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Shownotes

Through @BecomingCritter's tweet, I explored more on how I've changed the most compared to years ago:

  • 2011 (10 years ago)
  • 2016 (5 years ago)
  • 2018 (3 years ago)

Enjoy!

Transcript (UNCLEANED)

[00:00:05]Norman Chella: All right. Hello there. This is norm with your host norm. Welcome to the show. It's say an audio blog, really the audio version of a number of my blog posts on my website, Destin on.com where I will be exploring all kinds of things that interest me, that capture my attention. And in this episode, I want to do a little bit of a reflection on three.

[00:00:29] Time periods in my life, uh, as given to me as a challenge. So at becoming critter on Twitter, wrote to the following tweet, reply to this thread, and I will give you a small 30 minute project for less than 30 minutes. And I give you a project. You will be required to show the work. Otherwise I will make a sad emoji and this post is temporary.

[00:00:50] Not sure how popular this will be. So I replied to this and critter gave me a prompt. Critter said three years, five years and 10 years make a list of how you have changed the most comparing to these intervals. That is what are the major ways you've changed compared to three years ago, five, 10 years ago, which is a very interesting prompt.

[00:01:14] I'm not sure if I can even do it in less than 30 minutes. I feel like I can take, uh, talk a lot about this, but I guess I should start off with the major ways I've changed compared from the. It will in reverse order starting from 10 years ago. So if that is 2021, now 2011 is when I have just finished up boarding school.

[00:01:38]I'm in high school and I moved to Australia to further my studies and university or starting up foundation year in Eunice w moved to Sydney and I was in a lodge, a student lodge living with like four to 500 guys. Sharing facilities and you know how that goes. It was pretty messy. But I remember that I came out of a bad spell.

[00:02:03] At that time, I was extremely depressed. A number of friends had already left that boarding school because they were on their way to greener pastures a different journey elsewhere. So I lost a lot of friends, you know, a lot of distancing between them and it was almost suicidal. I remember writing handwritten letters to people saying I'm going to miss them.

[00:02:25] And I remember looking down from the second floor to see how far it is before my head gets bashed in. So, you know, some strong negative feelings there, but I decided to want to do a reset to my life by going overseas, going to Australia and starting a new life with new people, a new chapter really. No also, I was just, I wanted to be with my best friend at the time.

[00:02:51] So that was, you know, something attractive about that, uh, that made me want to do there. So I guess the big difference there is I had the bravery to reach out to, or to want to capture a certain future where. I want to be at a better place. I made the steps to one, to arrive at a better place. And I wasn't sure how that better place looked like, but I remember it wasn't going to be at that school.

[00:03:23] So I moved away and I guess nothing better for a heart reset than actually starting all over again with new friends and new people to meet. So I went to Australia and I guess. That was the start of my university life. And I bloomed a lot, my social skills, my interests. I was searching up new mediums to express myself through dance.

[00:03:50] I started Capoeira. It was pretty fantastic. So I guess more avenues for expressing myself, which was fantastic. So the five-year interval, if we. Trace it back that is, you know, 20, 21 minus five. So that's like 2016, 2016 is a very interesting year. So, you know, four to five years of uni and one of those years is an exchange to Japan in 2015.

[00:04:21] And I came back to Australia in 2016. So that's probably where I can anchor that point. I grew up a lot between 2011 to 2016. In terms of responsibilities. I was president of a K-pop club or K-pop society in uni. I was managing all these events. I was trying to create all these games where people I was doing dance covers.

[00:04:45] I was part of a dance crew that was doing Capoeira and I was meeting all kinds of people. So my communication skills flourished during that time. And I grew up the most, especially when I went to Tokyo for a year. Once again, all kinds of people, new culture, a completely new language. And when you learn a new language, you create or manifest a new version or new character, a new version of yourself and you strive to meet them, right?

[00:05:14] Learning language languages, wanting to meet and talk with that person, that version of yourself. Thinking in a different language each and every single day is the habit of staying friends, that person. Right. So realizing that, and that, that period of time finished. And I came back and I am back in Australia.

[00:05:34] So there was a culture shock in coming back to Australia after being in Japan for so long. And it was once again, I'm missing a lot of friends missing a lot of independence and freedom. It was, I think by the time I, my, my passion for like K-pop and all that dwindled, and I came back to a very calm, stabilize, comfortable version of myself.

[00:06:05] Then I looked at everything in a very, I don't want to say stoic manner, but more like an accepted manner, a, an appreciative manner. I started becoming very grateful for a lot of things. Ever since my exchange. And then I came back and I was like, Oh, I'm missing a lot of things because I missed a lot of.

[00:06:22] My friends, my, you know, my second family over in Tokyo and everything. And I came back and I'm like, Oh yeah. And I'm, I'm in Australia to finish my degree. You know, I was stricken by the pressure of wanting to get a job. I was trying to send applications to Australian companies. They're like, no, Mike, we don't.

[00:06:41] We don't provide you a visa. You gotta have to like, get a few years of experience somewhere else. And then you can come into Sydney, my, ah, shit, you know, that sort of thing. Um, you know, Australia had a lot to learn there, but I guess they really didn't want to have be there. Um, it was the closing of my studious life.

[00:07:07] Right. That's huge. It's really huge. All of a sudden I'm faced with responsibilities as an adult. Right? I had to do Texas. I had to, well, not Texas. I mean, I had to start thinking about business ideas and entrepreneurship and innovation and all of that. Um, but I remember still trying to return to that Japanese environment because there's a certain isolation when you are a foreigner in that kind of environment.

[00:07:35] And that gives you. A level of freedom where society ignores you. So you're free to become as a weird, as crazy as you want. Or as insane as you want, part of 2016, then ended up becoming, reaching out for ideas or reaching out for interesting events that tried to bridge the gap between my time in Australia and my time in Japan.

[00:07:56] So there was a bootcamp and innovation, entrepreneurship boot camp that I joined for like nine to 10 days. I went to, I came back to cause like I graduated, um, halfway through the year and then. Um, you know, graduation, stuff like that. And then after that, uh, bootcamp, I flew back to Malaysia and then came back to Sydney again for that bootcamp.

[00:08:18] And I remember, I remember catching a certain kind of fire in me because that nine, those nine to 10 days of your head down, trying to create something innovative, trying to bridge, trying to solve a problem in a different country, trying to make that, that work, that I'm trying to turn a weaponize that passion or trying to.

[00:08:40] Articulate that my insights into a product or package that was really exciting for me. Um, very, very exciting for me. And I think that led to that famous. I want to say famous, that's very memorable encounter with the homeless person. And I think I've written about this in a different post, so I'll see if I can link it here, but yeah, um, it was, uh, acceptance of.

[00:09:08] It was an acceptance of the fact that I won't have a safety net under the guise of educational institutions anymore. And that I'm free to make an impact in however,

[00:09:17] wary

[00:09:17] Norman Chella: way I want to do it. So lots of wisdom found there. And the last one is three years ago. So that's what, 20, 21, 2029. 2018 2018 was when I was with a previous partner who I loved dearly during the time.

[00:09:42] And this was around the time when I had quit my full-time job, because I had predicted that I was going to be laid off. I decided to leave on my own accord, and I just spent a lot of time doing freelance work and working and being with this person, we were in a long distance relationship together, and it was also relatively complicated.

[00:10:02] I was trying to find my own way of well connected to the five-year interval. Um, creating an impact on the world, visible impact and podcasting became the thing as a side gig or a side, like a hobby the year before. And I started, you know, doing freelance writing and all that, um, around podcasting that became my niche.

[00:10:28] And that started to hone. In this year and 2018 and this person at the time supported me throughout while she was doing her own things. Um, not to go too much into her at the moment, didn't really feel like it. But for myself specifically, I think what I really liked about 2018 was that I was in a very safe place to explore what was possible for me.

[00:11:00] I know saying that we'll be very privileged, very, very privileged. And I don't want to ignore that fact. I have safety nets within the family that allow me to explore this. Not many people have that I want to make the most and take advantage of this environment that I am in to create this career for myself.

[00:11:23] So in the midst or in the pursuit of trying to answer that question, You know, podcasting became the answer. And 2018 was when I made the conscious decision to go all in on podcasting. So that was a pretty fantastical decision, uh, of me right there. So you can see how it treads or it threads rather in the beginning or like 10 years ago, I wanted to.

[00:11:52] I wanted to escape. I wanted to find or create a new chapter. I guess I was just trying to, I find myself, you know, it'd be like, Oh my God, a soul search you all the way in Bali. And then from there a few years later, I had my uni life and I found characters who I was willing to talk with or interact with.

[00:12:15] And then it came back and I realized the power of impact. And how much is it has an influence on my meaning. So, you know, life on earth, that kind of thing. Like my mission as I exist, my mission as I live here on, uh, these lands is the impact. And to what extent will I be memorable to you? The listener to my friends, to my loved ones, to my family.

[00:12:46] Finding the medium to allow that to thrive was difficult. I wasn't always a writer. Right. But I like to talk a lot. It was pretty evident if you knew me in uni you'd know, I wouldn't shut up. So the, the medium of podcasting became very clearly something that I aligned with. And even when. I started my first show in 2017.

[00:13:13] And that was a narrative that was just me trying to narrate short story fiction that I wrote. That bled over to, Hey, I want to talk to interesting people. And then 2018 became the conscious decision to actually start that. So I started Podlovers Asia and that was like, Hey, I have a, an excuse, right. A professional excuse.

[00:13:30] I have this podcast. And it's about Asian podcasting, you know, pretty simple, relatively niche, et cetera. And it felt good. And it was aligned with like a gig at that time. So I got through like fly to Singapore and everything. That that was pretty good. Right. I was pretty happy about that. Um, I'm going to Singapore to like lead a podcasting event.

[00:13:48] This is like some millennial who barely had any podcasting experience. But the fact that I was the first person, Oh, not the first person right there. I was willing enough to build a body of work centered around podcasting that people would trust me with the, the responsibility of leading a podcasting event that warmed me.

[00:14:13] Because going there was, I was living, breathing, visible impact. It's huge. It's huge, huge. It's like when you have an electrifying conversation with someone and you just get this energy from them, and then now you have your coffee for today and you're done. You're like, wow, I've made an impact on this person's life by just by talking to them.

[00:14:39] And I want to live on this energy forever. I feel like we have enough energy from talking to people. I could be immortal. My physical body would perish, but you will remember me and memory and therefore I will be immortal. And maybe if these people that you interact with, aren't your vessels anymore for your memory, your body of work wheel, right?

[00:15:02] The impact of your body of work wheel. That's why people write. That's why people podcast. That's why people make YouTube videos, et cetera. It's a beautiful thing. Most likely content creators. I respect content creators a lot because, well, not the, not the, not the shitty ones, but like the ones with meaning the deeper creators.

[00:15:23] Maybe even the word content sucks like creators, right? The knowledge workers, the, the, the ones in search of insight, the seekers, right. Let's call them secrets for now. I really respect seekers because on the pursuit of figuring out the medium of their choice, their journey has influenced and impact the lives of many by living in parallel with them.

[00:15:48] It's a form of love for self, which has this aura of loving others who followed their journey. Like I get proud of seeing people. Work in public, one person that I always like to look at on Twitter and I have this, you know, this routine, right? It's like, I always follow the same few people. One person that I like to follow on Twitter is Michael Ashcroft.

[00:16:18] Michael is great. Oh my goodness. What a, what a great bundle of energy. It's such a joy. Every time I see his, his, um, his Twitter. It's amazing because. He's had this journey of, you know, full-time job and then he quit. Then he now he's focusing on his courses and his Alexander technique teachings. Right?

[00:16:42] It's not pretty, even he said it. It's not pretty, he's worried about this in depth, you know, accounting, taxes, apps, tools, inefficiencies, figuring out work cycles, how to distract yourself, how to articulate something that's normally taught in a physical. Environment, uh, digitally, right? Like that's like unlocking the secrets of the universe because if you can coach something like that on zoom.

[00:17:09] Wow. Fricking million dollar idea right there. Right. It's just great to see what Michael is up to. I see that as a way of maybe when I see his stuff that I'm living in parallel with his journey, because I follow his stuff so much. And I'm trying to build things for myself as well, doing all these shows and I'm building a building, helping out with building a podcast agency here, and we are building up, you know, ideas for narratives and conversational podcasts for podcasters all around the world.

[00:17:44] And it's like, you know, we co-founded this shit. That's amazing. Like, wow, can you imagine a 10 years of being lost in trying to find yourself. Ends up coming together, shaking hands and resulting in the answer that you have found love for yourself, express it in an externality that is accepted by society.

[00:18:10] That is so aligned that it just makes you want to work. Right? Like the greatest thing that you can work on is yourself. And if you can find a way to make it, you know, keep the passion alive, make it sustainable, make it earn money. Your hobbies, your rest times, your thoughts, your work, they're all going to be one and all blended.

[00:18:33] Now a lot of people may be thinking that I work a lot too much. You know, that could be true. I am, I don't mind spending 10 to 12 hour days in front of the laptop. Like. Doing or doing something about podcasts, right? It doesn't have to be specifically podcasting, but even just thinking about it or even writing about it.

[00:18:59] But I think I was on a search for a certain type of passion for connection. I want to connect with your character. I want to connect with what makes you burn. I want to be, I'm like an energy vampire, right? I say I thrive on energy from an amazing conversation 10 years ago. Maybe not so much, but maybe, I mean, there's evidence there.

[00:19:30] If the people like connected with the most, at the time were gone and I was just sad and I thought maybe better to kill myself and then to better bear the burden of finding another place to seek that kind of energy. Five years ago, I was like that in Tokyo. And then I left and then I was sad and things were coming to an end and I had no safety net when I had the safety net, half the freedom to find other people to talk to.

[00:19:55] But now you have responsibilities and I didn't know how to face those responsibilities, like, you know, finding a job, whatever, whatever. And now I'm like, Oh right. I can't mess around as much anymore. Right. A job is a job is a job. It's a nine to five. It's, it's a way to put food on the table. I can't talk with the food on the table.

[00:20:19] I need to eat it right. I need to earn money. I need to pay my taxes. Right. Stuff like that. And three years ago was the conscious decision to mail, like melted or blended altogether rather to become something that is me. I'm very synonymous with my work, because my work is me. I love my work. Maybe it's that right?

[00:20:51] Maybe it's just like, Oh, how do I make my hobby? The thing that I pay attention to my whole life, I guess it could be that just in search of powerful conversations for the past decade. And here I am contemplating on it now. So many thanks to you, critter for. Being a source of self-introspection for me.

[00:21:14] And I would like to say, well, thank you. And I would like to ask, uh, for you, my dear friend, my dear listener, how have you grown in those intervals of time? Three years ago, five years ago,

[00:21:31] and

[00:21:32] Norman Chella: 10 years ago, and thread them all together. To what extent. Are the patterns connected? Are they, are they, do they have commonalities?

[00:21:44] Right? Do they have any interesting insights and corks about yourself that you could never find? Unless you sit down and you're staring at your, the sound waves on your screen is a recording of podcasts. I'm just going free fluid, this like barely any, I didn't have any notes. Right. I just wrote them the years in which DC.

[00:22:05] These times deferrals, uh, Landon and ask yourself what happened to you then and how did you learn from it now? And with that being said, thank you so much. And I will see you in the next episode, norm out.