Daniel grew up in Penang, but he calls KL his home now. An engineer by training – working in the petrochemicals/oil and gas industry. Being an engineer was not his dream job. ” Long story short, I got a scholarship to study engineering, one thing after another, and I find myself here.” Daniel wrote.
A Sudden, Deep Dive Into The World
A very humble guy, Daniel is super friendly. But gives off a shy aura.
“I’ve been on the move a lot over the last 5 years or so,” Daniel told us.
“In that time, I moved to the Middle East and then to the United States, and just returned to Malaysia about 3 months ago.” he continues.
The move has been due to work.
“An opportunity came up to work on a project in the Middle East and get involved in building a new chemical plant there. I said “yes” and ended up spending 3 years there. Once the time there was coming to an end, another opportunity came up to work at our company headquarters in the US. And that is how we ended up spending another 2 years in the US.,” he explained.
Daniel is married; hence, we imagined it must not have been easy for the family to adapt to the constant movement that his career comes with. This must not have been easy for Daniel as well.
We asked him how he copes with the stress and the challenges of moving to another country.
He said, “Personally, I find it important to keep things in perspective. Family and the people in my life are the most important. And work is a means to an end. Keeping them completely separate and in order of priority is ideal. But the reality is that work affects family and vice versa. I don’t have the perfect formula yet, but as long as I can keep myself and my family happy and manage some sort of a balance, I’ll take that as a win.”
The Challenges Of Moving To Another Country
Uprooting and moving your life to different continents can be exciting but challenging at the same time.
The thought can be very intimidating and scary. To venture and create a whole new life in another part of the world where nobody knew us and the sudden shock of different cultures.
“Most people focus on the exciting parts, but each move is messy and just a lot of change to work through as well. Think about the paperwork, visa processes, finding a new place to stay, setting up new bank accounts, utilities, moving – all over a few months). But moving back to Malaysia is easy. It is home, after all. So the transition back to Malaysia for us has been easy despite the MCO.” Daniel added.
He made it sound mostly professional and systemic. But, we reckon the experience must be quite hard to deal with through the midst of it all.
Being Back Home and Dealing With The Pandemic
We asked Daniel what it was like working as a petrochemical engineer in the new era of working from home.
“We all have different working styles and preferences. I have not found working from home particularly challenging, but everyone has different circumstances. Imagine trying to work from home with kids who are supposed to be in school running around. I think just being understanding while everyone figures out what works best with ever-changing conditions goes a long way.”
Sage advice. We couldn’t have put the words better ourselves!
How Self-Storage Helped
“We needed the most economical storage solution while we tried to find a permanent place to call home after moving back to Malaysia,” he said.
“We probably would have required self storage regardless. But the pandemic definitely has made it more important that we have the flexibility to move our items in and out, and at our own time that self storage provides us. It is definitely much harder to plan and move our items in this pandemic environment. So in that sense, it has definitely helped.” Daniel added on.
Cube Self Storage remains operational during the MCO, with operating hours starting from 9AM to 6PM on weekdays and 9AM to 4PM on the weekends.
A Word Or Two For Everyone
“I’m not sure I’m the best person to give any advice here. I think we are all just figuring it out as we go along. I think everyone is still coping to a certain extent. Just simpler things like working from home most of the time over the last year has its challenges (but it is not all bad either). Just being flexible and open helps, I think, to be more resilient in this time of change and to be able to adapt to whatever the new norm may be down the road.” Daniel ended.
We hope that everyone takes one or two pieces of advice that Daniel applies into his life during these challenging times.
To hope and to dream has so much contrast with actually doing. So we urge everyone to stay grounded and take things one day at a time while we battle this pandemic.
