Today marks my one year in New Zealand. As I pulled out corn stalks in a maize field, I thought about all that I've been through in the last one year. Why am I doing this? I could have slept till I wake up naturally, surf net, watch show and stay in the house until I find a proper job. Why did I drag myself out of bed to go picking when I didn't sleep well and had no appetite? I want to remember this moment. This moment, like many other instances in the last one year, when I grabbed every opportunity to go out and see the countryside despite not having a car; when I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone to gain new experiences and meet new people. I recall the feeling of empowerment and being in control when I travel alone. Slowly, I came to realise that the destination is no longer the most important, it is the process of getting to a new place and the people I meet along the way that make the journey memorable and rewarding. It also dawned on me that I never had to worry about finding a roof over my head, rent and bills to pay and what to eat everyday because my parents have been taking care of my needs all these years. I came to understand that as I let go of money and title, I was also freeing myself from what society wants me to be and that I was happy as long as I am finding meaning in what I do. This is the working holiday spirit I never want to lose sight of when I return to a routine life again, when mundaneness kicks in or when I start to slip back into my familiar bubble for too long. Three days later, I really burst my own bubble when I had trouble driving a manual up a very steep hill and ended up rolling back down, crashed into a ditch and damaged the fence. I stopped going to work after that lol.
