So what do you do with your time, now, anyway?

As of this very day, it's been one year since I left the corporate world. Did I do what I said I was going to? Here's what I posted on LinkedIn at the time:

"I will be stepping back from professional life to focus on community engagement and a number of creative pursuits - areas that I have left neglected for too long. I'll still be around and intend to stay active in various networks."

So, how does this match with what actually happened? A lot of my friends have been asking me this; perhaps it's time (on this night of violent typhoon winds, as it happens) to make an accounting of myself.

(Or, perhaps I just said, "Nope!" and just went to bum around on the beach instead? See above photo for evidence in this direction.)

While I have indeed been getting more accustomed to using the word "retired", it doesn't quite describe what I'm actually doing. Indeed, the comparison I keep coming back to is that it feels something like going to university and participating in all of the student extracurricular activities, but not going to class. Those of you who knew me in college may now be nodding their heads with recognition; yes, there is a reason I didn't go to grad school, and "majoring in extracurriculars" as an undergrad probably had something to do with it.

Nowadays, my most direct link to the business community is through the American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, where I've stayed on as the co-chair of the Energy & ESG committee. In fact, because I have more time on my hands, I've been able to be a bit more active than I was before, arranging (together with my co-chair & co-vice-chairs) events on sustainable travel, the future of energy, migrant workers, plastic pollution, ESG in the GBA, as well as women and ESG, and also contributing to several government consultations on these issues. This connection also opens a lot of doors to other activities; I seem to moderate a lot of panel discussions on ESG and/or sustainability, whether with groups you might expect, like ReThink, or with PRHK, or even (this one was a surprise even to me!) on the topic of sustainability in sports. This is tremendous fun and I feel as if I am getting to be something of a pro in this area.

Even after my last day, it was wonderful to see a couple of echoes of my final year at Lenovo. Chief among these was the honor of being awarded the in-house communications team of the year in Asia. It gave me the confidence that I'd left things in good shape when I departed, and it also gave me a perfect excuse to get in touch with my ex-team members.

I'm also doing something that might be called freelance consulting - but entirely on a pro bono basis. (In a typical example of the maxim, "To those who have much, more shall be given", I keep having to turn down paid work for commercial entities.) I have a few regular NGO clients who are teaching me a great deal about their organizations and their focus topics, and who, I hope, are benefiting a bit from my experience in the corporate world. Some of the things that NGOs do are really fascinating, and it's been equally interesting to see how many of the things that I took for granted as normal in corporate life are new to those who have spent their careers in the non-profit world. (Example: how corporate decisions are made!)

Somewhat more distant from my previous life in the for-profit sector is my renewed focus on creative writing. Although this was something I enjoyed very much in my youth, it's taken a back seat to commercial writing for several decades (the exception being the oral form: bedtime stories for my kids). I'd been writing the occasional short story - and even self-published a book on Kindle - but hadn't really attempted to make a proper go of it. So it has been a mostly frustrating but occasionally exciting process to start submitting my work to various literary magazines around the world - and occasionally getting published. It's not something I would recommend anyone doing if they want to earn a living: I have, technically, been paid for a few of the pieces I've had published, but the amounts are laughably small. My very first payment for a piece of fiction amounted to US$5 - yes, FIVE dollars. (Ironically, it was a short story in the form of a press release. Cheapest press release I've ever produced!) I also took the opportunity of NaNoWriMo in November to write a novel that I'd been working on for a while. No, that one hasn't found a publisher yet, but if anyone knows an agent, please send them my way. By the way, I've been publishing everything under various pen names to distinguish that part of my life from the more business-oriented stuff.

One activity that has brought me a lot of joy is my new literary magazine, The Apostrophe - launched this spring under the umbrella of the Hong Kong Writers Circle. This week marks the publication of our second issue. As the editor, I get to read an incredibly wide variety of submissions from every part of Hong Kong society and abroad, which is fantastic; but the best part of the process is definitely sharing the pieces that are ultimately curated into the magazine with our subscribers. (By the way: now is the moment where I say: don't forget to like and subscribe! It's still free ... for now.)

Because this is LinkedIn and not Facebook, I haven't dwelt on the personal moments in my life, including this summer's delight and heartache of becoming an empty-nester. But that has been a big transition as well.

So, have I kept my promises? On the whole, I think I've done exactly as I said I was going to one year ago. What was unexpected, however, was how "retirement" has involved meeting so many fantastic new people who are doing amazing things, how much I have had the privilege to learn from all of them during this process, and how generous everyone has been in helping me adjust to this new phase of my life. I have built up a lot of debts of gratitude during the past 365 days.

I continue to look for advice from any of you who are further along in the process than I am, and if you're considering a similar move yourself, well ... don't hesitate to get in touch! I've got some free time, now.