It's March 2023, and I realise I haven't written down my
2022 recollection. I was very consistent with my blogs in the last few months
of 2022, but somehow, I forgot to write about 2022 itself. Allow me to begin.
I began the year 2022 in Lahore. I took a leave of absence
from work for 8–9 weeks. In my professional career, that is the longest work
break I have ever taken. At the time, my brother and sister were also in
Lahore. We hadn't seen each other in ages. We had some quality time together.
During that trip, I made the decision to start building on my plot. My lifelong
dream has been to own a home in Lahore. I employed an architect. Before
deciding on the initial layout of my house, I visited several model homes.
But then something bothered me. My wife informed me of a
court case that I was previously unaware of. With that news, all the excitement
of the trip vanished, and there were a few emotional breakdowns. One of my friendships(?) got broken. At least, I thought we were friends but the other guy didnt think like that. Anyway, before
my return flight, I was diagnosed with COVID. I had yet to finalise a builder
for my house, so I rushed to do so.
At the Lahore airport, an incident occurred, and security
personnel discovered bullet shells in my bag. My son collected these at his
uncle's wedding, and my wife kept them in a bag. I was already experiencing
mixed emotions, was exhausted and sick from COVID, and was prepared for
anything. I would not have resisted even if they had imprisoned me. They did,
however, release us. I boarded my plane and took off for Sydney.
On the same day I arrived in Sydney, a recruiter contacted
me and invited me to apply for a contract position at NAB. I reluctantly agreed
to apply for the position. Now that I've decided to build a house, I need to
start saving money, and the contract job's daily rate was very good. I received
the job offer and chose to accept it. I sadly resigned from Westpac. Saying
goodbye to Westpac was difficult. It was my longest job. But I understood,
aside from a good salary, Westpac provided no benefits to my career. To stay
competitive and advance professionally, I must seek out new opportunities. If
given the option, I would have stayed at Westpac for the rest of my life.
However, I missed my previous colleagues who have left Westpac in the last few
years, and Westpac wasn't the same without them. I started my new job at NAB,
and it progressed smoothly through the rest of the year.
I was concerned about my mother's health in the first few
months of 2023. She had stones in her gallbladder. Even though they were
surgically removed in December 2022, one of them remained, causing problems for
her. She had to have another surgery. Everything went well, and she recovered
quickly, thanks to Allah.
In October, I went to the Gold Coast with my family and had
a great time with my kids.
The house construction had begun in April and was going
well. The builder eventually changed his mind, halted construction, and started
giving excuses. The fool in me had already paid all the bills in advance. I
didn't have enough money to finish the construction by myself. It was a
difficult situation for me. The grey structure could not be finished. My father
proposed that we use his money to complete the remaining grey structure work. I
planned a trip to Lahore for the end of December and was in Lahore in the last
week of December.
In a nutshell, 2022 began with emotion, progressed through
dreams, and concluded with stress.
