Consolidation Stage, Living In Jakarta, Part 3

Stage Of Jakarta Life: Consolidation Stage

Consolidation Stage Part 3

Loyalty:

For a happy community it is essential to give loyalty to your group, your family and to yourself. Experienced the same personal tensions and inadequacies as you have so help ease their load by your support.

Introspection:

The Consolidation Stage is often a time of useful contemplation and introspection while you are sitting under a coconut tree quietly having your mid life crisis. If you are not happy in Jakarta by now then the root cause may well be dissatisfaction with your profession or your responsibilities.

Now is a useful time to plan a career change or weigh up the pros and cons of a change. If the cause of your unhappiness in Jakarta is a relationship problem with your partner a posting to Jakarta will almost certainly aggravate that problem. It is then time to consider your options.

If you still feel desperately unhappy after a few months you should seriously decide whether Jakarta is really for you. Perhaps you should return to your home country before your contract expires. Not liking Jakarta does not mean you are a failure. Far from it. You may be somebody who functions extremely well socially and professionally in a smaller embassy or in a European country or in a post with problems more in keeping with your cultural preferences or your professional skills. Being able to recognise that and admit it is in itself a real achievement.

If you were lonely or dissatisfied before coming to Jakarta then you are likely to experience the same in Jakarta. A complicated Jakarta lifestyle does not provide immunity from emotional disturbance or unhappiness.

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Consolidation Stage, Living In Jakarta Part 2

Stage Of Jakarta Life:

Consolidation Stage Part 2

Tension Release:

The release of tension built up during this Consolidation Stage is by some or all of the following:

Gossip:

The greatest obstacle to a happy and well adjusted group is the difference in cultural and intellectual levels of its members. Some would say an even more significant obstacle is intolerance to those differences. Of necessity group conversation centres around topics that can be discussed by all. These topics are so often other community members. Popular also are Office, the parents at school, the teachers and then back to Office. According to popular Jakarta urban philosophy if your section is not being talked about then you must be doing a good job.

We all like to have an occasional grumble in response to some vague sense of dissatisfaction about things generally. It is a simple and usually safe way of letting off steam but gossip can be hurtful, damaging, grossly inaccurate and a blow to morale.

It is far better for dissatisfaction to be deflected to a vague impersonal distant organization which cannot fight back anyway rather than to a community member. Gossip damages relationships, destroys trust and brings misery to those unable to see it for what it is. With gossip you should remember you may not be in possession of all of the facts when criticising a decision or policy. It is just possible that you are wrong.
To help reduce gossip levels ensure you are involved in a spread of activities with a range of people to help create other talking points. Get involved in an executive capacity in one of the clubs in place Jakarta.
Be tolerant of minor imperfections or upsets in the system. Keep in mind there are special difficulties with supplies, communications and organization in Jakarta.
Do it yourself rather than repeat "wouldn't you think someone. would.....".

Food Needs
Food is often a gratification for tension expression and a psychological compensation for other deprivations in Jakarta. Weight gain is common in Jakarta –often a 10kg post. Adequate and appropriate food choice is essential for emotional gratification hence the role of and common discussion of the restaurants, supermarkets and domestic cooks in Jakarta is important.
Residents with particular food interests or uncommon dietary preferences may be particularly irritated by the reasonable but restricted food choice.

Alcohol
Alcohol can be a great tension reliever. Its consumption is a social oil. Alcohol can be one of the pleasures of a civilized society. It is an important source of weight gain. The consumption of alcohol in Jakarta is quite significant. 

The opportunity, availability and temptation to drink alcohol is very high and more so in those who attend many embassy functions. If you have an alcohol problem then Jakarta may not be the place for you.

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Consolidation Stage, Living In Jakarta, Part 1

Stage Of Jakarta Life:

Consolidation Stage Part 1

After a variable time of perhaps seven to twelve months in Jakarta you will become much more settled. By this time your social needs and the mutual interdependence among your group members for esteem and affection have largely been met. The group dynamics have reached equilibrium. You will be more settled, probably quite content and optimistically looking forward to the challenges ahead.

Your Work

You will probably produce your best work professionally and socially during the Consolidation Stage. Work in its broadest context of paid and unpaid work will assume special significance as some familiar past roles such as Apex Club member, Church member, School Council member have been eliminated.

Your committed work input will be very important to you and to the community as the effectiveness and accomplishment of your section depends on the input of its individual members. It is very important for your self esteem to know that your section or any other department is perceived by the larger Jakarta community to be an efficient progressive group. That can only happen with your work input and commitment.
 

Intellectual Inertia:
Surprisingly a general lack of interest in the outside world usually develops during the Consolidation Stage. Some people sense this loss of interest developing during the Let-Down Stage. There may well be extra curricular intellectual inertia also: Those plans to learn the Indonesian language, to learn to play a musical instrument, intentions to complete your degree and so on all come to very little.

Often your reading is even of a lower order than usual. Note this inertia will be in contrast to your job performance. Intellectual inertia outside your professional duties may be related to exposure to the prolonged "sameness" of faces, of personalities, a limited social milieu and a relatively simple routine of life. Part of the reason in Jakarta for this intellectual inertia is undoubtedly the frantic social pace.

Perspective
There may be some loss of sense of proportion and perspective shown by a tendency to become unduly preoccupied by trifles, prone to petty annoyances, loss of relativity, inappropriate perception of advertent or inadvertent slights, an increased penchant for contention, mildly overt anti-authoritarianism, undue sensitivity about rights and privileges and the need to take immediate aggressive action in response to grievances either real, imagined or both.

Try to retain some balance. If you find you are still getting upset try to remind yourself that in reality the stakes for you in Jakarta are so small.

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