More Than One Way to Live

Before Thailand

Before I ever thought about traveling to Thailand, I thought my life was following the path it was supposed to follow. I worked, paid bills, planned for the future and assumed that the lifestyle around me was just the way life worked. Like a lot of people, I spent most of my time focused on responsibilities and routines. I dreamed about travel but wasn’t even sure I would ever be able to. Then one trip changed the way I viewed my entire life. 

My husband and I were engaged and planning to elope. I wanted to go somewhere beautiful and tropical. My mind immediately started thinking about every country I had ever seen a stunning picture of and wondering if my husband would go for it. I had a few destinations running through my mind but I kept returning to Thailand. I pitched the idea to my husband and he said “whatever you want.” We expected beautiful beaches, amazing food and memories we would cherish for the rest of our lives. What we didn’t expect was that the trip would challenge many of our assumptions about what life could look like. 

The Moment Everything Shifted

We had our elopement on our first full day in Krabi. It was everything I could have ever imagined and more. Then it was time to enter full honeymoon mode. We stayed in Railay and every day we walked the same sandy path past small restaurants, fruit stands and long-tail boats resting on the shore. One night we were sitting at an outdoor bar relaxing with the ocean close by. Before we knew it, it was close to midnight. We walked back to our temporary home in the dark while mildly impaired. We passed multiple strangers on the way and there was never a moment we found ourselves looking over our shoulder or worried for our safety. Whether that feeling was justified or not, it was something I had never experienced back home. For the first time I started wondering what it would be like to spend more than just a vacation there. Over the rest of the trip I found myself viewing every interaction and every experience through that lens. For the first time I found myself asking a question I had never considered: what if there is more than one way to live? Until then, I had treated my life as if it was the default setting. Work, bills, limited vacation time and squeezing enjoyment into whatever free hours remained felt normal because it was all I had ever known. Sitting there in Railay, I realized that what I considered “normal” was simply one version of life among many. 

Discovering a Different Pace of Life

As the trip went on, I started paying attention to the little things that made life feel different. Back home daily life was centered around work, schedules and obligations. Every day had a list of things to do and not enough time to do them. Often at the expense of quality time and self-care. The people we met seemed less stressed with a different relationship to work and a greater sense of community. We met two Thai women on our trip that we will never forget. One was an employee of the resort we stayed at. Every morning we would walk through the grounds as monkeys played in the trees above us and monitor lizards passed by. When we got to the breakfast area we were greeted by a welcoming smile from Kao. She spoke with us every morning and on our last day embraced me and told us how she had enjoyed meeting us. The second woman was a shop owner on the Railay strip. What began as a simple conversation about island tours turned into daily chats about life and family. Before we left she introduced us to her son and gifted me a flower hair clip, placing it in my hair herself. Experiencing a different culture first hand made me realize that many things I assumed were “normal” were simply just one way of doing things. That realization was surprisingly powerful.

Realizing My Life Was Built on Assumptions 

When we returned home I couldn’t stop thinking about the trip. I found myself questioning things I had previously accepted without much thought. 

• Where do I actually want to live?

• How much money do I really need to be happy?

• What kind of lifestyle am I trying to create?

• How much of my stress comes from circumstances versus choices? 

• What would I change if things like money and bureaucracy weren’t an issue?

For the first time, I began imagining a future that looked different from the one I had always expected. 

The Beginning of a New Journey

Thailand didn’t magically solve all of my problems. What it did was open a door in my mind. 

It showed me that people around the world build meaningful lives in many different ways. It showed me that happiness doesn’t always look the same from one culture to the next. Most importantly, it made me realize I have more choices than I once believed. 

Since returning home, I have spent countless hours researching different countries, learning about visas, exploring alternative lifestyles and asking myself what I truly want from the next chapter of my life. The more I researched, the more I realized that moving abroad isn’t as simple as booking a plane ticket. There are visas, finances, healthcare, logistics and countless unknowns. But despite those challenges, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to explore what was possible. 

That journey is still ongoing. I don’t know where we will end up, but I know I can’t stop asking the questions Thailand inspired me to ask.

What this blog is about

This blog is where I will document that journey. I will be sharing:

• The process of preparing to move abroad 

• Lessons learned from travel

• The realities of visas, finances and relocation

• The emotional and psychological side of starting over

• Adventures along the way 

• Reflections on health, lifestyle and well-being in different environments 

I don’t know exactly where this path will lead. What I do know is that one trip to Thailand changed the way I see the world, Once that happened I couldn’t go back to viewing life the same way.

Thank you for following along as this next chapter unfolds.