The Things That Traveling South East Asia Taught Me

1. Take life slowly

Back at home, people are always rushing around – me included. We rush for transport, to complete deadlines, to get to work / school. We even rush in our times of leisure – when we cook and even when we eat, when we go shopping, when we workout. Life feels like a race and it’s no wonder we get ill, we’re constantly stressing ourselves and pushing ourselves. Every time in Asia I got a little bit stressed and felt pushed for time, it didn’t feel suitable. I felt silly. Locals would tell me to take it slow. And I realised they were right. Life moves at a slower pace in a lot of Asian countries. I started to stop stressing out and rushing myself, I started taking it easy and living life at a slower pace. I wasn’t being lazy. I was combining managing my time better when I needed to and not worrying if things weren’t on time. The result is I now feel way more relaxed, accepting, and stress free. I appreciate the little things in life because I take the time to. Life is a lot more beautiful when you put things on a slow burner.

2. Everything will work out

This is very much linked to my point above. Through learning to take life at a slower pace, I learnt that things have a wonderful way of working out. There is no point pushing life, it will only push back. Instead it is much more pleasurable to take things as they come. With this comes a greater appreciation of life, and an attitude of surrendering to the universe, instead of trying to control everything. At home, people care about control. They care about power-play. Of course, you need to take control of your life to some extent, but travel taught me to stop trying to control the things that are out of your power. There is no point worrying if the ferry/bus/train isn’t on time. There is no point worrying if the girl in the restaurant or at the food stall got your order wrong. It’s not about accepting everything at face value, it’s simply about not sweating the small stuff and accepting it’s not all bad. You will get your order, or at least some food, tonight. You will get to your destination at some point. You will get where you need to go.