Dear Auntie,
I am 23 years old. I have been working at a multinational company for a month now. Currently, I am going through training. It is an honour for me to be working in this company but, frankly, I am not that interested in the work. It somewhat relates to my field, but I don’t find it exciting.

I joined this company to meet my financial needs. I had dreams of doing something different than my current field of work. The work here keeps me so busy that I feel I will never get to spend extra time to pursue my dream job.

My dilemma is whether to continue with the training or follow my dreams. I regularly read your advice column in Eos and your suggestions to readers  seem rational and practical. I hope you can guide me as well.
Changing Tracks

Dear Changing Tracks,
If you are working at this company to meet your needs and if you aren’t dealing with toxicity in the form of bullying or nasty co-workers at the workplace, I would advise you to continue to work there… with a view to moving on when your dream opportunity arises.

If you have a stable job in the current economy you are lucky, so hold on to it till you can make your dream happen. All training and all experience is useful, even if it may not seem so at the moment. Also, you have only been working with this company for a month. It might grow on you and, at this stage, you can’t possibly know what working there will be like, say, a year down the road.

‘My job doesn’t excite me’

Coming to your dream, you haven’t elaborated in your email exactly what it is that excites you. But whatever it is, do continue to think about it, daydream about it and create a plan about how to get there. You are young, so this is the best time to think about what you really want to do. You can also take certain risks at this point.

To begin changing your life, hold on to the discomfort you are feeling at your job. I say this because it is very easy to become a little too comfortable in your job and stop thinking about your dreams. When you are getting paid every month and are cruising along in your comfort zone, it is very easy to just relax and forget your dreams. If you get too used to the comfort of a monthly pay cheque, I can guarantee that you will cruise your life away.

Hold on to the discomfort and dissatisfaction, and start working towards your goal every single day. That means you sit down and work on your dream for an hour, two hours or however long you can spare. Every. Single. Day. Yes, you won’t just wade into your dream. You will have to take daily steps towards it. And you can spare the time.

If it is your dream, you need to prioritise it. Also, you don’t work in an office 24 hours a day. You get lunch breaks, you come home and you have the weekends. If you really want to do something, with the amount of technology you have at your fingertips, what you can achieve every day is mind-blowing.

So if you really want to change your life, hold on to the feeling that something is missing in your life. That feeling is what is going to motivate you to start changing things.

It requires a lot of discipline to stay focused on your dream. But if you won’t become serious and disciplined about your dream, what else will you become serious and disciplined about?

In response to last week’s letter from the young man who stutters, Auntie received some very useful advice from a reader: “Auntie, please tell the boy to go with his parents to Seaview (in Karachi) or any empty space early in the morning when few people are around and give a speech in English and Urdu and let his parents listen. If he is on the beach, he can go deep where the sound of waves is loud and he wont have to worry about people listening to him. Nothing is wrong with his tongue, it’s his mind that is creating the fear that he will stutter. My father did the same with me and I became a good speaker. My son used to stutter and I trained him the same way. Ultimately, he became the best debater in his school and college.”

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope this helps.

Auntie will not reply privately to any query. Please send concise queries to: auntieagni@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 17th, 2021