort, extreme poverty can be eliminated within our lifetime. Since reading his book, I’ve also read other aid-related books: Bill Easterly’s, The White Man’s Burden, and Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s, Poor Economics.

Although I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface of development economics, one emerging theme that I’m realizing is this: a lot has already been done to eliminate poverty. Until the Marshall Plan, the concept of aid did not exist. Today, thousands of professionals at a variety of institutions (IGOs, NGOs, nonprofits, agencies, etc.) are working daily towards ending poverty. Not to mention the academics who’ve studied and have raised countless perspectives on how to correctly end poverty.

Now, reducing hopelessness.

First, what do I mean by reducing hopelessness? By hopelessness, I’m referring specifically to two related things: depression and suicide. My concern is on how to address these two issues.

Second, where did this idea come from? Reading Kay Redfield Jameson’s Night Falls Fast made me realize that, in comparison to poverty reduction, there’s been much less discussion and action taken towards addressing mental illness and suicide prevention. Sure, the topic might be taboo, but why? Depression and suicide should not be simply swept under the rug.

Third, why does it matter? Though the magnitude might not be as huge as compared to extreme poverty, the facts concerning mental illness and suicide prevention are just as grave: every 17 minutes someone commits suicide. 1 in 10 Americans have experienced some form of mental illness. At the turn of the last century, poverty was a fact of life. Poverty was a huge problem, but given the global scope of the issue, addressing it seemed virtually impossible. Through advocacy and action, the world has taken significant steps to eliminating poverty.

If the world has done so much towards reducing poverty, why can’t the same be done with reducing hopelessness? It’s just as important of a problem, and affects many people, both in the developed and developing world.

Reflections on Uncertainty

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Me atop a mountain on Thanksgiving day, 2012, during my 5 month sojourn around Taiwan/Southeast Asia.

Me atop a mountain on Thanksgiving day, 2012, during my 5 month sojourn around Taiwan/Southeast Asia.

Several months ago, I willingly plunged head first into a period of uncertainty. I knew what I wanted to do and was willing to risk everything to follow my gut, but I feared the consequences my decisions would entail.

Last days always leave me with mixed emotions: excited and anxious for what is to come, reflective and appreciative of what has passed. As I look back on the past months, the three things that I’ll take away from this unique period of my life are:

The people met, places seen, and experiences had. Novelty to anything, both concrete and abstract, is something that I constantly seek. I enjoy being stimulated and challenged. I knew my experiences abroad would enable me to achieve a high degree of stimulation, I didn’t expect to be just as deeply stimulated and engaged once I returned.

Dealing with uncertainty. Being comfortable with discomfort is truly a skill. I don’t think I’ve totally succeeded, but my tolerance for the unknown has increased exponentially throughout my travels and time back in the States.

Beating to my own drum. Societal pressures and perceived obligations might make fulfilling our own dreams seem unrealistic, risky, and an endeavor that only the wealthy can pursue. Living life on your own terms is truly a liberating feeling. I hope everyone can learn how to address the fear and risk involved in order to self-actualize.

Capturing Life’s Moments

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Several days ago I came across this commercial by HTC. It featured a photography student trying to capture someone freefalling during skydiving using the new HTC 1. As an owner of an HTC phone myself, I loved this ad. Earlier this week, I then stumbled upon this article by HBR on capturing life’s moments. The article argues we’re obsessed with capturing, rather than savoring, moments. Social media has encouraged this behavior even more.

Social media has certainly influenced my desire to capture more of life’s moments. I’ve always had a desire to travel to new places, experience new cultures, and interact with local people. I think this urge stems in large part from growing up in one of the world’s most isolated places: Hawaii. I love the fact that I was born and raised in what many call a land of paradise, but my aptitude for geography at a very young age made me yearn to leave and visit the places that I’d read about for so long.

Over the past decade, I’ve visited many places that I would’ve never dreamt of experiencing as a kid. In the eighth grade, I placed in a competition that enabled me to go to Washington DC. For most people from Hawaii, traveling to the East Coast is often a once in a lifetime experience. At the time, it was certainly the case for me. (I never thought that a decade later, I’d be living in this city.) I don’t remember taking many pictures during the trip, but I vividly recall the experiences I had at the time:

  • Riding the metro, my first subway experience, ever.
  • Seeing so much green everywhere while flying into BWI. I’d never seen so many trees in my life!
  • Touring around The Mall. It was definitely an eye-opening experience to visit monuments that I had only read about or seen on TV.

I had a similar mindset when I won a scholarship to spend a summer in Japan. I remember:

  • Visiting the Eternal Flame Memorial at the Nagasaki Peace Park
  • Bathing at an onsen (hot springs) in Hakone
  • Jogging along the Yokohama waterfront around Yamashita Park.

The list of memories goes on.  The point is though, at the time, I never really bothered capturing these moments on film. I just wanted to soak it all in.

As I reflect on my more recent experiences, I can’t help but to think that while I tried my best to savor every new experience, I also had a strong urge to capture every moment: the aspects of daily life, the surrounding landscape, the people, the nightlife, etc. I wasn’t the only one though. Whether abroad or in the States, wherever I went, it seemed like everywhere, everyone was taking a picture of everything; e.g., what they saw, what they ate, what they did, etc. My actions during the new year countdown at Taipei 101 most demonstrably captures the shift in my attitude towards capturing versus experiencing life’s moments.

When the countdown began, I remember seeing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of arms being raised, cameras grasped, in order to capture the fireworks show. The show must’ve lasted for only five minutes. Even though the event took place only five months ago, experiencing the awesomeness of the whole event isn’t the first thing that I most vividly recall. What comes to mind is what I just described – the masses intent on capturing the moment, hoping to get a great shot.

In retrospect, I’m glad I captured the event. It’s quite likely I’ll never experience it ever again. Even with my earlier memories of DC and Japan, I wish I had photos available that accompanied my memory of those events. It’d be nice to have a collection of photos to revisit those experiences. I’ve realized though that there’s a tipping point that exists in capturing life’s moments. Capture too few and your left with nothing but the memory of the moment. Capture too many and the memory may be tainted by the desire to capture, not savor, the moment.

I believe that life’s moments should be savored, not captured. Learning how to balance the two, especially in this world of always-on social media, is an ongoing challenge that I’m working to find. Everything in moderation, including capturing moments, I suppose.