Lifestyle

Every time I pass by the entrance of Prince of Songkla Univeristy, I see this sentence on the gate frame: ‘Our Soul is for the Benefit of Mankind’. And I always think that I’d like to kiss that person who came up with this idea as a welcome note. In fact, for me it is not a welcome note at all, but an urge to reconsider my actions and thoughts. It often brings me to a contemplation state: am I using my time in this life wisely to leave it as a better place at the time of my exit? Which type of actions I am taking are dominating which, the good or the bad?

If I wanted to narrow down my actions to my current career path, teaching, my questions became: how was I using this privilege of spending time with these people (students) to make some sort of positive influence in their lives, be it temporary or permanent? Was I not the same as (or worse than) a YouTube tutorial from which they could learn the same content I am teaching?

With kindergarteners, my strategy was always compassion, patience and understanding. And knowing that their age was a critical stage of forming characters, I tried my best to be an idol in my behavior and values. And now, as a university teacher, I always try to urge my students to think for themselves, to write down their ideas so they can observe what’s in their mind and understand it. I try to expose them to sociological and psychological ideas that have personally interested me, like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, or Pavlov’s Classical conditioning experiment. I ask them to make vision boards, to write love letters to themselves in order to highlight their best attributes, to read biographies of their favorite idols, to make plans for their futures… Every now and then, I let them watch movies that inspired me personally. Movies of remarkable teachers, such as ‘Dead Poets Society,’ stressing the idea of Carpe Diem (Seize the Day) or ‘Pay it Forward’ to understand ripple effects…

Oh, there’s much more for improvement all the time, and even though doubts about my approach come and go now and then, I’d rather be in a state of recurring contemplation, experimentation, learning and growth, than in a statue of ‘I know it all.’ Because, as Henry Ford said: ‘Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.’ And I’d rather keep my mind young, because ‘When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant, but when it’s dry and hard, it does. Hardness and strength are death’s companions, pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win’ (quote from Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’)

So, you’ve made up your mind! You want to quit your lame job and start pursuing what you really love and are passionate about. But it is a bit scary to make the leap. You’ve told yourself that it’s going to be alright, but until you make sure that your new passion will start bringing you a stable and consistent source of income, there is always the tendency to just stay where you are… because it’s stable and secure. But guess what? Life itself is unstable and insecure. I mean, could you guarantee me right now that you will be here tomorrow, on planet earth, living your life and doing what you do?

I personally, don’t like security too much! But that also doesn’t mean that I take decisions on impulse. I do, in fact, think well about all the decisions that I take in my life, especially the life changing ones. Before taking my new career path, I research to understand how I would transition myself from one career to another. And so, allow me to share my findings with you, in hope that you could also make use of them, as I profoundly have.

First, you should know that there is no one single path that everyone could take. According to your current situation, at your job and in life, and based on your character, you will choose the path that fits you best. I have found that there are 3 effective ways to change your career. But before we get into that, let me tell help explain to you the importance of time.

You need to know that in order to be successful, all you need is focus and time. The former is pretty obvious, but what about time? I’ll tell you: you will need to dedicate 20 hours each week for the best career transition results. That means that, if you have a stable job that requires you to work 45 hours per week, your total working hours will rise up to 65.

But in order to understand whether you can do that while keeping your current job, let’s carefully examine the hours you spend weekly doing your different activities:

If, an average person sleeps 8 hours per day, that adds up to 56 hours per week. When we minus that from the total number of 168 hours we have in a week, we will be left with 112 hours.

Now, let’s say you work 45 hours per week, you commute for 8 hours, you also travel for 5 hours in total for non-work related stuff (like going to see friends, shopping, paying bills, etc.). Then we have your leisure hours of watching TV, browsing the internet and so on, for 15 hours per week. We will also add cleaning time that you take to 3 hours, shopping, cooking and eating food for 12 hours, bathing and getting ready to 4 hours, and doing your hobbies, like playing an instrument, doing yoga, reading, etc., to 5 hours per week. We will now add the time you socialise with friends or talk to them on the phone to 5 hours, and finally, the time you spend with your family, boyfriend/girlfriend to 15 hours.

If we add all these hours up, guess what number we will get? 117 hours!!! Now, let’s add the 20 additional hours you need to dedicate for your new career and we get a total of 137 hours!!! Do you see the predicament here? How will you free up all these 25 hours you need to make the leap towards your new career? 

If you’re really dedicated, then you would think that you can free up the hours of leisure that you have. But make no mistake here: leisure has to have its time, because the mind, as well as the body, really need it. If your mind is always working, working, working, sooner or later it will shut down and refuse to work. If your body is constantly doing, doing, doing, there will come a time when it will get sick! So, make sure that you leave some time for play. Now, if you don’t have a family or a partner, that helps also save you some time for your passion. You will also have to really consider what other options you can eliminate or substitute in order to make the necessary time needed for this transition is available. Only you yourself can make the right schedule for you. But I will also advise you here to make sure the new schedule is realistic: if you make a timetable for yourself that you know you will not be able to stick to, then it is better to reconsider planning that schedule. Sometimes, there isn’t time enough for experimentation. You will need consistency.

Now let me explain to you about the 3 different paths that you could take:

1 The adventurer’s path:

It is when you leave your job cold turkey and decide to pursue your dream career head on. Here, you don’t have to worry about not having enough hours to work on your new job. You will have all the time you need. If you choose this career path, then forget all about what we’ve discussed above concerning time management. But this path is a bit risky, because you will not have a stable source of income to back you up, so you will really need to think about how it will make you will feel. Will this corner you up and bring you back running to your old job? Or will you have enough discipline and patience to work on what you love and wait for results? This option is risky, yes, but it is totally time saving. You would have the opportunity to shift careers faster than if you choose the next 2 paths, where your time is less dedicated to your passion. The biggest advantage here is time; the most important question remains: Are you focused enough?

2 The strategist’s path:

This is a more secure path, since it requires you to work enough hours to sustain yourself, and at the same time, have enough 20 hours to work on your passion. And this could become real in a few different ways: For example, you could ask at your current boss to reduce your working hours down to 25 instead of 45. Here, you would still have a stable source of income, but you will also have that extra 20 hours to work on your passion. With this option, you might not even need to compromise any of your leisurely or social activities. On this path, you could also refer to working solely as a freelancer, taking up the number of projects you need for income, while at the same time, having enough time for working on your new career. Beware though, that you focus doesn’t get distracted between the work that brings you income and the passion you are trying to pursue. So, you need to evaluate whether you could shift your focus between these two simultaneously.

3 The grinder’s path:

I would have to say this is the most difficult one, and would probably take longer than the previous 2 paths. But it is also the most secure. Here, you don’t have to give up your job, nor reduce any working hours. You will just have to make enough time (20 hours per week) to work on your passion. But this path will require a lot of compromise: it might mean working long hours on weekends and not having time for family or friends. It could mean, not watching any TV or engaging in hobbies. This path means working 9 hours daily at your current job, then sparing 2 more hours daily for your new career, while still having to work 10 hours during the weekend!
Keep in mind that this might be sustainable for a few months, but what if you need 2 or more years to start making income from your passion? Will you be able to hold on that long without having a burnout? Also, will you be able to stick to your 20 hours weekly, when there might arise some unpredictable events, like having to move houses, attend a wedding, etc? How will you make up on those lost hours? I would suggest that you don’t compromise your sleep hours, since we need those rest hours for our body and brain to rejuvenate. My best advice here is to do as many hours as you can from the 20 hours needed. The important thing is that you DO! And that you don’t let laziness or distractions win you over. Good luck!

So now that you’ve seen these 3 different paths, which one will you take? Let me know in the comments below, or ask any questions that you might have about these paths. 
I wish you a happy career changing and a glorious pursuing of your passion!

Inspired by Joe Barnes’ book “Do the Work You Love”

We are speaking today with Lesley Naylor, author of the new book ‘The Land of Trees’

by Leonard H. Le Blanc III

When did you first come to Thailand?

First trip was in 2010. My partner (he had already fallen in love with Thailand and been visiting for years) and I made the three hour bus ride from Bangkok to Ban Phe and then the boat ride on to Koh Samet. Having lived in East London for the past 20 years, a place dear to my heart but high in crime and deprivation, I was impressed by the friendliness of locals, the cheap availability of delicious foods, the lack of crime and the rocky and isolated beauty of the island with its forest covered coast and sandy beaches. I went to my first and only full moon party, joined by a coach load of ladyboy revellers and had the time of my life! 

What has changed here the most?

We moved to Phuket in 2012 and it has since changed dramatically. The airport was a one terminal building, there were no streetlights over much of the island, no dual carriageways and no Makro or Villa Market’s near us. You could drive from one end of the island to the other in an hour. Over the past decade we have seen the airport expand to an international hub capable of bringing in five times as many tourists (about ten million people) pre-Covid. The frenzied development of villas, hotels and beach clubs and subsequent removal of flora and fauna has been shocking to witness.

What has changed here the least?

In spite of all the commercial development there are still local vendors and restaurants that remain unfazed, particularly in Phuket town. 

What are you working on now?

I am writing academically for the first time in 20 years as I complete a master’s module in Education, specifically on raising the achievement of learners. 

What do you do for fun?

I love yoga, music, reading, roaming beaches, swimming in the sea and hanging out with friends.

Where are your favourite places to visit?

Since Covid, our world became very small, and we have not left the island in almost two years. Pre-Covid we loved driving to Penang in Malaysia and flying to Cambodia. Within Thailand we loved spending time in Khao Sok with its ancient tropical rainforest and multitude of animals.

What are your favourite foods to eat?

Noodles and dim sum!

What got you interested in writing about SE Asia?

I have an uncle who escaped China by swimming to Hong Kong. My family, as you can imagine just from that, has a crazy history of migration. I want to write about it as migration has always deeply affected me, but I lack the confidence. When Covid happened it kind of gave me the excuse to stop writing for a while. But it is often on my mind. I am getting ready and keeping busy in the meantime.

What advice do you have for anyone that wants to move to Thailand (or SE Asia)?

Do it. But remember you are a guest in a culture that you will need to be able to genuinely love and respect. So, visit first! Phuket is not the best place to practice the Thai language because so many people speak English and are proud of the fact but learn as much as you can. Also, give as much back as you can: recycle and reuse things and support community initiatives.

My partner says do not move to Thailand if you are a hot tempered kind of person! And he is absolutely right because Thai people have a kind of philosophy that involves being mellow at all times: Jai yen (cool heart). Confrontation and yelling at people is kind of repugnant. Obviously not every single Thai person is perfectly behaved! But you are guaranteed to meet far, far less irate people than you would in London. Thais, mostly, are kind, welcoming and principled folk. They are a big part of why we are still here. 

What do you see in the future for yourself?

I have never been good at seeing the future, even with my wild imagination! Do not know where we will be on this planet or what we will be doing. I will probably be writing though. 

by Leonard H. Le Blanc III

I have been asked by other aspiring writers, since I am doing a lot of book reviews again for Expat Life in Thailand, how can they become a writer? I am immediately reminded what Daniel Craig (James Bond movies) just told other aspiring actors who want to become thespians: “Don’t do it!” He explained it is too hard, the humiliations and rejections are constant, the odds of becoming a success in the business are impossibly long. And this advice is coming from one of the most successful, widely admired, enormously talented actors of his generation. Give up yet? OK, you asked for it! Here we go with my (poor) advice.

Before I ever put pen to paper back in 1988, I was a U.S. Navy Minority Officer Recruiter in El Paso, Texas, USA. I invited one of the U.S.’s best selling authors to come down to speak. He agreed to come. His name was Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr., author of the Naval classic Run Silent, Run Deep later made into a popular movie. I asked him: “What does it take to become a writer?” He replied: “You need three things. First – know what person you are speaking in. Second – know your audience. Third – know your subject.”

There was an old saying in Hollywood: “For every face you see on the screen there are a 1,000 failures.” When I occasionally moonlighted as an extra in Hollywood, when I was still in U.S. Navy Recruiting in 1988-1991, the common wisdom was there were 110,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Of that only 3,000 made more than $10,000USD a year. So the competition to succeed was intensely fierce. I did an interview with the prolific, best selling author, Colin Cotterill for Expat Life in Thailand. We spoke about what it takes to become a writer. He said that C.S. Lewis got over 800 rejection slips before someone saw the charms of The Chronicles of Narnia. (My first novel, Air Base, got slightly less rejection slips from book agents and publishers.) Colin said he got very lucky in having his enormously popular murder mystery books reach a market that was eager to read them.

However, I also spoke with the Executive Senior Editor of the U.S. official military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, Bob Reid, about writing. He explained it is all ‘rigged’. Publishing is all an insider’s game, closed to outsiders looking to break in be a successful writer. He said that a publisher will take a bad book from a famous author over a great book from an unknown author. This is definitely true, looking at some of the mangy, flea bitten, moth eaten works I have seen from some well known authors. Towards the end of his life, Mario Puzo (The Godfather) put out several critically panned books. But because he was “Mario Puzo”, these books all sold like free hot cakes since his third book was an international blockbusting best seller. I have seen other local great writers in my time including Steve Rosse, William Peskett, Robin Westley Martin, Stephen Leather, Tom Crowley, Collin Piprell, and others here craft as good, or better, as anything the bestselling authors have on the market. The problem – lack of audience for whatever reason, not skill or talent.

How did I get my five books into print? The first two books I had printed out of my own pocket. I sold them to friends, family and anyone who would buy them. I made a modest profit. The next two books went out as eBooks on Amazon. But it was said that perhaps one million other writers were also putting their self-published books up on Amazon annually. Only a few of them broke out of the herd and went on to be best sellers. On my last book, The Perfect U.S. “Deep State Operation!” I had a U.S.-based Pay-to-Print publisher do it for me. They were not cheap, but they put out a good product and are trying to get publicity for it. Writing was the easy part, getting the book into mainstream media has been (next-to-nigh on) impossible, but I am still trying to catch the right eye. I am still trying.

What else? You will need talent, luck, perseverance, stamina and patience to succeed as a writer. There are no guarantees. It is just like running around the Sahara desert trying to get struck by lightning. It can happen, but not very often. Break a leg!  

Let me tell you what it is like, so you won’t have any misconceptions… at least, this is how it is for me. Life of an immigrant. Where to start and where to end?

The weather for the past few days has been like the early spring days in Lebanon, when the winter’s cold is broken, and the heat of summer starts peeking its head in. It is hot, dry, not enough to annoy you, but enough to make you go on bicycle rides towards the beach, watch the shimmering light of the waves reflected by the sun, take off your clothes and dip for a cooldown in your underwear. That’s how it felt like for me when I was there. Many were even impressed by it, my swimming in underwear that is, for I seemed to be ‘not much of a normal girl’.

It’s strange though, if I really think about it, because knowing I’m not-so-typical, I am from that land, influenced by the western culture like many other people who lived there too, along with each other’s influence on one another, the actual local population. I have to admit, Lebanese people are one of the coolest people I’ve ever met: they are very open minded, they know how to dress nicely for every season and occasion, they are very artistic, not to mention very hospitable. Yes, it was for those reasons and others that I liked living there, on the Mediterranean Sea, and even though I wasn’t the most special or the most unique, I did enjoy my weirdness among the crowds.

Lebanon’s geography was super beautiful for me too: I loved the mountains as well as the sea. I loved the plains, the waterfalls and the rivers, I loved going on road trips and picking fresh fruit along the way, straight from the trees: the apples, cherries, citruses and berries. I knew how to speak to the people, since we all shared a unified language (not without different dialects though) and I had friends which I knew for years. Furthermore, I had family: a mother that I could turn to when I needed unconditional love and a warm familiar hug, a father that I could speak to when I needed some help, relatives that I would see not very often, but enough to maintain bonds with, and cousins whom I loved the company of and whom I’d play with like little children. Yes, it felt nice being among them; we didn’t need to explain anything to each other, we just needed to be, to enjoy, to communicate, to relate.

Flash forward to the time I left there: I had no idea for how long I’d be gone, where I was going to or what would happen. All I knew was that Lebanon seemed too small for me, the government too corrupt, and those tales of immigrants accomplishing themselves in foreign countries very attractive. Yes, finding myself was more important than any patriotic beliefs and I knew I was strong and ready enough to start anew. ‘Finding myself’, as cliché as it may sound, creeped up on me, and the progression of time became an intense burden on my mind. Change became a must and ‘masked’ behind the idea that I was to meet the man of my dreams, with one huge suitcase and a 1 way ticket, I set off towards the land where the ‘grass is said to be greener’.
The grass, in fact, was greener there. But the tone of the green was different, the sun shone differently, the air smelled different, and gradually, I became indifferent to my own country, to its own pros and cons, to the laughter and the misery that sprang there. Or so I thought…

But you’d think that that saying isn’t true until you experience it: “You can take the girl out of Lebanon, but you can’t take the Lebanon out of the girl”. Wait, hold on. Maybe this is not the accurate expression here, but something closer to the sound of ‘feeling homesick’. Yes, that was more like it. It was a term that I had never understood but now was very clear to me and quite familiar. Now, it was directly related to my own personal experience. Now it was a shadow that would creep up on me occasionally, and though I know I can get rid of it after a day or two, I also know that it would stay with me forever. Yes, forever… forever I will be a part of who I was and forever that which I came from will be a part of me. Think of it: wouldn’t your mother also remain a part of you forever, even if you have never ever met her? Let alone if you’ve spent years knowing her and sharing times together! “Forever” … that was a scary word, but I keep trying to remind myself that the only time is now!

This time, yesterday to be more exact, all these feelings arose from browsing an old classmate’s Facebook page. We studied arts together and just by looking at her photos, I could feel the intensity of the sun back in my homeland, the smell of air there, the tipsy afternoons during ‘happy hour’ at the pubs in the endless streets of booze and rolled cigarettes, the coolness of the river water where we’d play in the summer time. I missed those feelings: the sun, the booze, the breeze, the laughter of friends. ‘Homesickness’ came. I wasn’t ready to welcome it yet so soon. I started asking myself why I was here, and when, if ever, I’d return to the belonging, to the mundane problems, to the nature, to all the complications.

“Take yourself out!” I ordered myself. That alternative was definitely much more comfortable than having to go over these crucial questions again which keep on arising, sometimes even thought about and contemplated, but never taken a decision toward. Not taking a decision was also another form of taking a decision, or is it? Yes, going out would be a good distraction for my confused and melancholic mind. Maybe even a beer would help.

Unlike typical me, I bought that beer and matched it, like typical me, with a short novel from my bookshelf. Then I set off towards the sandy beach with the line of tall coconut trees. And afterwards, consuming the whole 33cl of locally canned beer and a chapter of the non-local novel in hand, I happened across friends that I’ve made during my stay on this island. They invited me to some BBQ that they were planning for the evening. ‘Nice’, I thought to myself, ‘one more distraction for my unsettled mind’. Then I happened across another friend, and we walked along the stretch of the beach and back, looking at the topless men and chatting about them, gazing at the sunset pink clouds in the sky, and the surfers that were courageously trying to balance themselves on the wavy waters. This all pushed away the gloomy feelings I had felt earlier during the day, and once more reminded me of how lucky I was to be here, how jealous some others would be, and how longing their feelings and thoughts to be in my exact shoes, or the lack of them thereof, under my feet at this moment while walking on the soft wet sand.

At the BBQ that evening, where more booze seemed to flow, musicians improvised unprofessional harmonic tunes and everyone complimented the homemade French fries that I had made and brought along, consuming them faster than all other items present there, including the breathable air in the atmosphere. I chatted with the only woman among the attendees, who reminded me of how lucky we were to be here. She said that just today she was pinching herself, thinking how lucky she is and how life here was so good, and that she had been here for at least triple the time period that I have spent here myself. Yes, her conditions were different than mine and yet we were the same, and how actually familiar was that feeling of the experience of life here resonated with me, which sometimes made me want to pinch myself too, just to confirm the actuality of this dream of living in ‘paradise’. And these expressions weren’t even the first time that I’d hear here: ‘paradise’, ‘pinching oneself’, ‘life is so good’. We were, in fact, so lucky and life was beautiful, and this place was truly a ‘paradise’. The beaches, the mountains, the easy life, the warm weather, the people, the endless activities, the, the, the… but what does the heart really want?

‘Homesickness’… bye-bye for now. We’re bound to meet again, soon I’m sure. But for now, let me just be content with the now, let me rise and grow, give, share, dream, celebrate… “Homesickness’, go away and come back later, for the only time is now, it is only now.
Love, Sarah,

I would be hard pressed to find a single person in Thailand that has not been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in some way, shape or form. It has been a really wild quadruple corkscrew rollercoaster ride that is now slowly, mercifully, coming to a gradual end.

But what about the long historical view of the pandemic? There is an old Chinese curse: “May you live in an important age!” There is no question that we are definitely living in an important age. All of us are seeing major, historical, even wrenching, changes. Many institutions, businesses, interpersonal relationships, supply distribution systems and organisations are going through tremendous, even earth shattering, alterations. Some of them will not survive. With every major pandemic throughout human history all have brought about profound changes to all the civilisations it touched. This current pandemic is no different. A brief review of previous major pandemics is warranted to see where we are all going next:

Actually the first major power change occurred during a typhoid fever epidemic in ancient Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Athens held absolute power over the whole of Greece and region for centuries. The epidemic decimated the population plus the Athenian army. Athens lost the war and never regained regional dominance.

In ancient Rome, the Antonine Plague (165-180 A.D.) killed millions of people with a high mortality rate. Many historians believe this significant loss of population greatly weakened Roman power. It allowed non-Romans into the empire as citizens to replace population losses, leading to its eventual decline.

The longest and most devastating pandemic was the Plague of Justinian (541-588 A.D.). The outbreak hammered the Byzantine Empire. Perhaps 50 million people died. It broke the power of the ancient pagan religions as many sought religious solace elsewhere. They found this in Christianity soon becoming the completely dominant religion in Europe.

The most famous pandemic in history was the Black Death (1347-1351 A.D.). It devastated Western Europe with between 30 to 50% of the population succumbing. This led to the end of feudalism as surviving workers could demand their own wages and jobs. Due to the great lack of manpower this event spurred many technological and scientific advances.

The Columbian Exchange ravaged the North and South American Indian populations starting from the early 15th century. The European invaders brought smallpox, hemorrhagic fevers, and other diseases the local people had no immunity to. It has been estimated that up to 90% of the indigenous people died, many tens of millions.

More recently, several successive influenza viruses have had a big impact on the world, especially the “Spanish” influenza of 1918-1920 and the AIDS pandemic from 1981. It is ironic that although 50 million people expired during the “Spanish” flu, the devastation of WWI was the event that changed the entire world.

Mankind will again survive this terrible pandemic. But things will look very different when the dust settles.