Reorientation

I remember when I first started this blog many years ago, the majority of my topics have been about finding peace and harmony.  I’ve shared a lot of philosophical thoughts that I’ve had floating around in my head over the many years.  And it’s continued to this day.

But recently this past year, I feel like my mindset has reoriented from philosophical “intangible” things to more “real world tangible” things, like thoughts on economics, geopolitics, and investments.  There’s no particular reasoning on when my mindset reoriented, but it has done so in a meaningful manner.

Perhaps it’s because I’m starting to look into how to build a family, that I’m now more attentive to everyday stuff – like affordability, safety, and community.  This is not to say that I have completely discarded my Buddhist principles or my more wayward thoughts on stuff like the “meaning of life”.  I just happen to have drifted more towards “hard” topics.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been reading more from Bloomberg, the Economist, and the Wall Street Journal these days.  I feel like I’ve had to sacrifice my philosophical mindset in place of a more business-like political mindset.

I guess that’s life.  Often times, we feel like we will be this same person with the same set of principles for what seems like forever.  When you’re young, you will think about certain things.  When you mature, you will probably upgrade those mindsets to think about other topics.  And I think that’s what’s happening to me as I drift over 40 years of age.

What used to seem like important topics and dominate the majority of my life now seem to be more on the periphery.  And what seemed like relatively unimportant or uninteresting topics for me in the past (such as technology or having children) now come to dominate my mindset.

This has happened in bits and spurts throughout my life and I’ve experienced mindset shifts many times.  When I just started working in the family business over a decade ago, I used to think a lot about how to be a good salesperson and a negotiator.  How to be a good communicator.  And because of that, I’d dedicate a large portion of my time in that area – reading books, attending Toastmaster meetings, attending conferences, and simply learning on the fly.

There were times when I thought that communication skills were the most important thing on Earth, and Toastmasters was a big portion of my life.  Nowadays, I still feel firsthand the importance of good public speaking skills, but it’s nowhere near the main priority on my list of things that need to be done.

Over the years, I would shift my mindset from being a good salesperson, to more philosophical topics – like impermanence, gratitude, and meaning.  I would look into more books in that realm and attend philosophy school and meditation sessions to engage in lively discussions on different “soft” topics – like love, happiness, and harmony.

After COVID hit and I was less able to go out to these in-person discussions, my mindset shifted yet again towards more worldly things like how to build wealth and how to invest properly.  I poured through books to improve my financial literacy and followed countless financial experts on YouTube.  And as a result, I was able to build wealth in a sustainable manner over the next few years.

These days, as my relationship with my girlfriend has continuously improved, we are looking into marriage and family and how to potentially raise a child in a loving family.  So my preoccupation these days has been towards that area – like marriage planning, IVF treatment, and whether to rent or buy a new apartment. 

These mindset shifts have ironically taught me that life is never the same all the time.  Things are simply not permanent from my firsthand experience.  Again, what I thought to be really important over ten years ago is now amongst the peripheries of my daily priorities. 

I guess this is the same for people everywhere.  As I grow older, I’ve seen how some of my elementary school friends have changed for the better as well.  Their daily habits and the ways they interact have changed in a positive manner and I feel like everyone’s priorities are different in whatever phase of life they’re in.

It’s a reorientation of sorts that will continue to be recycled and continue to happen as I continue through my middle age and approach my golden years.  Only time will tell what my priorities will be in a decade from now, or decades from now (knock on wood), but I can almost guarantee that my priorities will shift yet again.  And the world will keep churning along regardless of what I do.

It's a humbling experience and it makes me cherish the impermanence of everything.  How what once used to be so important can turn out to be simply a sidebar.  And that’s okay. Because everything changes whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared for it or not.  It provides us with a sense of growth and a sense of responsibility.  And as this next phase of my life approaches, I will similarly cherish it and ride this wave for as long as I can.