King: Is this (job) what I really want in life?
King’s life so far: Work. Sleep. Repeat. But: Great job, great income. However, there’s this nagging voice in her head asking: Is this what I really want in life? Am I happy?
But let’s tell King’s story from the beginning. King’s a business women from Bangkok. To be precise: Senior trace representative at an international courier company.
King’s duties at the complaints department
- Dealing with unhappy customers all day
- Being composed and polite
- Working under pressure
- Officially: 40 hours per week, in reality: 60+ hours
- Never at home before 10pm
What happened after you quit your job?
I got my personal time back. Now I have time again for my hobbies, like going to a café, baking cakes, drinking coffee, cooking or travelling. Finally I have the time and energy again to explore something new. And also, I now get to know new interesting people. This is what “living” means to me.
When did you realize that you had to quit?
A nagging question in the back of my mind kept popping up: Do I want to continue doing this? Is this how I want to live my life? It this what I want to do in life? The fact that I wasn’t happy did also affect my loved ones. Realizing this was really tough. But it changed my way of thinking. I asked myself: What do I want to do with my life? It wasn’t about money. It was about my life.
Your biggest learnings so far?
True happiness comes from within. If you love doing something like for example reading and you have the time to do that, that’s happiness. Or, if you love spending time with your family and loved ones and have enough time to do that. Or, if you love travelling and have the time and money to do that.
Was there a life-changing moment when you said: I had enough?
It wasn’t a moment. I have had this nagging thought in the back of my mind for a long time, at least for one year. It was like a hidden voice. Then this voice became louder and louder. My head was spinning. I was unhappy and what I was doing suddenly didn’t make any sense to me anymore. At the same time I became sick very often. But despite all these signs, I just couldn’t decide what to do, I couldn’t decide to quit. Because my rational thinking, my mind, was telling me that my job was great. I really liked it and my colleagues were amazing. So finally, after a long period of suffering, I realized that I was living for my job. I was working all the time. In short: My life was my job.
How did you figure out that you had to change something?
I became depressed and moody. Which was absolutely new to me, because I am a really calm person. But I simply had no time for myself. No time for my loved ones. And my family and friends realized that I became bad tempered. For a really long time I was going back and forth in my head, asking myself: Should I really quit? But I did it!
How are you feeling now?
For the first time in seven years I can relax. Breathe. I am allowing myself to ask the question: What makes me happy? What do I want in life? Because we have no idea how long we are going to live.
What makes you happy?
Travelling. Good coffee. Meeting new people. And baking: Cupcakes, muffins and cakes.
What’s your plan now?
I don’t have a proper business plan yet. But I am playing with the thought of starting my own cake business. I would like to cater specialty cafes with organic cakes. That’s something that’s still very rare in Thailand. As more and more specialty cafes pop up in Thailand there could be a market. Because usually these places don’t sell pastry or cakes.
Update: 6 months after King quit her job
King works as an artist relations manager. She organizes concerts for international bands (e.g. Incubus, Boyce Avenue, Arche Anemy, Extreme, Mr.Big, Slash) in Thailand and is very happy. Apart from that she is travelling a lot, mainly to Heavy Metal concerts around the globe. However, she states that she’s not even that much into Metal, but her partner is…And she’s experimenting with different kinds of cupcakes and muffins and checking out a lot of cafes..
What inspires you?
Travelling. Meeting new people. Especially people with a similar mindset. People who think about what they want in life, what makes them happy, what inspires them. People who have the courage to live their dream.
Do you have a life motto?
Life is short! Live! Do what makes you happy!
Which books have inspired you?
“The little Prince”, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
King, congratulations on this very brave decision! Keep on following your dream. Now or Never.