I’m not work-free. I’m job-free. I no longer take on any fee-earning projects or commissions.

No more meetings. No more crazy deadlines. No more writing to suit clients’ requirements. No more commuting. I never was caught in rush-hour traffic as I worked mostly from home – one of the early adopters of the current Work-From-Home (WFH) trend.

To me, job-free means retired. I’m not comfortable with the word retired. It reminds me of the traffic sign of elderly people crossing the road, rocking chairs and always watching television. Agreed. That’s an extreme description. There are loads of people, who are active, productive and contribute to society, long after they’ve left their full-time or part-time professions. There are many exemplary examples everywhere. Unfortunately, that’s my visual of how retirement looks like. I can’t shake it. Sadly, I’m reticent to mention I’m job-free. And, almost embarrassed to say I’m retired.

By why? I’ve worked for over half my life. More than three decades long. I’ve done my time. Paid my dues. Am relatively comfortable with my lot in life. Looking back, I’ve had quite a diverse career trajectory. My first job ever was selling Electrolux sewing machines. Yes, really. That was in 1985 in Alor Setar, when and where, jobs were scarce. I sold one machine to a distant cousin, who defaulted in her payment. I was useless at it. Didn’t know how to sew. Didn’t know how to sell, either. The experience lasted six months. What I remember most fondly of the stint was my mum. She was just 52 years old at the time. Recently widowed, she was good company, and my Waze during my evening sales outings.

Then, it was marketing advertising space at The New Straits Times. More selling. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any better. But there were upsides. I had loads of fun, made good friends, and it paved the way for me to try my hand at writing. I’ve always wanted to write. In university, I missed out on signing up for Mass Communications, and ended up doing Anthropology and Sociology. No complaints.

I worked Monday to Friday selling advertising space. Did interviews and wrote stories at the weekends and evenings for the Supplements Desk. On my desktop computer that had a floppy disk drive. Yes, that long ago. I juggled. It wasn’t always easy but it was exciting. I then transitioned into a full-time journalist with the Business and Finance desk. I covered press conferences and/or did interviews. Travelled a bit on assignments. I also had two weekly columns with my own bylines. Yay. I absorbed a lot from helpful and knowledgeable editors.

After a few years, I was offered the post of editor for a new management magazine, Executive Today. The tight budget required me to do almost everything – identify corporate leaders for interviews, conduct the interviews, write the stories, edit articles from contributors as well as oversee the layout of the magazine. It was a challenging and strange time in my life. I met two wonderful graphic designers. They spoke little English. We had nothing in common. But, somehow, we had a roaring time, inside and outside of working, at the magazine.

Left the magazine. Got married. Set up Page One Communications – a sole proprietorship that provided writing services. My one claim to fame at that point was editing celebrated painter, Yusof Ghani’s coffee table book, ‘Siri Tari.’ It was also then that I was introduced to public relations (PR). It felt a bit odd, at first. Being on the other side of the fence because as a journalist I saw PR as the filter/barrier to getting to the real story. Still, I managed the crossover without too many issues. My first consultancy job was at PR Communications. I learnt the trade. Workmates became good friends.

Lived in England for just under a year. Returned and joined PR Communications again. Thereafter, moved to another agency. Then teamed up with a friend from my first agency to form KL Communications. It was a small outfit, but we had some good clients, who became our friends. Shuttered our agency when my partner moved to East Malaysia to be with her then fiancé, now husband.

After my partner left, I went solo with my own agency, KSKR Consultants. I worked from my home-based office, for different agencies, until late 2017. I enjoyed what I did, most of the time. I honestly cannot remember much but I actually conceptualized and wrote a children’s program for Nestle. It aired in 2008/2009. The clients I worked with from start to finish included, amongst others, Crafs Malaysia, two commercial divisions of Electrolux (came full circle but not sewing machines), FedEx, Cathay Pacific, Apple, Roche-Diagnostics, Schneider Electric, Shell Global Solutions and Citibank.

Revisiting my professional history helped me realise, only a tad, that its ok to be job-free or retired.