Working 2 jobs in Singapore (agency + freelance) 👩🏻‍💻 productive 9-6 vlog, work life balance

So today I want to take you guys along with me on what a typical workday looks like. Because I juggle so many different responsibilities, I do need to make sure that I can show up sufficiently for my clients and everyone I work with. This showing up means also showing up on the days that I don't feel like it, and days where I feel really shitty and really tired. At one point in my freelance full-time work journey, I would be pushing myself to the extreme and just trying to get things done and working really really long hours. I would say like at least 10 hours each day was quite typical for me. I was doing that pretty much every day, even during weekends I was still working a lot so it definitely took a toll on me. And these days I'm learning how to manage my time in a more effective manner so that I have time for myself, whilst also ensuring that I keep up with work for the people that I have a responsibility to. I think I mentioned in my previous vlog that I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with work, and that feeling has carried on to this vlog. Every time there's a long to-do list, I kind of just feel very inundated by everything. I'm also on my period now, so I think that adds up to the lower energy levels that I'm feeling at this point. In my head, it just felt like a mess. There were so many things going on and I couldn't really keep track of everything in an organised manner. Usually when such overwhelm happens, I kind of tend to feed into it where I would start to overthink a lot of things or feel really sorry for myself, or I'll end up scrolling on my phone and procrastinating. And nowadays I'm making a choice to do things differently, so instead of feeding into that overwhelmed state, I try to shake up my system by doing something that feels good to me. While today is a typical work day in my life, what is not typical about today is the fact that I went to the gym this morning. Because when I'm feeling emotionally stuck, I know that physically moving my body does also help to move those emotions, and yeah, like a boost of endorphins is always great. So I am feeling better now that I've got my movement in, and I know that I will feel much better once I go through and organise things on my list and make sure that I tick off the top priorities. I can't really discuss what I'm doing, but I have to do some admin and communication to some people and make sure that people have what they need to move to the next steps of this project. So in a nutshell, that is what needs to be done today, and I cannot be the bottleneck here. So the plan for today is to chip away on this priority list as efficiently as I can. So I'm going to get started. And the other plans for today is that I will be meeting my colleague for lunch today. I'm working from home, but he's not, so I'm actually going to some place closer to where he's at to meet up for lunch. And then I will work at a cafe, also because it gives me a different stimulus and helps me to focus when I'm away from the distractions that are plentiful in my bedroom. So let's get cracking. You really can't go wrong with an acai bowl in a cup. I had a pretty productive afternoon today. I got quite a number of things done on my to-do list, so I feel good about it. There were a lot of little tasks with those little details that can be cumbersome, but they do take time to complete. So thank God I finally got them done. So I'm feeling a lot more relieved and I can enjoy my dinner. The time now is around 7 o'clock. It's about time that my freelance life begins. I usually start working on freelance things at night. Sometimes my friends would ask me how I manage my energy and my time working on 9-5 and then continuing on working on freelance jobs. And honestly, I think this is a choice that I've made both to build up my finances and also to grow my skill sets and my experience. Me personally, I see a lot of benefits with working more in my 20s because it gives me more experience and skills to then grow myself in the future. But I also know it's not for everyone and not everyone wants this kind of lifestyle, wants to spend their time this way. Over time, you do build a tenacity and a resilience and also the stamina to be able to do more. And another thing is having a strong sense of purpose with what you do is super important. I sometimes feel like I have a greater sense of purpose with my freelance work as opposed to my day job. That is, I guess, the reason why I can keep going with the freelance stuff even after work hours. I'm glad to say that I do enjoy the freelance work that I have. I mainly do things still within the marketing, communications space, so it's a way for me to continue deepening and growing what I already know. I'm going to continue enjoying my dinner and then we'll get to work. Today is the full harvest moon of 2024. It is a day of recognizing and celebrating everything that has went well in the year and also letting go of things that no longer serve you. For me personally, this time of the year is a really sacred moment of celebrating everything that I've worked hard for in the spring and the summer and welcoming the quieter, slower autumn and winter seasons. We don't have seasons in Singapore, we have a tropical summer all year round. Connecting to such moments in time and seasonal shifts helps me also to recognize the seasons in my life and appreciate the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows for every single thing that they bring to me. I no longer fear the times in my life where things appear to be low, failing and on a downward spiral because I now know that all energy moves in waves and when there's down, there's going to be ups and when there are ups, there are going to be downs. It's just a natural cycle of life and there's nothing to be afraid of except to be grateful for every moment, every loving, teachable, enjoyable moment in life that will pass and can never be repeated. I'm feeling internally really quiet now because I've just done my own personal harvest moon ceremony. Just a really little, simple one for myself to connect to this energy and be present to it. This kind of practices helps me to connect to my spirituality even more. I've always found it a little bit challenging to balance my corporate life and my spiritual self. I spend most of my day working in the 9-5 and when you spend so much time doing one thing and being one thing, it can kind of consume your identity and your sense of self. And that was challenging for me to balance that really secular corporate space versus this spiritual side of myself. There was one point in my life where I felt pretty frustrated and almost angry for the way things were in the corporate world and why it felt so soulless and so void of life. I found myself pointing fingers at other people and wondering how they could continue this cycle that seems to be so devoid of meaning. And why am I the only one that appears to be struggling with this lifestyle? And after sitting with this frustration for a while, I realised that this finger-pointing attitude was really just my own frustration being projected outwards. Because I didn't feel that I was living up to the fullness of my potential and I wasn't embracing the person that I felt I was from inside. And the more I continued to put on that mask and facade that I didn't care about my spirituality, the more it hurt me and the more frustrated I got with myself and the more my projections towards other people grew. So having that realisation was really beautiful and important for me to be more loving towards myself, be more accepting and embracing of myself. I do indeed have judgements about spirituality even though I do myself engage in many of these activities. I was afraid of judgement from other people, that they would think that I'm woo-woo, crazy or insensible for believing or practising any of these things. And I was afraid because inside of me, I did kind of agree with them that there is a part of this that feels unrealistic, that feels out of this world and feels almost out of touch with the reality that can see around me. Indeed, there's no scientific proof for a lot of things that spirituality talks about. Although some science has indeed caught up with spiritual teachings, there's still a lot of it that goes unfounded. And because there was a part of me that agreed with these judgements, I was afraid of other people and also judging myself for it. These doubts and fears, I don't know if they will ever really go away. Perhaps the more I learn, the more I may doubt the knowledge that I come across. And this doubt, I think, could drive me to seek more answers, more clarity, more wisdom that can help me to see the world clearly for what it is and not what I think it is. My prayer for this Harvest Moon is first of all, peace and harmony between people because there's so much chaos and conflict all around the world right now. So much violence and destruction. I also pray for more people, including myself, to be able to be authentic to who we are, true to our beliefs, and for everyone to be able to be who they are without fear and restrictions.