The global pandemic has forced change upon the world. From the closing down of Disney World to actual lives lost themselves. Vaccines, masks, social distancing, social strife, you name it. Maybe for you it's been tough on business, maybe you caught the virus and lost your sense of smell and taste! For me it's been a complete up-upheaval of the lifestyle I've enjoyed for most of the past twenty years!
So, I've been living out of a backpack and moving around the world freely almost my entire adult life. Frankly, every time I stop traveling I go through a weird little cycle. The first couple months things are new and exciting. I'm interested in going out, exploring, doing new things. By the third and fourth month, boredom and routine set in, maybe some bad habits, drinking, staying up too late, too many hours on the computer. By the 5th and 6th month, a little depression sets in, thoughts of what am I doing with my life, along with extreme boredom and the feeling of same-old same-old. I'm totally unmotivated to go out and do and experience the same thing over and over again.
For example, I was asking my girlfriend what she wanted to do today. It turned into a joke about driving around the island...."again". It's time for me to get the hell out here. I've been kinda of stuck on this island in Thailand for almost 8 months now depending on your definition of stuck. I'm bordering on depression. I smoke weed now to keep my boring repetitive activities a little more fun. I'm living a domestic lifestyle and I'm really unhappy about what it's doing to me. I'm really unhappy about the person I'm slowly becoming.
Who am I? What am I doing?
My entire life was travel before the pandemic. I was always smiling, in a good mood, and excited about life! I was excited about where I was going next, who/what I would see, and what I would do and experience. Sadly that has been replaced with things that I'm not proud of.
Instead of being excited about travel, I'm now looking for excitement from my trading account. As time marched on through my domestic life, things that were a minor focus of my time, have taken center stage, but it's not entirely bad. I have made a lot of money trading and I've gotten into cooking and I love that too. However the cooking just made me eat too much, making me feel sluggish and crappy, especially with those late night munchies. The trading has just made me greedy and obsess over money.
It's really a problem, more and more of my attention has turned to my trading account. I have the ability to be a pretty successful short term trader in most markets (crypto and traditional). But I never got happiness from it, or very temporarily. My main joy in life has always come from travel. With that taken away I've gotten more and more into trading over the past months. I even got into options trading, selling cash covered puts, calls, setting up straddles, checking the markets all the time and being on my computer a lot! Especially from 9:30pm until late....when the US markets open here in Thailand.
Now you add in the crypto market which runs 24/7 and I'm almost continuously glued to a screen. I'm always monitoring the latest news, analysis, price action. I'm on my bittrex account all the time putting in buy and sell limit orders, checking my phone for up-dates and latest action like ALL the time now! I'm F-ing miserable! hahaha (half joking)
Make Money, Buy Stuff!
It's just not the lifestyle I want. I find myself getting totally wrapped up in investing/trading/money! I feel the greedy energy taking me over. Like waiting for my next hit of serotonin to come from my trading account, then getting pissed off if it doesn't happen soon enough. I'm thinking about money and counting money all the time! It's totally sick if you ask me. My joy used to come from traveling the world, now it comes from making and counting my money, and I'm not even rich by most standards!
I used to be a total backpacker minimalist. Where ALL my possessions I could fit in my one backpack. Now I find myself randomly scouring through the pages of Lazada (Thai Amazon), just looking for mostly useless crap to buy cause maybe that will make me happy for a moment. Isn't this how we all were trained to live....make money, buy stuff, make money, buy stuff, make money, buy stuff? Maybe for you this is great, but for me it leaves me feeling totally vapid and empty.
And I'm Lazy Too!
I've found this style of living completely empty and boring. It's made me very greedy and icky feeling, with very short lived bursts of happiness and excitement. But the lazy side is truly disturbing as well! I'm a travel blogger who doesn't travel anymore. Talk about lack of motivation for maintaining my "travel" blog. I kind of left my travel blog on a lazy format of posting, very lazy. A lot of time went by without me even thinking about it. Recently I got called out for basically having a cheap and crappy travel blog and it was 100% true. Real kick in the pants wake up call, and embarrassing to think about on many levels.
This domestic lifestyle thing is just not for me. Everyday feels the same. My entertainment now comes from things that make me a worse person, not a better person. My blog has suffered as I've fallen asleep at the wheel. Depression has set in along with worry of what the future may or may not bring. It's been a shitty year in so many ways even though people keep telling me how lucky I am to be on this island during lock-downs and a global pandemic.
Time For a Change!
After the wake up call of being called out on my lazy blog, along with some serious reflection of my life in general; I've realized I've got to make some big changes! Fortunately for me the timing is right, Thailand has made domestic travel simple again. So I'm heading out! My girl, my backpack, my motorcycle, and all of Thailand to explore! Now for me, this is living....once again; and I can't wait until January 5th. The day I close this chapter of my life and open up and a whole new and exciting one exploring this amazing country! Frankly, I'm super excited about traveling again as the "stay at home" domestic life obviously is just not for me.
How do you keep busy and entertained living a domestic lifestyle? What is your secret to keeping things new and fresh when living in the same place for long periods of time? Let us know in the comments sections of this post! and Until next time....
From the Gulf of Thailand,
-Dan "World Travel Pro"
THANK YOU
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Flights: We recommend checking Kiwi.com to find the best and cheapest flights to Thailand.
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Travel Insurance: Medical emergencies abroad can be pricey, but travel health insurance is not. We always use SafetyWing for affordable and reliable coverage.
Car Rental: For hassle-free car hiring, DiscoverCars is our trusted choice with a wide selection of vehicles.
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Day Trips & Tours: We recommend GetYourGuide for a variety of well-organized and enjoyable activities.
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