Photo by Chris Dickens on Unsplash
在 Stockholm 的最後一晚，晚餐過後我和朋友窩在他的小窩裡，一起滑著彼此的 IG，回朔過去十年的人生。
他IG的第一篇Po文就是在這間公寓。這間他從大學時就住的公寓，承載了他和初戀男友的共同回憶，他之後的出軌、新戀情破碎後的自我覺醒。之後他搬回馬來西亞、開始了打開他眼界的新工作，並開始在世界各處的差旅生活。他的戀情狀態和工作在IG上剪影交錯，一篇篇貼文都是當時人生狀態的縮影。之後他跟我因為同一間公司搬到倫敦，我們成了彼此交心的朋友，各自開啟了工作和感情的新篇章。五年後的今年他跟隨丹麥老公搬到哥本哈根，明年預計再搬去格陵蘭。
看著IG攤開的一切點滴我不禁心想：工作並不是人生的全部，但它深刻形塑了我們能到達的地方、能遇見的人、能交會的靈魂、能變成的模樣。這些城市就是人生的章節，而每一次轉折都是工作帶我們去的。
而這大概就是工作除了自我實現的最大意義吧 - 讓你破圈、讓你遇見世界、遇見各種有趣的靈魂，也讓你的人生成超越你原本所能想像的形狀。
Beyond careers, work reshapes the map of our lives
On my last evening in Stockholm, after dinner, my friend and I curled up in his tiny apartment, scrolling through each other’s Instagram feeds and tracing back the past decade of our lives.
His very first Instagram post was taken in this same apartment. The place he had lived in since university - holding memories of his first boyfriend, the heartbreak that followed, the betrayal, and the painful self-awakening after his next relationship fell apart. Later, he moved back to Malaysia, starting a new job that widened his horizons and sent him traveling around the world. His relationships and his work wove through his Instagram timeline, each post a small snapshot of who he was at that moment in time.
Eventually, we both moved to London for the same company. We became close friends, each beginning new chapters in both work and love. Five years later, he followed his Danish husband to Copenhagen, and next year they’re expecting to move again, to Greenland.
As I looked at the mosaic of moments laid out on IG, I couldn’t help thinking: Work isn’t everything in life, but it profoundly shapes the places we can go, the people we meet, the souls we cross paths with, and the versions of ourselves that we grow into. These cities become the chapters of our lives, each transition nudged forward by work.
And perhaps that’s the greatest meaning of work beyond self-actualization: it breaks your boundaries, it brings the world closer to you, and it grows your life into shapes you never could have imagined.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
