End of Life as We Know It – Bangkok Edition

My dreams started to really take hold three years ago. Three years ago, a friend came to visit from Thailand, and what was otherwise only festering uncomfortably under the surface of my existence was finally coming to the surface.

I knew life needed to change. I knew the way I was doing things needed further change, and I started to see more paths than I could take at once. They were taking hold, but not taking shape.

The ideas flowed long before that, as I became exposed to more and more adventures of new people I’d meet. People living in different ways. People living outside the proverbial box of a traditional home.

I started this blog around that time to document all these ideas and people. I wanted to show other people who felt trapped by this default life that there was another way. Another way to do life, and even that wasn’t limited to just one way.

There were people living and traveling by RV and van, people living out of a backpack while traveling lightly around the world, exploring the seas living aboard sailboats, and people who worked from wherever they could recharge their laptop and connect to the internet.

In the past three years, I’ve hosted a number of these people in our home or enjoyed meals with them as they passed through town. I’ve been able to travel a small bit in this time, while always having this traditional home to come back to. I finally got a passport and even got it stamped during this time.

There is so much I still wanted to see and do. My work allowed for travel. I need only to have access to the internet for an hour or so a day, in most cases. The rest can be done from anywhere I am comfortable while writing copy for clients on my laptop or diagramming concepts for a campaign in a paper notebook.

My belongings have dwindling down to nearly nothing as I’ve sold or donated most everything I own. Only what gets used regularly remains in my life. The hundreds of books are gone. Years of old paperwork shredded. CD’s burned to digital and recycled. A closet full of clothes has gone to various charities.

But now I need to take it to another level. All of this preparation is getting me there, but I have still been too constrained by the traditional lifestyle, and it’s gotten in the way of the rest of those dreams. There are other places I want to see. Other experiences to have and things to learn. More people to meet and share a meal with.

That same friend from Thailand just spent another long weekend with us. The past three years were filled with so much progress, yet there is still far too much to do.

Instead of the slow, plodding preparation that I’ve done the past three years, I now have a fixed deadline. In February, 2013, we’re moving to Thailand.

End of Life as We Know It

Several areas need a boost for me straight away. I need to take my business and income to another level and I need to get the minimizing completely down to travel-size. I already work remotely and have for years, so there isn’t really a change there.

The travel and living budget will actually be less expensive than my traditional boxed life, but I want to both have plenty of leeway and free up my time to enjoy my days more. But I have lived on as little as possible as I screened out the unnecessary in my life. It’s not enough for the things I want to do, so I will be taking on more projects.

I’ve worked behind the scenes to take the Copywriting business to a whole new level, discontinuing some types of writing jobs I was taking, and getting better at the work I still do. It makes for happier clients and a happier me.

The Stuff of My Life.

My fiance hasn’t come quite as far as I have with the minimalism. Paring her life down to size will be more work than it was for mine. I was always pretty spartan in my approach to possessions, while she has been markedly less so.

This is a big project with many facets, that will be taking most of her time. It’s possible that things could drag longer with real estate and other complications, but it will get done. Hopefully by February.

So the plan as it stands is that we are moving to Thailand the first week of February. Feb 7th is 175 days from now, and I will be counting them down, making preparations to finally get this first move made.