I used to thought that now tha | Gallery posted by Benjamin A Chua | Lemon8

I used to thought that now that I am in the private sector, I can finally look whatever way that I want. Uniformed personnel have a strictly prescribed way of acceptable appearance, and for good reasons.

Yet now that I am in the private sector, instead of “I am not allowed to”, it becomes “I don’t dare to”, as I have to face clients, colleagues and other business partners. Technically, you are allowed to. But you may suffer when a wrong first impression is set by losing business.

So it wasn’t really that different, at least not as much as I expected it to be.

Still, I am a little tempted to revert to this look. Many years back when I had to manage my child’s condition, I shaved off my head so that there is one less thing to worry about. It was almost ritualistic to me as I have to shave every other day and the practice provided a moment of peace for me amidst the chaos.

Today, thankfully, the baby that I once held in between my arms have grown to a babbling young child, active and running about, all thanks to the organisations that have supported me for my parenthood. While policies can decide how many days of leave a parent gets, it is really the support of colleagues and bosses that empowers workers.