Updates (September 21, 2024)
Life is OK in Canada for the most part.
I should take the time to reflect more.
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Just do more work I guess. Enough reflection tells me to just do the things I love and want.
You can have a good life here in Canada.
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This experience had a change in me: In 2019 – 2020, I went to live in Scarborough for 6 months. I stayed in a dorm to study health care. This is 10 years after finishing school at university. I was studying 8 – 12 hours a day for 3 – 4 days before examinations. There were a lot of exams. When I had time off, I went travelling in the city to look for new things, food and new places. But as an old person back then in his 30s, nothing was new no more …
One cold day, I went shopping in a well off area in Toronto. I went to buy exotic snacks and stationary stuff at Barber Greene Plaza (Don Mills). There were nice condos and apartments. I thought to myself how on earth am I supposed to live in this area and enjoy this? Will my salary be enough? Will it be worth it? Who even lives here?
I thought I should just study and not bother with these questions as I was still in my first year of schooling. I should enjoy the field of health care.
Another cold day shopping, I went to Kennedy Commons (Scarborough) to buy stuff. I met older Asian people in their 40+ and we looked at each other and had this connection and feeling being in an ethnic enclave. I felt I was not living and working enough to appreciate all the opportunities given to me here in Canada.
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Later in life, I found it is about the people you meet along the way.
I met some people along the way that had a huge impact on my life.
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The people in your life that make an impact are the ones that accept you the way you are currently and help with your future.
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Life can take 2 routes I see.
- Health care route
- Living out your dream
- Health care is really hard. It stable and is living out a balanced life.
- Living out your dream is a 24/7 thing. I was trying to achieve my dreams and more and more. Which is really healthy and pushes your mind to the max.
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After just living out of school, I get less and less bothered about stereotypes and people. I figure I had to finally finish school last year and just live now.
School is great to have. It give you trajectory up in degrees and knowledge but it doesn’t really deal with people in the real world 100%. I need to learn how to live on my own. Can you really do that while at school? Can you really “live, live” working at school? Can you get a job at school? I think you need both but if you have the experiences and what you like then you can really live for yourself. School is nice. It is the backbone.
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Living in Canada has two faces for a Vietnamese person like me:
- The Western side
- The Asian side
I think you somehow need to maximize both sides to have a comfortable life. This way helps both parts of you grow. It took me 40 years to develop my Western goals and now I am just learning about my Vietnamese history and culture now. The experiences have been life changing. Connecting with the Vietnamese side enabled me to think differently and grow new ways of socializing especially with Canadian born Vietnamese. Vietnamese born in Canada I have connections too.
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Also life in Canada can go slow or fast. Women like men to go fast. But I realize things take time for me. It took me 40 years to get to my point.
I think I should work a job that pays OK while I just do my hobbies on the side slowly so I can enjoy my middle-aged life now. I kind of rushed and missed so many experiences growing up the previous 40 years.
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More reflecting, I see that is working hard and adapting. Mostly keeping busy doing something really meaningful.
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I think I can get a normal job right now and just do my hobby for fun. I think that will be satisfying enough to learn about the work world while still being able to do your hobbies. I got to take a slow pace. Going fast and going 200% dedicated ain’t fun anymore.