Don't Forget to Stop and Smell The Roses

For some reason this phrase keeps popping into my head.

I know most people my age are focused on making money and their careers. I think I have both. Im pretty sure I make more money then probably 95% of all people my age, and my career is advancing nicely. However, I still feel like there is something missing.

I've lost interest in my job. I think it has been sucking the life out of me. And I think this is why the phrase "Don't forget to stop and smell the roses" keeps popping in my head. I love engineering, and unfortunately my job is only abotu 15% engineering. The rest of it is doing crap a highschooler could do. I spend a lot of my time looking stuff up on warehouse stock items, or entering in data into a computer database. It really annoys me that I went to one of the hardest 4 year programs to basically be a technical secretary.

A lot of people may consider my job a "dream job" (I know I did when I first took it). I get paid a large bonus for working overseas, plus I work 4 weeks and then get 4 weeks of vacation. This means I get half the year off! Unfortunately the job turned out to be nothing like the Job Description when I accepted the job offer. For some reason I've allowed it to go on for 2.5 yeras without doing anything. I think because I have allowed the money and vacation benefits to cloud my judgement.

I love to travel, and because of my job I have been able to go to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Korea (for 13 weeks). My job has also funded all of this traveling and a lot of "toys" back in the US (Probably should have saved more, but you cant take money with you when you die). But at what cost have I done all this?

As I evaluate my life I think I should have smelled the roses more often.



There are still things missing in my life. I think I need to start focusing more on them. I think I have made a lot of decisions at the expense of my personal life to build up my professional life. Is there ever a balance? I think I need to start weighing my personal life more in my decisions.



I have already started on the job front. I have applied to a couple of MBA programs and starting to look at my career for changes. I do know that I would like to get back to the US, maybe, or maybe live in Korea. Only time will tell.

The one thing for sure thing that I will do is stop and smell the roses and flowers along the road of life that I travel. I will not lose that focus again!

(BTW, I took these pictures on Jeju Island)