Turning 23

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So I just turned 23 last week, 12th of April, to be exact.

And – I just realized that the reasons grown-ups doesn’t really celebrate their birthdays anymore is that the older you get, the reality hits you even harder. All of the expectations and responsibilities are getting bigger and heavier as you go older. It just started hitting on me.

Ever since I turned into my 20s, I have this expectation that I set for myself. I’m going to settle down when I turned 30, and which by then I can focus more on my family instead of working my ass off all week and missing out on the family time like a lot of dads did. With that being said, it’s like a clock ticking or counting down on me. “7 more years, Josh, 7 more.”

Some of my friends laughed me off and said “Dude, you’re only 23, don’t be so tough on yourself” or “I can’t even remember what I was doing when I was in my early 20s, probably playing and slacking off, cheer up”. But, comparing myself to rich or successful young people pushes me to pressure myself even further. Which sometimes, either stressed me out or my body just can’t take it and turned sick.

I also realized that time is moving even faster and you just have less to no time nowadays. Which, in turn, making all your time seems much more precious to you. I picked which meetings or events I would attend, I picked which friends or groups that would value my time more, I picked which TV series that I’d watch. Picked being more selective.

The past 3 years of my life in the 20s has been nothing but awesome. I hope my 23 is going to be even more awesome. Thank you for being part of my life and see you around!

Two Hours

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You can name it 120 minutes, 7200 seconds, or whatever. That’s how long I would spend nearly every day on the road. If we do the math, I would spend 60 hours per month and 720 hours per year. Which equals to one month per year. This is not exactly a complaining post, I know a lot of people who would spend 3, 4, or even 5 hours per day commuting from and to Jakarta on the weekdays.

I’m just imagining a better Jakarta, with all the MRT and better TransJakarta, which would allow us set our schedule without being late. Which would get all the employees be on the office on time, and wouldn’t be wanting to go home earlier to get ahead of the traffic. Would allow us to do or get more opportunities. To be honest, sometimes I cancel or postpone my meeting if it’s around the peak hours. OR if it’s really important, I would stay over at the meeting place until 8 or 9 just to stay out of the crazy rush hours.

To be honest, I’m not surprised that jobseekers nowadays are putting location to top of the consideration beside salary and benefits. I know a friend who was doing an awesome job at a startup, but she decided to move just because she felt tired and exhausted commuting to the office and having less energy to work. Now, she’s working in an office 10 minutes from her house and she’s doing even better there.

So, how many hours do you spend commuting per day? And what you’re doing when you’re commuting? (let’s say if you’re not driving)