Life's Sustainability Pathway





Since January, I have been thinking a lot about what 2022 will be like. As circumstances change, my fear is amplified. Before I developed an understanding of climate change impacts, I feared the unfulfilled potential of the self. These days, I fear replicating harmful norms and behaviours that threaten the dignity of people, particularly those around me. Following a war between Russia and Ukraine, we cannot underestimate its destabilising power. Everything becomes "unprecedented". Yet, when policy-makers think out of the box and consultants propose "never done before" strategies, the usual familiarity prevails. After two years of COVID-19, we know that most (if not all) politicians and nation-state leaders fail to grasp and adapt quickly to the impacts of destabilisation and the faltering of business as usual practices.



Thoughts and my fear (mostly) led me to draft a document I called the 'Personal Sustainability Pathway' to gain some sense of direction. It is a roadmap that reflects the pathways that may give me meaningful ideas or concepts to develop a research proposal on sustainable development. Though, considering the bigger picture, I assume it to be mini-experimentations while hoping it will affirm my existence.



This document made me wonder if this is the same as having New Year's resolutions. So I started reading about why many people stray away from their resolutions. I found that its contributors are overwhelming expectations on the outcome of your decisions, lack of intention(s) (or rather commitment), concrete goal(s), plan(s) and resource(s). As a project manager, I noticed that the above too commonly contributes to the failure or the successes of a project.



Moving forward, I decided to view life as a series of projects inside the mega project that is yourself (or your identities) living your purpose. Somehow, I feel that thinking this way makes life a little more overwhelming. It implies that if you're not doing a project or something, you are not living. But, after contracting COVID-19 for the second time (today is my last day of isolation), there is no such thing as doing nothing in life. Living life is everything about awareness and presence — being in the state of flow that gives you a sense of satisfaction or happiness.



Knowing this makes it easier to view life as awareness applied to a series of decisions followed by actions that will have consequences. It also helps to know that many things will affect a person's state of being beyond your control. No, this does not relinquish any person from responsibility and accountability. On the contrary, it helps one find their locus of control and influence that defines responsibility and accountability. Furthermore, considering that time is relative and that we carry multiple identities (roles) at a particular time makes it possible to take an experimental approach. With this in mind, I decided to create a map for the pathways leading to my main goal this year: applying to grad school.



Each pathway certainly involves the tasks/smaller objectives to actualising it. However, I will not get into such details because this is not an operation manual. I will briefly (more vaguely) tell you what it is about and/or why I want to (will?) do it, if you wish to read further.



Pathway 1: Complete my contract

At this moment, I am a project officer to implement 31 capacity building workshops on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. This particular position is quite diverse that I'm not just a coordinator for the one-off programme, I also contribute to creating the training modules and the training guidelines for upcoming trainers. It is certainly not a job I dislike.



Pathway 2: Apply to corporate jobs

I have been intrigued by the application of sustainability concepts in organisations and institutions for the past 5 years. Considering that many corporations are developing their environment, social, and corporate (ESG) department further, I figured this is an opportunity to explore my place in a corporate setting while observing the how-tos in implementing policies to achieve climate action goals.



Pathway 3: Produce a photostory

I have not yet figured out the story angle though it will cover elements of people, places, and perspectives. I considered this pathway because I want to get creative. Also, I simply want to leverage the travelling opportunity I have from my current contract. It is also an exercise that combines my (rusty) skillsets of photography and journalism that I developed in secondary school.



Pathway 4: Curating an art exhibition

Life-long (10 years) dream of mine. Essentially, it is an opportunity to expand a domain of knowledge I had developed since I graduated secondary school and to (re)connect with the art communities through the region. It is also an avenue to apply my project management skills in a context that I am not too familiar with.



Pathway 5: Learn to become a barber

It is either this or learning barista skills again. However, after considering the sustainability aspect of both industries and the cost-benefit, cutting hair can yield higher returns (at least in my perceived contexts). Climate change does not threaten the existence of hair as it does for coffee beans. Unless there is an exploration on lab-grown coffee beans. Still, I started phasing out my coffee consumption that only shows my (lack of) optimism.



Perhaps at this point, you are wondering whether I will be able to do all of the above before the grad school application begins. The point is to not do the above in 10 months. Even if I know I can (I did 4 part-time jobs at once), I would not do it because it is not aligned with my intention. Besides, a pathway document is limited as it provides directions towards achieving a goal in ideal contexts and circumstances. At this point, I think it is vital to be adaptive and deliberately decide on the options that will strengthen my understanding and generate perspectives for sustainability and society's development.



Please wish me luck!