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We always want to make resolutions at certain times, such as a new year, a new month or even a new week. But I am becoming event oriented as most of the physical or geographical changes in my life have also led to some shifts in my lifestyle. Especially travelling, because these are the times when I can’t continue with my daily routine, which will put a lot of things on the list, but also the times when I am exposed to an unfamiliar outside world and I have a lot of time to spend with myself and offer reflections. I will then bring a new perspective to my daily life. So, to be precise, I decide how I will live my life after each trip.

Especially after this crazy year where I’ve only been home for three weeks in the last five months, it’s also been very experimental and I’ve done a lot of things I’ve never done and won’t be doing any time soon. I’ve tried and gained new experiences and now I can judge and know what kind of life I really want, what kind of place I feel comfortable living in and what kind of people I can get along with. And now, because it’s all coming to an end, it’s also a new beginning. The main thing to do when I get home is to reorganise everything and decide what to bring to the new life. As a punishment I will stay at home for at least 5 weeks, well I know I will go on short trips around at weekends but it is still part of home.

After being away from home for two months and being on my own, I finally came back and the others were like mirrors for me on my travels. So for the new year, we’re going to fly AirAsia every two months for a two-week trip around the Asia Pacific region so that I can have enough time at home to develop my identity, immerse myself more in the local community and build stronger connections. Try to expose yourself to more opportunities and see what comes out of it.

09/12/2022

These were my thoughts at the end of last year and so far the new year has been great for me. Everything that has happened has exceeded expectations, but it all makes sense. This has made me start to believe in karma. But that’s the way it is, all results come from what you’ve done before. So when all this happens, I’m not surprised.

I believe that every day is the best day of my life, I am the happiest and I am very grateful for everything that has happened to me. And tomorrow will be even better on the basis of what I have done today. And I know exactly what I want, because we’ve made clear plans for the immediate and distant future and all we need to do and worry about is making the best of the present. Instead of dwelling on the great future, it is more practical to do what you really enjoy and what is good for you.

So the perspective on life in this new year is to do more and think less; we have thought enough, even too much. Now is indeed the time to get your feet on the ground.

By completing the to-do list first and then resuming daily and weekly study and exercise, then life will run in the right way and lead to a brighter future. And then we can enjoy it in the best possible way.

One of the differences this year is that we have more roles at StudyPerth, which is actually the best news I got in January because I wouldn’t have missed all the events anyway now that I’m part of it. So we have more reasons to stay at home, interact with more people and be busier but very fulfilled.

Travelling will still be an essential part of my life, whether it’s urban walks, day trips or weekend trips, whether interstate or international. But, as we’ve got an AirAsia subscription this year, we can always see and plan, so don’t worry too much about that. Yeah, we’ll have a great time.

Tommy 23 January 2023

I’m talking all about after the trip, I don’t even want to have a trip at the moment because there’s so much I can do at home and I don’t get to see all my friends, but we can do it if we stop wasting time. So what do I want now? Finish all the things that belong in the past, we should be able to finish them next week, then we make sure that all the routines resume so that life progresses and then we can do fun things like continue the throwback cultural journey I got stuck on in 1972, start building my great map, get tickets for ballet, opera, theatre and concerts, plan trips to Thailand, China, Japan, Korea and the US, well we never run out of things to do so the most important thing for me is to start doing something. Enjoy it.

Tommy 28 January 2023

I finally completed my first trip to California (the states) which I have been trying to do for over five years and again, it was a great and very stressful trip. As I rested in Bali on the last leg before returning home to prepare and get back to work, I opened the site to write something to organise my thoughts, but once I saw the previous posts about the Bangkok trip, oh well, everything was exactly the same.

Meeting and spending time with different people has really helped me gain a clearer head and I’ve finally made up my mind to make decisions about my life so the near future is going to be somehow different to what it has been up to this year and I’m excited and nervous but we will face the challenges and move on.

So the same things are happening, we can’t continue the study and workout routine and the to-do list is getting bigger so we need to focus on these things at this stage and we will see how things will go because it certainly won’t be the same. I feel like I am going through a period of rapid change as I am building my new view of the world and the people at an unprecedented rate as I am visiting different places, seeing different people and doing many new things. I believe it will continue to change and we will experience and see that.

So what should we do now? The first thing is to get back to my regular routine of work, study and fitness. It will take a few days to re-adopt the intense schedule but we will get used to it, we have had a month off so far and now it’s time to work a little harder. Then when we get home we will start to organise my physical living environment and reconnect with all my friends (something I couldn’t do this year). All these changes lead life into a whole new way, but what really matters is what I’m doing, not what I’ve done or what I’m going to do.

Well, get a good night’s sleep, get up, study, work and work out and can’t wait to see what we will achieve until the next trip in January.

Tommy 29 November 2022 Bali

Over the last two years my thinking and views have changed, and I’ve made some friends, and then I tried group socialising earlier this year. I couldn’t be with my friends for the last six months, but I have changed again and it must be different again now with my lovely friends.

However I haven’t figured out how much longer I should stay in Bali, I want to extend my trip by a week but obviously I can’t stay in hotels and resorts all the time, I need to go local, meet some friends and explore the area. There are plenty of options, but I might need a scooter and a SIM card. I’m worried that this trip will distract me so I don’t want to stay too long, but what if I meet some really nice people who don’t want to leave? Anyway, I’ll make a decision in two days and see how it goes first. On this trip I’ve been to a few new towns, done things I’ve never done here before and found there’s still a lot to see. But we can always come back, just work hard for a day and you can earn your ticket back, so yes, work harder so I have more time to enjoy my life here.

Tommy 30 November 2022 Ubud, Bali

Finally the longest trip and the first trip to Thailand since COVID, I have to say that everything I have known about this country for the last two years has been calling me back and I have finally made myself back.

However, the trip to Bangkok was very intense indeed, having planned to visit many cities during the two and a half weeks in Thailand, but once I arrived everything about the city fascinated me, the longer I stayed the more places I wanted to visit and it felt like I would never run out of things to do, places to go or friends to see in Bangkok. It really is a city that embraces every aspect of me and no matter what I want to do or what situation I put myself in, I can always have my best time in Bangkok. I’m not free enough to stay for as long as I want, but I’ll definitely be back, really soon.

Because of this intense trip, daily workouts and studying couldn’t happen like I did at home, and I didn’t even get a full 8.5 hours of sleep while I was there, but I slept soundly and deeply every night while I was there because my body was so tired. After a week back, we finally paid off all the sleep debt and resumed all the exercise and study routines. The weekly study thing hasn’t resumed yet, but here I have a long weekend to get things organised.

After more experience and talking to different people in Bangkok, I’ve become more sure of what I really want and am after. But what we need to do or should do is prepare for more amazing explorations in the future. There are  things really important or totally meaningless, it’s important to differentiate. Everything is changing, so we really need to reflect on what is the right thing to do for the current situation. Be honest and make sure you have self-control. You’ll get yourself to the right destination.

The daily schedule is already tight, plus entertainment and social, so for the 3 working days of the week, just make sure to complete all the assigned tasks and make satisfactory progress on work. Then do more studying, self-improvement and other things afterwards. Get information efficiently and enjoy the weekend. But remember, even if you don’t do anything extra, your language skills, including English, Japanese, Thai, Cantonese are improving every day and this will really change your life in the future. Also for the appearance, including body muscles, body fat, hair, everything is getting better.  You’ll see results in a very short time and you’ve seen the results, haven’t you?

The only thing left, and also the thing that takes up most of my time, is still social media, which I stopped for the whole month in order to live our reflections, and now it’s time to think about how to use it. So basically, we need to cut down on unnecessary spending while staying in touch with close friends, fetching the information we want and documenting the best parts of my life. So the main goal is to centralise time and stop fragmented time consumption.

We have now been home for a month and everything has settled down. This week was the first time ever that we have completed our daily studies and exercises, as well as the weekly English and work skills training. We now have real weekends to do whatever I want to do and keep myself entertained. I should be very happy and satisfied with the results I have achieved. I can see straight away the changes I’ve made, both in terms of work and language, which is great. I’ve also caught up on a lot of things on the to-do lists, and after finishing all the rest, I can watch things, read and write, post and even enjoy time on social networks while relaxing as much as possible before returning to another productive week.

I’ve also put myself on a fast track to learning and it’s great to know that I’m learning lots of new things every week and I’m getting close to the goal of getting myself back to being a student before I go back to uni full time in a year.

For the social networking thing, so far we’ve taken a break from all our main accounts for a few weeks and we’re settling into life without feeds, which has really saved me a lot of time. In the future, I will only be using social media at the weekends, after I have finished the three days of work and 10 hours of study a week.

Well, since things are going so well, let’s enjoy the real first real weekend and read books in preparation for next week’s study.

Tommy 23 Sep / 21 Oct 2022