Off late I’ve been pondering about my future a lot .Looking back and wondering whether I have made the right professional moves in life.

I’ve seen classmates of mine climb up the ranks at sonic speeds whilst I’ve hit a road block or rather I’ve run out of fuel and gas is no longer being produced…I’m sure you get the picture.

Makes me wonder if it really pays to be who you are and do what you want to do instead of hooking on to the corporate band wagon, sucking up, stressing out and going places.

After weeks or rather months of frustrating myself about the path I’ve chosen, I decided to leave it all behind and make a trip to east Malaysia for the Rainforest World Music Festival 2011.

I remember getting off the bus and seeing long haired dudes, skin heads and tattooed female forms everywhere. I felt like I “belonged”, I felt the “flower power” .It was the most liberating 3 days I’ve had in a long time. It was like suffering from selective amnesia. I’d forgotten all my frustrations and my malice against everything white-collared.

Of course you had the short haired, shirt tucked in, umbrella in hand and cap on head species too, ones that looked like they had their mothers dress them up for the event, but that was far from ruining my experience.

Over the course of the 3 long days of being amongst musicians that inflicted goose bumps every time they fiddled with their instruments , eye balling every hot woman in the crowd and assuming she has the hots for me every time she made eye contact, and making loads of new friends, I learnt 3 important lessons.

Lesson 1

I came across zillions of people swaying to the music of artists who’ve been themselves all their lives and did what they loved doing and who made the white collared lad, the bloke who has his mama for fashion designer and the corporate stuck up dance to their tunes.

Come to think of it, would the same people who were dancing their asses off to the music at the festival appreciate the very same artists, if they were playing at the railway platform??? I guess not…they would probably be too busy planning the next days sucking up strategy or stressing out schedule.

I have come to understand that no matter how talented you are, it all boils down to the platform you choose to portray that talent and how far it can take you.

Lesson 2

It made me realize that everyone of us has a gift and if we choose to exploit it and have the courage to pursue it, we may just enjoy what we do.

Lesson 3

Personally I love doing what I do, I am good at what I do and I can only strive to get better. I’ve chosen to stop comparing myself with other people coz we live in different stress zones. They’re in the pressure cooker zone without a release valve and I’m having a beer with the penguins.

Who knows someday I just might have people dancing to my tunes and get  paid handsomely to do it.