It wasn’t till recently that I realised being in Army makes you feel like you’re in a different time continuum/paradigm altogether. It mirrors the idea of the movie ‘Inception’, and feels exactly like you’re stuck in Limbo while the rest of the world goes on.
Do realise however, the only reason why I’m feeling this way is because the Army is not my life, and does not apply to everyone else out there. I am also not complaining about the Army, it’s just that it’s a pretty amusing experience that I’ve come to realise and go through.
Stuck in Limbo …
There are things that cloud my mind constantly every time I’m in camp, for instance, worrying about training and whether I can get enough rest … or the 1001 things that I have to do with regards to the coaching I do … or the 101 things of interesting developments that involve me, which ranges from taking my car driving license, involvement with various sponsors, and service in church. I think about these all day, on top of the office work (read sucky office politics, constantly having to please a petty old woman, escaping arrows aka ‘tai – chi’) that I’m supposed to do. The fact is, that the nature of my clerical work does not allow me to have much time for the other things in life outside of Army, and therefore have a very small limit on what I’m able to do what I’ve set out to/planned of doing.
It is like a bottleneck that stops whatever you could be doing outside, and slows everything down. The faster/harder you try to force your way through this bottleneck, the higher the pressure. You can’t do much about it, and that creates the feeling of being stuck in Limbo.
You know you can do so much if you just had that little bit more of time but you can’t because you don’t.
Sounds familiar eh?
In cases like this, I’ve learnt that the best way to deal with it is to streamline everything, hand – pick and schedule those things according to priority. Of course, that would also mean a never – ending snowball effect which can’t really be cleared perhaps a few months after I’ve completed my National Service, but that’s the best I can do to fully maximise the 24 hours I have every day.
On the other hand, there’s always a limit to how best you can streamline and compact everything together. In the end, almost everything still requires a significant amount of time and I’m stuck somewhere where you can’t go all out to do something, yet there’s still a bit of time to do it. Kind of like a half – half situation, which I do not like at all … being stuck in this limbo. Or, as the Chinese would say, not here not there.
I will be going in Tekong for Pes C BMT (Basic Military Training) Recourse at the end of the month. I’m looking forward to it, although it is not the norm, because I finally get some ‘escape’ from a desk – bound job and get to head outdoors. I finally get to stand in the hot sun and sweat it out (I hope)!! At least when I’m on the island, I really can’t do anything else besides Army, and so there’s no half – half, limbo feeling. It’s going to be interesting as well because I’m finally not handling paper, but weapons. Paperwork is starting the bore the heck out of me. I also get to catch up on my reading during my spare time in camp, which I really need. In short, I’m going in there for a holiday. Yepp that’s right, a one – month holiday.
The 3 books that I ordered recently, all waiting to be read!
I can’t wait for this year to end because it would mean that I can start counting down to Nov 2013. It. can’t. come. any. faster.
In the mean time, I’ll do the best I can with whatever time I have and hopefully the snowball doesn’t grow too big!
Hey, what’s life without a bit of challenge eh?
Lemuel 