Why Did I Come to South East Asia?
I finally had time to get caught up now that I’m situated in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I haven’t been able to sit down yet and write down my thoughts on this trip in general until now. I’ve written journal entries for day 10 and day 11 but I wanted to articulate my thoughts on why I even went out to South East Asia (SEA) in the first place.
I honestly didn’t even think much of the trip until the day finally arrived and I got onto the plane from LAX to Hong Kong and then Chiang Mai airport. I hadn’t planned the rest of my trip yet. All I had set was my flight to Hong Kong, my transfer flight to Chiang Mai, and two weeks worth of Airbnb set. However, now that it’s been 12 days so far and I have a decent rhythm now, I’ve had time to think and reflect on my decision coming out there.
Everyone would ask me what my plans were or what the reason I decided to come out to SEA. I didn’t have a well thought out answer except for the generic “business and leisure…” But there was more to that than I had the capacity at the time to articulate. It wasn’t until I read this blog in Farnam Street that it finally clicked for me.
When Thoreau penned the words “I go to the woods to live deliberately,” he didn’t seek to extol the virtues of off-grid living, though that may have been a by-product of his experiment. He wanted to create space to cultivate a life and mind of purpose—outside the influence and dictates of others. His fear, one that many of us share, was that when he came to the end of his life, he would “discover that [he] had not lived.”[i]
This excerpt from the blog that quotes Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden (A book I read years ago) was the unconscious driving factor that led to this trip. Yes, there were other aspects that made the time to go now, but the underlying thought was to “create space to cultivate a life and mind of purpose — outside the influence and dictates of others.”
It was to get away for a while to think purposefully about my future without outside influences. Sometimes it’s easy to have decision making clouded because we live in the familiar. I’m a huge fan of living deliberately and purposefully (principle one in the Farnam blog), directing the course of my life within the confines that God has given us. I believe that ultimately God is sovereign and in his sovereignty, He gives us the freedom and ability to acquire wisdom and CHOOSE to live a life holy and pleasing to Him. He won’t force or coerce us, but like a good parent gives us the wisdom (through his Word, Holy Spirit, and people) and it’s up to us to make the wise choices.
Being away in another country, without really knowing anybody, has given me the time and space to think about where I want my life to head and also reflect on how far I’ve come so far. I literally wake up each day feeling overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude. I have the freedom to be living abroad for 4 months. I’ve been waking up to this view every morning for the past 12 days. Simply stunning.
I thought I would feel a sense of loneliness not knowing anyone here, but it’s just been refreshing, to say the least. I initially thought I’d end up some kind of recluse being gone so long, but I had to remind myself that this is just for a period of time. I won’t be isolated forever. That helped. Isolation for too long can be dangerous to your own mental health. Humans weren’t created to live alone. The worst thing for most inmates is solitary confinement. But for a period of time, under the right circumstance, it can be healthy.
This trip has been exactly that. It’s been extremely refreshing.
Another plus to this trip is this site was birthed from it. I’ve thought about creating a blog for a while but this trip gave me a reason to do it. It’s been therapeutic to write down my days even if I’m the only one that sees it. It’s a way to reflect and be grateful each day I’m alive. It’s also a way for me to slow the day down. Life moves so quickly that we don’t live in the present. This is one exercise I do to slow it down by purposefully thinking about my day instead of just letting each moment slip by.
All in all, this trip has been proving fruitful. It got me out of my comfort zone. It’s made me bolder. It’s gotten me to dream more. It’s given me space for fresh perspective. It’s forced me to see how diverse and unique this world is. It’s allowed me to experience a change in scenery.
I’ve also seen how small this world can feel now that we’re so connected. I almost don’t even feel I’m out of the United States sometimes because of the internet and the ability to work anywhere in the world. It’s pretty incredible when I think of it.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip. I’ll be staying in Chiang Mai for another two weeks then I’ll be heading over to Bangkok for two weeks, possibly more, and then to Phuket. After that I’ll most likely head down to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for a little bit, then Singapore, and end up in Bali for a month. After that, my buddy will be linking up with me in Hong Kong. Most of this trip has been focused on work for me. The last 3 weeks will be about exploring Thailand and Vietnam. No work just exploring. I’m looking forward to it.
That’s it for now. Cheers.
P.S. I can’t NOT post food pictures.
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