Two single, happy women to crow about

During the Lunar New Year holiday, I met two single Chinese women who appeared immune to the much-talked-about reunion-time family pressure to get hitched.

Jiang Rong (aka Stacy, 29) and Chen Yufei (aka Shefali, 31) could be an inspiration not just for singles but anyone keen on having a good time.

They seem to know how to convert passions and "giftedness" into paying, challenging and joyous jobs. Clueless parents keen to help teenage children choose suitable courses and careers may want to read on.

As Richard Nelson Bolles writes in What Color Is Your Parachute?, it takes effort to discover one's unique combination of inborn talents, natural strengths or "giftedness". Blessed are those who find a vocation (or job/jobs) that makes optimal use of that combination.

Stacy and Shefali hold more than one job, and appear to have found that sweet spot, a wellspring of inner joy and contentment.

Whenever opportunity arises, they work as tour guides for OK,Deal! Travel, a Shanghai tourism firm. Admirably they led us, a group of 20 working expatriates in China, on a four-day hiking trip to Mount Sanqing in Jiangxi province.

Fit as a fiddle, their energy and enthusiasm were infectious. Not before long, bonding ensued, queries erupted. They explained why they - two single, happy women - accepted this tour when others would be with their families.

Stacy, a platform manager at an ad agency, is passionate about hiking, cycling, meeting new people. Short and stocky, her strong, protruding calf muscles, and quick, untiring strides up and down the mountain staircases, testify she's a trekking nut. A 20-day cycling tour encircling Taiwan is a piece of cake.

Shefali doubles up as a yoga teacher. Her image portfolio on WeChat will probably make you think she must have missed her calling to be a supermodel.

It's not just youth, beauty, physical fitness and love of outdoor activity that make them stand out from other singles.

During the tour, both displayed several skills and traits: project management, leadership, crisis management, time management, ability to work a crowd, customer service outlook, sense of humor, multitasking, decision-making, being a sport, you name it.

Want vegetarian meals? No problem.

Bed-warmer not working? Will have it fixed pronto.

Upset tummy? Here's the doctor, and medicines.

Dance? Okay, let's dance.

Run and jump over campfire? Heck, here I come.

Selfie? Let me strike a yoga posture.

During the trek, Shefali persuaded an Indian woman to apply traditional makeup, attracting trekkers' admiring looks.

Why wouldn't Chinese guys see these two women as desirable? "Well, guys seem to think I'm too tough," Stacy said.

Does tough physical activity toughen a woman from within? Don't know - but why is that a negative?

"I did have boyfriends, but...," said Shefali (whose septuagenarian mother apparently is very supportive of her twin-career routine).

Stacy and Shefali aren't desperate to get hitched; options remain open. For them, life is an opportunity to actualize gifts and talents, live out dreams, help others, have fun with like-minded people, defy and ignore labels like "leftover women" and be busy, happy.

Ain't I happy crowing about them in this Year of the Rooster.

Contact the writer at siva@chinadaily.com.cn