Discovering A Life’s Calling
It never crossed my mind that I have been gone this far. Back then, when I was a child when my friends had already decided to become a doctor, an astronaut, a teacher, and every super dream, I never knew whom I would become in the future.
I still did not know my goals even after high school graduation. Only a few I knew; I wanted to be like my parent. Have a business and can work flexibly. I did not have a particular wish to what university I will go to. It was only as simple as if any university would accept me, then I’d go there. The most important thing for me back then was that I went to college and got a bachelor’s degree. No matter what is the faculty or the concentration.
I was invited to apply so-called “SNMPTN Undangan,” where I can go to college by only considering my scores. And I failed. How was I felt that time? Nothing. I didn’t even feel sad. After the fail-result announcement, I directly opened my “SNMPTN Tertulis” exercise book and got ready for the upcoming test. No sorrow, no grief, no misery, no depression, I moved on just like that.
Along with it, I also apply “PMDK” to a famous Polytechnic in Bandung. I decide the faculty I’ll be going to, only 10 minutes before application submission. I chose the faculty that sounds most familiar, Chemical Engineering, even though I was not sure what I would be learning in that faculty. And, unexpectedly, I accepted.
Learning Chemical Engineering materials felt like giant meteors fall only toward you. It was beyond heavy and scary. And I realized the only reason I felt that way was that I could never enjoy learning it. It was not my passion at all. It felt torturing to experience four years of not being myself. It also surprised me that I could survive.
Times went by, I graduated from Chemical Engineering, of course, with no satisfaction. But, on the other hand, I was so thankful to meet plenty of great people from different backgrounds. Met them taught me so many things I could not get before. Many lessons learned.
After graduation, I looked for a job; again, I didn’t know what kind of job I was into. The only thing I knew was I did not want to build my career as an engineer. Then, I was accepted to work as a laboratory technician. But after a year, I was mutated to become purchasing staff. Worked as purchasing staff somehow fun. I enjoyed it. But still, it didn’t satisfy me. It’s not the place I’d thought I belonged.
Resigned from that job, I recalled the little wish I have ever had in my heart; I want to have a business. I built a business then. Not so big, but enough to get me to learn so many things. And yes, even though my income was not as high as I was, I got satisfied.
Recognizing that my business was not improving, I tried to find a way to survive. In that hard time, I finally noticed this skill called digital marketing. After digging digital marketing deeper, I found so many related and functional skills to improve my business. It only takes two weeks until I enroll in a digital marketing class. And yes, I enjoy the class a lot. I enjoy learning digital marketing. It seems like a destiny I have been looking for a lifetime. And to write ‘Digital Marketing Enthusiast’ right under my name is somehow got me touched. It feels unreal. It feels like I finally found ‘the one’.
I know it is still a lot more to go. I need to go a long way to be an expert here. It may need a lot more sweat and tears. But I have decided to work my fingers to the bone and get that ‘Digital Marketing Enthusiast’ turned into ‘Digital Marketing Specialist’.
