â¨Let me re-introduce myselfâ¤ď¸
May 27, 2023My name is Kristinawati (Kris) Pim. I live in Perth, Australia. I moved to Australia from Indonesia through being a (Graduate) Mining Engineer and worked my way up to the executive level. It sounds easy, but I tell you the truth, it was pretty challenging, and I would say ‘scary’ at the time for a few reasons for me: different culture, English is not my first language, no friends and family as my mum passed away when I was 9 and my dad when I was 20. I guess some of you could resonate with me. I remember I chose to go on the bus instead of the bus with my senior engineer from the camp to the site office with the mining crew in my first few months working remotely in Pilbara, Western Australia. I was on the bus so I could talk more with them, hopefully learning the language quicker, and the funny thing is some of them tried to teach me some slang and asked me to swear:-). It was back then, a great memory that I’ll never forget. And I am so grateful for meeting my special person at work. Now he is my husband.
The point of sharing a little bit of my background is to show that it is possible for you, who have a big dream, want to challenge yourself and explore your potential, as long as you never give up and believe in yourself. The most important thing is to be comfortable with yourself, YOU, with who you are, that you are unique and have special gifts you can share with your community and the world.
You may wonder about my fear; of course, I have fear. My biggest challenge is to overcome my fear; again, it is not easy, but I know my purpose in life is more significant than my fear, and I remind myself that it will not kill me, and at least I try. My wake-up call was when I was invited to be a guest speaker at a webinar at my previous university, it took me over a year to say yes, and I realised, at the time, how selfish I was for not sharing my experience and journey with the young people at university, it seemed that I forgot where I came from, I wouldn’t be here today without my qualification through going to that university and completing my degree. It is probably different nowadays, but I moved and got a job in Australia because of my qualification, and after 2 years working as an Engineer in Kalimantan. The main reason was that I didn’t want to be known. That was why it took me a long time to say yes. Then, I told myself, “Get over it. It is not just about you, Kris,” but about giving back and saying THANK YOU.
At the webinar, I was asked how I survived being a leader. I said, “Just be comfortable to be yourself”. It is not hard to be yourself. Imagine being somebody else? I bet it would be very hard, and I would be mad and wouldn’t be here today:-).
My simple answer when someone asks me that question would be, “Look at me, I am not that special. If somebody like me can do it, surely you can do it too”.
I have more stories, but I better stop now otherwise, you’ll get bored. Maybe I’ll share them again next time.
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