We’re a generation of paper chasers. Our dogged mindset to stay on top of the game has transformed us into a nation fixated with producing the best results. There is no doubt that on certain fronts, we’ve had stellar accolades – our students are consistently ranked among the top percentiles in international benchmarking tests; our government and businesses pride themselves upon holding pole positions on corruption and transparency indices; our country has achieved the highest GDP per capita among world economies.

We’re the world’s most affluent. Yet, are we happy as a nation? Apparently not. Gallup has us up as the world’s most emotionless society and befittingly, the least happy bunch among seven billion people. In terms of human rights and press freedom, we languish near the bottom of the pile. These are but some of the values that we’ve (forcibly) chosen, as a country, to forsake in the relentless pursuit for success on more quantifiable measures.

We’re a nation of high achievers. But these achievements are not without their costs. Economists know all too well the trade-off theory of growth. We market ourselves as a small, sleepy fishing village of yesterday which has, against all odds, been remoulded into the Singapore, Inc. that is the pride of Asia and envy of the Americas. What a success story, many outside our city-state would agree. But what have we sacrificed to get so far?

We’re the new poor in a rich world. Foreigners from around the world has flocked to our shores to supplement our ageing workforce. This should come as no surprise as our fertility rate ranks among the lowest in the world. When our children grow up, they will likely spend their entire lives slogging away at work, amongst brethren from a multitude of nations rivalling only that of the UN, for a stagnant pay cheque to service a pigeon-hole of an apartment which they’ll hardly find time to stay in.

We’re inevitably a country trapped in a vicious cycle of its own growth. It’s unfortunate that some of the social ills we’re faced with today are the indirect consequences of unyielding pursuit of success. But 40 years down the road, we’re still expected to be among the world’s richest. Some say growth is needed to keep this expectation on track, but as a recent TODAY commentary on economic growth in Singapore correctly pinpoints the crux of this conundrum – seek not more, but better growth.

In spite of all this, we’re not the damned. While income equality, work-life balance, and our many pent-up frustrations are not issues that can be resolved overnight, we do not have to leave our fates at the mercy of others. More often than not, we have the ability to find our own solutions. As a quote frequently attributed to the Dalai Lama on what surprises him most about humanity alludes, the answer lies within:

“Man sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”