Empty backpack
Watching George Clooney on a Tuesday night turned out to be delightful for me, with the quirky combo of Anna Kendrick speaking my mind about being married by 23. Okay, I wanted to be married by 25. Now I talk Vera Farmiga, when you are closer to 30s, deadlines don’t matter anymore, just make sure you have a little hair on your head.
Where do I start? When a movie is relatable on so many ways where do we really start?
Unemployement — I was never fired from any job, thankfully, but given the current job market, being unemployed for a long time has been painful.After all we all have bills to pay. But as Clooney kept saying this is where you start following your dreams, I am actually glad I stopped waiting for things to fall in place to get started. I started off with my passion projects. Why wait till retirement to do something you always wanted to?
Loneliness — Turns out people are lonely, whether married or not. This is not the case with everyone ofcourse, there are absolutely happy marriages and happy hippies. Watching Natalie follow a boy, get dumped over a text, be the flagbearer of automation,quit over a text, finally prioritize her life, is relatable to a good percentage of millennial women. The part of me that thought Clooney is gonna get a happy ending, was not really disappointed when he didn’t. If anything, I loved his character for what it was, man who had no weighing down relationships, but a kind heart all through.
Declutter — My most important takeaway from my MBA time is to how to pack lean, something I learnt after throwing away three bags of clothes.Sorry, donated, recycled, etc. I mastered the art of packing light, I know how to run from one terminal to another, I know what to eat and I know which airlines and which row of seats are recommended.
Relationships — There is no everlasting promise we can keep up with as time passes, maybe focus on how you leave an ever lasting impression on someone however short your journey together is. Good enough to get a recommendation letter? Good enough to leave a speech in between and fly to Chicago? You pick.
I have been seeing this dream of traveling, not for leisure or for wanderlust, but for work. Yes, I wanted to be that consultant who is on the road meeting clients from all over. Sadly, I am home for now. But very hopefully, I wish I get to collect those miles like Clooney does. And maybe one day I will have enough miles to stand in an airport and choose to fly wherever I want to. It’s funny how that’s a little dream that’s always been on my bucket list and got ridiculed by my ex, but Clooney did it in style ❤
