I’m now a stripper!

Yes, folks, now that I’m not working full-time, I’ve become a stripper. That’s right, you read correctly: I am officially a stripper.

In case you’re wondering who on earth in their right mind would pay money to watch me take my clothes off, the answer is: I’m not that kind of stripper

<sigh of relief>

No, the kind of stripping I’m now doing is stripping life down to the things that matter. Which means finding out what actually does matter, and then

What triggered this is that I’ve just left a deeply unsatisfying job (even with a six figure salary!) that slowly etched away my soul like acid. I realised a few weeks into it that I was, once again, a small cog in a large machine, producing “outputs” that, really, didn’t particularly improve patient outcomes, just potentially added to the bottom line of a multinational corporation. And while it’s nice to have the money, it’s not nice to feel like you’re not really doing anything productive for 40 or even 50 hours a week. I believe we’re here to make a positive difference, and that no amount of money can make up for meaningless work — “billshut” jobs as they’ve been called.

So I’m following my passions. I’m preparing for my doctorate (the last submission went awry because I had moved interstate for the job — so now I’m moving back to Melbourne in the next few months), which is about commercialising biotechnology, which absolutely enthralls me as a subject. I’m passionate about getting new, lifesaving technologies to people who need them — and how the process can be streamlined.

I’m also passionate about writing — I’m on the second draft of my novel, (some 50,000 words) about discrimination. It’s been more fun and way more challenging than I had ever imagined. I’ve had to go back to scratch on more than one occasion, but in the moments when you get into the flow of writing — it’s so worthwhile. Having grown up in a part of Sydney that was an ethnic melting pot I heard so many derogatory terms: first at the Italians, then the Vietnamese, then the Muslims, then the Africans… and it was wasn’t just redneck trash serving up these epithets. I remember when a Sudanese was attacked , our then immigration minister Kevin Andrews accused Sudanese refugees of fighting in bars and congregating in parks to drink alcoholic beverages, and stated that they weren’t integrating well — methinks the problem is with the people beating Africans up. </rant>

I have other passions too — growing vegetables, cutting gemstones, and most importantly, connecting with other people. Working 50+ hours a week, in order to buy lots of STUFF, doesn’t work. I’ve deliberately pared down my possessions, because I’ve realised what matters is time to do the things you love, with the people you love.

And that’s what really matters.