Next Time Someone Tells Me to Jump, I’ll Ask “How High?”
I never knew what I wanted, but I knew what I didn’t.
With that mantra, I have changed countries, careers and made monumental choices. I guess deep down I was uncomfortable with being comfortable. Somehow, along the way, I embraced change like it was family — like it was in my blood, something that I could not ignore because it was inherent to me being me.
My decision to jump goes back to my final years of high school. I was taught this module called ‘Journeys,’ which included three themes: physical, inner, and imaginative. The latter study remains with me to this day, where the saying ‘change is constant’ has been proven true to me over and over again.
I realized how easy it is to go with the flow if you aren’t sure of what you want or who you are, and that was me from the beginning. Growing up in a middle-class, comfortable immigrant family taught me from a young age what being ‘lucky’ is. But it is only now that I realized the extent of that ‘luck’. I was given space to find myself through positive encouragement and support from my family, friends and society. Of course there were limitations to this space, but it allowed me to develop a set of strong values such as equality, tolerance and sensitivity. Not only was I given physical things, but I was nourished spiritually as well.
The environment I was in also made me courageous and fearless. I believed I could be anything and anyone. At one stage in my life I wanted to be five different people! Because of my circumstances, I was even given the chance to study in a different country. All my friends and family, however, tried to discourage me. I was in a ‘comfortable’ place, so why would I change that?
But I believe change is constant. So, I made my first jump — I moved to Beijing to study. I guess I made the jump because I could see that I was living in the bubble of Australia and was used to the comfort of a first world country. I was fortunate to travel and to fall in love with it, but it was a double-edge sword. My world had expanded and I’d seen things I wouldn’t normally see. Because of this, I was no longer satisfied with what I had in my life before my travels.
But the jump wasn’t easy. Two years later I made amazing friends, experienced incredible places abd had thought-provoking discussions. But at the same time, I was sick, hospitalized and the unhealthiest I’d been in my 24 years. That was a big wake-up call for me.
My second big jump was moving to another city in the same country. Before that, I knew nothing about my new city except that it was an ‘international finance centre’. But of all the options I had, I decided I wanted to learn about Chinese society and market. So, I decided to work for a market research company. Through multiple interviews, I managed to get a glimpse of the world’s largest consumer market. But I soon realized that it wasn’t what I wanted.
So, alone in this new city but not willing to go back to the cocoon of home, I was at a crossroads. I only knew what I didn’t want, but that left a lot of other options! All I can say is during that period of uncertainty and unemployment, I consumed a lot of American TV shows and really enjoyed the best of my bad situation.
Despite pressure from my parents and just a stone’s throw away from moving to London (or someplace that spoke English), I was waiting and searching for a role that felt right. I was taking my next jump seriously. It all changed when a film company offered me the role of a production assistant — which then became my third jump.
Granted, what I knew about films was limited to the role of the audience. But thanks to my long period of unemployment, I was up to date on the latest shows and films. That being said, I had never been professionally involved in the film industry. As a politics major, the learning curve was steep to say the least. I learned everything I needed on the job.
Fast forward from my third jump and it’s been almost two years that I’ve worked in the film industry. To date, I have written, produced and directed commercials, short films and films. I am 100% and utterly in love with my work. Despite constant exhaustion, lack of sleep and having no personal life whatsoever, this job has become my new version of ‘lucky’. I have decided to go on this path less traveled. Opportunities are presenting themselves constantly, and earlier this year I made my first discovery of what I want — I want to be a writer/director. I want to create stories. I want to tell them. So many stories.
Change is constant, and I believe this is just the beginning of my many ‘jumps’. So next time someone says jump, I’ll literally say, ‘how high?’
When to Jump is a collection of people, places, and ideas relating to when to go do what you really want to go do. For more stories like this, sign up for our occasional newsletter here. You can follow When to Jump on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
