checkpoint

Three years ago, I started tutoring. Now I still am, albeit at a larger scale.

I have just finished 4 weeks of non-stop tutoring while keeping my full-time accounting job. Worked like a dog, but it was all for money. Told my mother, she was rather surprised I earned 10 grand within a month (combined from 2 jobs). Disclaimer: I do not earn this every month, tutoring is an extremely seasonal job.

Tutoring was never my long term career goal, I still do it because it’s good money. At its peak it pays double my full-time accounting salary. Currently I probably have enough savings to pay for a house deposit.

I wonder if my old self would be proud of me. I remembered there was once I briefly decided that my ambition was to become a teacher, which quickly transformed into a gardener, engineer, scientist, etc. Now I am an accountant and a tutor. Both titles are not really formidable by any means, but I convince myself this is only transitory. In the near future I will become a taxation specialist, or an entrepreneur. This is definitely not what my young self would imagine my future self to be. But I didn’t have a particular passion or longing to be somebody to start with, so that should be alright.

On second thought, I actually wanted to be somebody. During my secondary school years, I wanted to become a boyfriend who has a cute and popular girlfriend. I wanted to be a younger brother to a caring and protective older brother. I wanted to become someone with style and elegant body postures that attract attention. In the end, I gave up as I realised the difficulty and the sacrifice I had to go through to achieve these, or because of its inherent impossibility.

On the other hand, I achieved what is important to me without my old self realising it: financial independence. I don’t mean having enough money to live off the rest of my life, I mean having the means and chance to work and earn by myself without depending on my parents. Now I live with three housemates who are also close friends, and keep frequent contact with my Sydney friends as well. Coupled with this, I am actually pretty contented, even not having a partner, or having a big brother who would supposedly take care of me.

I am 23 now. I am always complaining about how old I am quickly getting, and to think that five years back I was still a minor, with next to no knowledge to the business world. But this is also why I need to remind my lazy self not to slack for too long a time. I will go to Japan next month for a well-deserved holiday with parents, but I will still have that taxation specialist goal at the back of my mind. That is, if I don’t change my ambition again.