Me

"Don't compare me with anybody. I'm a man of myself."

--Arif Nindito.

It is Just Fine.

Anda pernah ditolak ?

Saya jelas pernah..

Karena saya laki-laki,

Kalau "menolak" itu kerjanya perempuan..

Well, i have something to be spilled out of my mind about this "being rejected issue".

I several times saw couples of my friend being really down after being rejected by some particular girls. Then i started questioning, why are he so down after that brave moment. He replied "I felt somehow, embarrassed.." Then i continued "Why you felt embarrassed ?". He carry on "I don't know, i just felt somehow want to disappear for the time being. I really like this girl, but she refuse me.."

Okay. I try to understand his circumstances, as well. I know that it is not easy to face that. But, i have my own thoughts about this particular issue.

According to me, there is nothing wrong with being, let say, rejected. Since there's nothing wrong to confessing your feeling toward someone, and there's also nothing wrong with not having the same feeling towards someone.

The message is, for you boys, it is totally fine to confess that you like or love a girl. On the other hand, for you girls, it is also totally fine to say to him that you are not feeling the same way.

Do i have make it clear ?

Moreover, i also imagine that, asking a girl to be your girlfriend or asking her to have a relationship with you is like asking somebody to go picnic with you. First, you have to tell her where you'll go. Then try explain to her, what's the feature of that place. If it is a park, then why make this park special. And if it is beach, then explain to her why you should go to that beach. What's this picnic is all about. etc. But at the end, she got her full right to choose. Whether she want to go with you or not. Am i right ? Maybe she got somewhere else to go or something else to do.

So, the point is, you already have a courage and full efforts to ask her to go with you. In spite the fact she decided to not going, then it is just fine. Totally fine, right ? You have do your best efforts trying to convey your purposes, you already gather totally enough courage to confess it, and most importantly, you've been honest to yourself. In fact she's got her own choice, her own preference, her own decision, you can't push it. You sell it your dream, and she doesn't want to buy it, then it is just okay. You still can sell it to another person who maybe more interested and sharing the same dream with you.

The bottom line is, being rejected is not a moment of embarrassment, it's a moment of pride.

Years of Gentleman

Sky is still so grey this morning, and I am still a teenager by the time i write this. Yes, i am still 19. I just wanna share some thought in my head about last few months of my life. I wanna share my thoughts about my current issues and also maybe few about the future.

The consequences of being a type-7 person for me is that you can't stop thinking about your life, your dream and your future. Some people might say it is silly, but for me, i found it as the thing that make me alive. Thinking, dreaming, making a plan, then stick to it, is already in my nerves since i was a junior-high-schooler.

I consider my self as a person who having a very high level of self-serving bias. That according to my psychology class' professor, is healthy for me.

The last few months was quite rough, let say. After i received my acceptance letter, I have to totally struggle to past the Cost Accounting class in the short semester as my last attempt to make my transfer. I also have to undergone some financial process issues in my family regarding the funding of my future study. And yes of course, i undergone those few last feel-quite-blue days before i depart here.

Well, finally i am here right now. I finally, and again, living what i've been planned. And this very moment of life has been a quantum leap in my life history.

I am finally took a full control of my life, now.

Although in some sort it is not always be that nice, but most of the times, yes it is nice to have a full control of you life with you. This circumstance is always followed by one word; RESPONSIBILITY.

Once you gain a full control of our life, you have to always bear in mind that you have to be responsible with it. You should carry a huge amount of responsibility that you can pay to your stakeholders. You should be able to be responsible for every decision you make, regardless on what condition you made that decision, at the end, you have to be responsible for your call, anyway.

As i said, you should be able to be responsible to your stakeholders. In case of me, i have to be responsible for my decision to studying abroad that cost my parents lot of money. I have to be responsible to my study, to my parents, to my life, and more importantly, i have to be responsible to God. God already gave me a although not perfect, a wonderful life. God also give Priceless worth of health. And last but not least, God also already gave me, although not that brilliant, a working mindset.

There is no reason to not be really grateful. And there is also no reason to run away from the responsibilities i have to carry on. I already made my call, then i will be fully responsible for it. This is what i called as The Years of Gentleman.

D-1

I opened my eyes this morning at around 7.30AM, then i recognized that i only had about five hours of sleep. Last night, i went out with few best friends from high school to a movie to watch Pelham 123 then continued with some late night conversations.

I will depart by tomorrow. And by the time i woke up this morning, i realized how much i love my current life. For sure, my life isn't perfect. Though, i can say that i really enjoy every single pieces of my life recently. Then i realized how lovely it feels to have a loving-although-not-perfect family. A superb mother, really hard working father, unique siblings, great-and-supportive friends, challenging-and-dynamic study environment of FEUI, relatively cheap living expense in Depok, and not necessarily say the decent facilities given. I think it is save for me to say that i feel content with my life and i think it's enough for now. It is my comfort zone.

Then the question raised is that, "why bother to move, brother ?". Sometimes i also rose this basic question to my self. Why bother to leave if you already contented with your current life condition ? sometimes, i had no answer. but most of the time i answered it with "to be better".

Therefore, the definition on "be better" may vary from person to person. We could be better in any aspects of our life. Then, let's scrutinize it to the phrase of "a better future". How do you define "a better future" ? does it means being wealthier, smarter, happier or what ?

With no intentions of being cocky (although it still sounds cocky), Faculty of Economics - University of Indonesia already promised me more than just a decent future of life. And i thought it already offered me more than what does it takes to succeed in the jungle of Indonesian economic and business community. It's like a passport to excel for some reason.

It's a mini Harvard of Indonesia.

Not necessarily saying the magical-and-somehow-collusive connections of the yellow jackets thingy. But yes, it really works, fellas. To be more cocky, let me share you some potential highlights of FEUI. We have both international and national superb caliber of networks. You'll never know who the hell would standing in the front of your class as the lecturer.

He/she could be a minister, businessman, entrepreneur, economist, statistician, mathematician, or even a financial market bastard.

the same thing applies for your fellow friends. You'll never know who they would be in the next five years. So basically, FEUI is a perfect networking field for me.

Then most of you including me will ask, "hey fella, with those good damn things in ur life, aren't you should think that's enough ?". It maybe yes, maybe no. I don't want to stay in my comfort zone for too long. Since i believed that people who never leave their comfort zone would never succeed. So, it's all about leaving your comfort zone. Well, it is also a part of a bigger system malfunction that effect my life. Why ? maybe i can say that if Universitas Indonesia (UI) that almost every indonesian citizens be proud of is ranked among world's top 50 universities, then i don't have to bother to take off my ass abroad. As i cockily elaborated, FEUI already gives me more than what does it takes to succeed. at least, locally.

But most of the times, people are never satisfied. We were born with needs, wants, obsessions. And especially for me, i was born with dreams.

Yes dude, it's dreams that take me to where i've been right now. As Anis Baswedan PhD, said as his life philosophy, "I have a dream, and I share my dream". It perfectly suits me. Men are measures by what he dreams of. For me, dreaming is self-actualizing. There is no boundaries to dream.

To wrap up, i'm moving because of four reasons. First, i have to leave my comfort zone. Second, i am about to chase my dream. Third, i am actualizing my self. And fourth, yes, i am not enough, yet. Being competent locally is not enough for the prudent-and-cocky Arif Nindito. I want to compete globally. And the only way to do so is by going global.

Studying abroad will never promised you a happier life. Although maybe, just maybe, a more rewarding income. Being happy is not necessarily the same as being wealthy. It depends on what values you hold. So many people are damn rich but they are not happy.

Studying abroad, ideally, would gives you more holistic perspectives. It will shape the way you see things that finally leads to more knowledges. And believe it or not, knowledge leads to power. But once again it depends on the person. Only people who willing to learn will learn, otherwise, they will never actually learn although they seem like so.

In the end, as Uncle Ben in the spiderman said,

"With great power must come great responsibility"

Since knowledge leads to power, then come the responsibility. Knowledge demands for application. Having much knowledges without apply it to the society is useless. According to prophet Muhammad SAW, the greatest men ever is the men who could be useful for others. Then it's our call, with knowledge we can be useful for the society or be useless for them. We think, we act.

It's already more than lengthy as a blog post, but i just burst it off from my vigorous mind. I have to finish some immigration matters and more importantly finish to pack my luggage. That's it for this woke up blog post.

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For the people i care and love for the most,

Arif Nindito.