Uncertainty, My New Path and Occupations

April 25, 2025

I delivered a prepared speech to my fellow Toastmasters last night. It was special because it marked the beginning of my new learning path at Toastmasters, following the completion of my previous path two months ago. We had an interesting meeting theme which everyone experiences, more or less: Uncertainty—tell us about a time when you had no clear idea what would happen next, but you went ahead anyway.

Revolving around "Uncertainty", the meeting proceeded in an interactive and inspirational manner, and here's my answer to the theme question: I was a motorist, driving a car to work throughout my career. After I retired 3 years ago, I tried to live my new life without a car, but I was not sure if I could make it because I was totally reliant on a car for work commuting and getting around. Against such uncertainty, I started learning how to use public transportation systems, including buses, the MRT, trains and the high-speed railway. Over time, I became used to it. Now I thoroughly enjoy my life without a car.

It was another uplifting and meaningful Friday evening. Here's the script of my speech.

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My New Path and Occupations

What is your occupation? Or, what are your occupations?

Good evening everyone!

I did my first icebreaker exactly two years ago after joining Toastmasters. Two months ago, I completed my learning path, Visionary Communication. So tonight I'm excited to make my second icebreaker speech to kick off my learning on a new path, Motivational Strategies, at Toastmasters.

That’s why I chose my speech title as “My New Path and Occupations”. I used the word occupations in my speech title, as I asked in my opening questions, not because I have many jobs, but rather, because I have several hobbies. The word occupation means things you do every day that occupies your time significantly, including your job, and yes, your hobbies.

In my case, having retired after a career of 38 years, now I don’t have a job really, but I have many hobbies, or occupations, which are what I ‘m going to talk about now.

My first occupation is English literature. This is an occupation I embraced after my retirement. So far, I have read 40 books, and the thing I’m proud of the most is that I started reading Shakespeare’s works by myself last year, and to date I have studied 11 Shakespeare’s plays. There are still 26 plays waiting for me, and I hope I can explore them all in my lifetime.

My second occupation is blogging, or writing, a new occupation I embraced last year by establishing a personal blog, combining my passion in both the English language and writing. Now I publish my blog posts once a week, in English, then have it translated into Chinese, using AI, and posted on Facebook. There are already 54 posts on my blog and I’ll make my 55th post after our meeting tonight.

My third occupation is backpacking. This is also a new hobby I embraced after I retired. In my role as a backpacker, I travel twice a month to learn about the land, people, history, and culture of our lovely country, Taiwan. So far, I have visited all 358 townships across Taiwan. In fact, I just returned from my backpacking in Miaoli County yesterday, and I’ll be heading for my next trip 10 days from now, destination: Taichung City.

My fourth occupation is riding a Youbike. My son taught me how to rent a Youbike about 10 years ago, and I loved it instantly. Why? Very simple: because for me it is a means of not just transport, but also exercise, good for calorie burning. Besides, riding a Youbike gives me a sense of freedom and reduces my carbon footprint. So, now I ride a Youbike everyday. And, you know what? After this meeting, I’ll go home by riding a Youbike, as usual, unless it rains.

My last, but definitely not the least occupation is, well, a Toastmaster! As mentioned earlier, I joined toastmasters after I retired because, first, I wanted to continue practicing English, which had remained my favorite throughout my career time; second, I wanted to get to know people with a growth mindset, like you.

These are all my occupations. To conclude, I retired 3 years ago and I joined Toastmasters two years ago. I’m now embarking on a new learning path with many occupations, or hobbies, including English literature, blogging, backpacking, riding a Youbike and being a Toastmaster; except riding a Youbike, these are all my new hobbies because I picked them up after I retired. In short, I’m a lifelong learner, and I look forward to learning from you all.