What Actions have you taken in your life that led to positive changes - ecoTrain Question Of The Week Season 8
This is a great topic for me to share with you. If I have to choose a time when I took actions that positively changed my life, I think it will be the life-changing decision I made at the end of 2014 and what I had done in 2 years to achieve it.
Let's go back in time to the end of 2014 when I first experienced symptoms of stress and anxiety which led to an issue with my hearing. At that time, I worked for a real estate company and the working environment was quite toxic (I didn't know back then).
Since started, I felt scared of making mistakes and was afraid of senior colleagues as they often said that I was not good for the job and made me feel bad about myself. I was not aware that it is not ok to do such a thing with a junior colleague. I kept telling myself: "It would be all right once I get the hang of the job and I just need to try my best."
After several months working in that place, I had an issue with my hearing. I constantly heard buzzing noise in my head everywhere, at home, at work, non-stop. After 2 weeks, I made an appointment to see my doctor. He couldn't find anything wrong with me. He did a thorough check through my ears and my head. They were all fine. He asked me if I used headphones a lot and I told him I didn't even have one.
Then he brought up a potential cause of this issue that could be stress. I was shocked. To be honest, I hadn't had a thought about stress at that time of my life. I wasn't well-educated about stress and how to cope with stress back then. Thanks to the support of my doctor, I found out the anxiety of making mistakes and not feeling good about myself was the root cause of the problem.
I knew this job wouldn't be the one I want to do in my life. Then I remember I always wish to travel and explore the bigger world. When I was small, I was excited whenever my great-grandparents brought us to visit one of my relatives in different villages. I couldn't even sleep at night just to wait for the next day to come.
I often saw people fly kites on the rice fields when visiting my relatives.
Watching Sunset with my brother and my Mum near home
Growing up, I did some travels to different parts of my country. I told myself visiting a new city and learning different things in Vietnam will be like creating a new line in my life-journey book. I love it so much and I had been doing it for a while with my close friends. I thought I lived a happy life with good friends around, however, experiencing stress proved me wrong.
"Let's do something crazy, something I've never done before. Let's travel and live in a foreign country for a while." I told myself.
How did I do it? I didn't have a lot of money to go just for travelling. Also, It would be great if I could stay long enough in that place to experience their culture, meet new people and enjoy it to the fullest. So might be studying would be a nice option. I checked the cost of studying overseas and it was beyond my imagination. My family and I wouldn't have that much to afford the tuition fees alone.
I told myself "Do not give up, keep looking, there was probably a way for me to do both travelling and studying without putting myself and my family in debt."
I remember vividly, it was a day at the end of 2014, while browsing on FB, I saw a post from a page called "Morning Coffee with Tony" about the opportunity to apply for a Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand. I was curious and decided to read the whole post. I had to say I read the very same post no less than 5 times. I was excited by the way it sounds, working and then travelling in New Zealand. I might be able to work, travel and save money for my study later. I had no idea about NZ at that time except for their famous apples, kiwi fruits and also delicious ice cream.
I checked the requirements to apply for this visa. It was not difficult at all, I only need my IELTS score (a least 4.5) and a university degree. I thought to myself: "Cool IELTS 4.5 should be no problem to me". Then I read more about the quota for a year, only 100 candidates. "Oh, our population at that time was around 90 million and they only grant 100 per year?". I could felt a bit disappointed as it would be difficult to apply even though I met all the requirements.
However, I would like to try my luck this time. To prepare, I've been looking for information on a Vietnamese Working Holiday Facebook group. I read every post that talked about how to prepare and what to do to apply successfully on the day. One month before the opening date, I had been practising filling out the application form every day to get to know the system and memorise my details.
On the 1st of August 2015, accompanied with me was a friend that I met in an English class. She was interested in the program as well. So we woke up at 4 am and went to a game shop near my place because they have the high-speed internet. At 5 am, when the application link opened, we both tried to access the page. Unfortunately, it was loading due to high demand access at that time. After 4 minutes, the website displayed a notification that said it was full.
After a month or so of feeling miserable, I told myself: "No, I am not an easy quitter. Might be I hadn't prepared well for this time so I should wait for another year and be ready for my opportunity next year. Also, I would like to study later, that was why I should use more time to improve my English, put a high goal of achieving at least 6.5 IELTS Academic instead of just 4.5.
To do that, I enrolled in an IELTS English class. We had to do an exam before joining the class. However, I didn't meet the requirements. I didn't even get a band 5 for IELTS general so they arranged for me to study a pre-IELTS level before I could join the class.
But I didn't have more time to waste as I needed to sit the exam within 5 months. So I contacted the teacher to ask for her permission. She agreed for me to join but warned me about the difficulty I would have when skipping the levels like that. I understood everything and decided to make a very strict schedule to help me achieve my goal of band 6.5 Academic IELTS for 5 months.
Every day I woke up at 5 am, doing a quick listening and reading test then made myself ready for going to work at 7 am. In the afternoon, after finishing my shift, I would spend another two hours doing the homework and finish with my writing tasks. At the end of the day, before going to bed, I would spend an hour or so just listening or watching English shows or movies to improve my listening and speaking skills.
Sometimes, I felt very tired with this everyday schedule. I even felt disappointed in myself when I was one of the oldest students in the class and I felt way behind other students. I thought I was not smart like them and I couldn't remember things fast enough. Thankfully, I found a video of New Zealand online, so whenever I felt down, I would watch that video and remind myself how cool it is to travel and live in that country.
After 5 months worth of preparation, I achieved my first goal. Overwhelming when I got an overall Academic IELTS score of 7. I was so happy and couldn't wait for the opening date of the 2016 Vietnam Working Holiday in NZ.
Thanks to the experience last year, this time, I got prepared better. I asked around to find the best game shop with high-speed internet. I also asked my cousin and two friends to help me apply for the visa.
You probably asked why I need 4 people. Well, I failed the year before and I knew we didn't access the link fast enough. So I planned to have two of my friends click on the apply now link 2 minutes before the opening time. My cousin and I would click on the link at exact 5 am. Thankfully this time, we all got in, however, only one computer could continue through the application as the rest stopped at loading.
When we were at the payment page, I couldn't believe it in my eyes. I was so close, just one step to my dream. I am so thankful to have my friends there as my hands started shaking and couldn't control myself so they helped me to finish the application.
That was it. I got a notification email immediately and 4 of us were hugging each other and laughing with happiness. The shop asked us to leave as it was too early and we might disturb their neighbours.
Photo taken on 30 Nov 2016 - On the way to NZ
Until Dec 2021, I would have been staying in New Zealand for 5 years. Wow time flies so fast.My first year in NZ, I had opportunities to travel around and work in many places from a farm to a packhouse, factories, hotel and ski resorts.
At the moment, I have a dream job with the best best best boss ever. He is so kind, always have positive thinking. If I made a mistake, he would tell me: "Everyone makes mistakes but that's a good reason to learn things. Next time you will know better. So don't feel bad about it". If this same mistake was made in my old job in Vietnam, I would felt terrible as my old boss would say "Because of you, many people have to fix it. Because of your fault, people have to spend their time to help you. You are no good, couldn't do things right".
Part of my current job is looking after the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders. This is a great opportunity for me to learn about mental well-being as well. I spent time learning about my mental wellbeing and figuring out how to improve it which also led to an opportunity to join Hive and discover the new path of my life journey.
Finally, the very best of all the positive things that happened to me since I arrived in NZ was to meet my life partner. A stranger from a far-away country who loves me unconditionally. A normal person that makes me feel loved, showed me my real values and tried his best to make me happy every moment of my life.
I don't know if I can enjoy my life to the fullest like now if I didn't make a decision in 2014 and prepare a lot for it. But one thing I know for sure, I won't change my decision. It was the best decision I ever did for myself.
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