Secret Dreams

It was a day where the entire team had headed off to the Quarterly Communication session while the three of us stay put because we had meetings.

Again, our favourite topic – travel, surfaced. Hong Kong seemed to be the choice destination of the year with four (including my boss and I) in our team of twelve had gone to this shopping paradise for vacation. Planning for a vacation is always the most exciting as we anticipate the impending fun. Reminiscing about our most recent vacation is second-best as we transport ourselves back to the places of happy memories.

One of them was sharing about a farm stay in Taiwan and how she wished she could stay there for a while without coming back. The friendly farmers, their slower pace in life and the simple and wholesome lifestyle attracted her immensely. The three of us were busy nodding our heads. Yes, this was also our ideal lifestyle. After enduring prolonged hectic schedules, such living would be a welcoming change.

Perhaps we sounded a tad too unabashedly laid-back, even though we are only in our late twenties to early thirties. Instead of forging ahead in our career, we were secretly dreaming of seeking recluse in a farm. We longed to take a year off work and travel the world. Sometimes, we would stare at our notebook screen and questioned the meaning of work.

I have always envied others who could drop everything to trek around the globe. Their independence and courage are what I hope I will acquire over time. I admire those who can even stay and work in a foreign place and truly immerse themselves in the different culture.

Am I an escapist? Am I bored with my life?

I don’t know. What I do know is I want to find out how it is in different corners of the world. What I am certain of is I want a taste of a different lifestyle? Perhaps I will be soon bored with the too-simple lifestyle, having been an urban kid so far. Perhaps I will get weary of travel and prefer the settled feeling since I have never been the most adventurous person.

Yet, I will never know if I never try. Perhaps one day, these will not be secret dreams anymore…