Moving for good

Thanks! Very much in line with my recent life and I'll have to get the book. Kenny

Not sure if you can read my public Facebag or not, but...
www.facebook.com/sourcetonuts/posts/1911452792198454?notif_id=1523104150080848&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

"This article, about a book Forever Nomad, fits my life's path of recent and the past as well. I have tried to "fit" into my new home which isn't where I am currently tho. Jamaica now "feels like home" and I miss it daily while away. I'm still learning, working through struggles about it and trying to be local. For the most part, I'm well on the way to being Jamaican but with so much learning to go.

In many ways, this is the story of my family; or at least me, my brother and mother; and thus our normal. We'll have to see about the next generation Xenja Sophie Lindberg and Kaia Lindberg and wherever their lives leads them. I suspect the blood boils in the same fire. Perhaps I have another journey or perhaps yet another home in the future but I think my recent travels have led me home. Vagabond love and I'll have to read the book..."

I’m moving to the US later this year. It’s similar to my home country (Australia) but it’s the first time I’ve decided to go anywhere without a return date set in stone.

I think South East Asia would be nice after the US.

Whenever I meet up with someone who has lived overseas, it always seems as though they’ve lived 1000 different lives.

Time to live my 1000 different lives.

The key is keeping your brain in a learning mindset. In the end, it is not relevant what you decide to do with your life, but being aware of everything you do, everything you think and everything you say. Every single moment is an opportunity to learn something, but you have to want to.

Nice post!

Cèsar

You mention surprise.

Essayist Paul Graham found value in asking returning travellers "what surprised you?" For me, a variation during my own traveling is to ask myself, "How would I explain this to a friend back in "my other location?" Doing so is like making a sketch: It encourages me to see.

Great

Man, does this ever resonate! This is a part of my big life plan. I just haven't figured out how to make it happen yet. I've learned the hard way to watch what you wish for. With enough persistence, you might just get it, but it may not be what you imagined. So, I'm hoping to step into it and test the waters to see if it is indeed what I really want. I'm really looking forward to more posts on this Derek!

Hey Derek! Very inspiring. But how can I approach moving around the world as a musician, while I'm working on establishing myself somewhere?

I agree 100% with the principal, but how could it be done with a family of 3 kids in elementary school? We hand-picked the school district to ensure a quality early education. Are we over-estimating the importance of "ranked" school districts?

You mention learning to say "we."

I believe in setting my intention to someday say "we" when I first move anywhere, whether it's a small town or a school or another country.

I believe dictators stay in power by discouraging their subjects from saying we about minority groups, so as to scapegoat and thereby send a fearful message to the majority.

I am not Chinese. Last month I was at a big Chinese buffet resteraunt where tour buses of Chinese stop for lunch. Of course in our modern age everybody pays by plastic cards. A lady as old as me was at the cashier counter pulling out her money, as I approached with my cash in hand. I said, "We Chinese like to pay by cash" and she was friendly to me.

Oh, so Sivers! Love this. The closest I got in Italy to this was managing full on conversations with shop-keepers using nothing other than hand- and body-motions. Like... ten minutes wherein we actually seemed to understand each other in spite of speaking in different tongues. But that is DEFINITELY not as close to what you're talking about. Need to do this!

Good one! We also travel and think of ourselves as New natives.
🚢 cruise ships are really culture shocking when we step off the gang plank and find artists, musicians, fashion and language so exotic.
Driving through a French village, we saw a run down wall around a hotel. We asked for a room. The inside was all hand carved wood. The restaurant was a famous foodies club that opened up on their dark night just for us. While filming in the San Blas Islands, the natives were very hospitable and served us lobster and plantain with rice for two weeks. They dressed me in their costumes and adorned my ankles and wrists with beads. I felt at home in Scotland. My DNA is 64% English Irish. Perhaps this is why, yet the Brazilian Jazz calls to me, and I have never been farther South than Panama. In the 60’s my band use to play gigs in Canada, just across the bridge from Detroit. This was a huge difference, like the twilight zone from Grosse Pointe to Windsor Ontario. The kids were very friendly and there was a calm about it that was like being entrench in kindness, mutual respect.

You can’t always just up sticks Derek, if only it were that simple! I love your articles by the way.

Learning by surprise...hadn't looked at it like that. Great perspective. Thanks for sharing; I like the premise.
Tb

Tynan's a cool dude, so it's a nice surprise to find you appreciate him too.

(For US readers:) I think Derek's philosophy in this post could apply even within the USA. We have a basic shared culture, but with many regional differences that amount to contrasting environments: rural/urban, red state/blue state, differences in terrain, climate, demographics, etc. that shape attitudes and perspectives.

I love the line, 'Stay immersed at least until you feel yourself saying "we” instead of “they”.'

That's great advice at all times; even within every moment. :)

Just to add... we packed up computers, keyboard, guitar, lots of clothes for all weather and took five cruise ships as transportation in 7 1/2 months ,bought a car in the UK and drove to Switzerland.
We had a 90 day Eurail pass as well. Thought we might relocate but decided the language was too difficult. Instead we got to know our Swiss family and they built a home in Sarasota.
We decided that we like it here in California.
Humor is our fuel. Although most people speak English everywhere, humor was hard to get across with our limited vocabulary. Our Swiss family speak 5 & 6 languages fluently.

Love the things I learn and experience whenever I travel. So much diversity out there, yet we get so comfortable inside our safety bubble. Some would say you don’t even need to move overseas to experience change/different perspectives. Can always start by exploring your own country to see what else is out there.

Another thought provoking article as usual. Keep up the good work.

Each has to find his own way ...for me the greatest and ever-new learning is on the spiritual journey within!

Good timing as I'm about to move to India to live. Have been 'moving ' there each year for the past five years for six months each time. Glad to say I am WE now in my other home.

Someone commented on the US being so diverse. We drove from Ca to Nashville to Florida to Michigan to Santa Fe last August-October.
Saw the total eclipse. We have not done a road trip like this since 1992. I was shocked to see the division in our Country. I may not have noticed it but because we have California plates, a very angry man in Georgia came up to our car at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, shook his head at us while pointing at our plate.
He stabbed our tire.

Hi Derek. I like your articles and the things you describe sounds like a living adventure. I also feel drawn to the opposite way: being silent and being in dayli life. George Harrisson expresses it in an extreme way: "The more one travels - the less one knows". Silence of thoughts as a way to inner wisdom.

Agree with the sentiment but seems narrow in scope - and it assumes advantages in local experience and education are superfluous when contrasted with...anywhere else. It's important to travel and learn so we can return with humility and skepticism - at some point, we should stop experiencing for the sake of personal fulfillment and try to build something better.

‘Fish don’t know they’re in water,’ but they certainly know when they are not.
☺ — Derek

Thanks. I stayed in one house for 38 years. Since 2008
I have moved 5 times. Things I’ve learned along the
way: leave as much stuff behind as possible because
you have to take care of it. It uses up your time,
attention and energy. Be nice. Be kind. Smile. Keep
a sketch book. Enjoy breathing.

I find it that history of places that we visit greatly enhance the ability to understand why the locals act this way or another. In some circumstances the actions collide with general principles of ethics which even they/we are aware of but stil do it. It is just a question of digging a little deeper and finding the why, that explains so much. Sometimes it is a turn in history that makes people believe something or condition their survival for many years.
Us vs Them is a great point too, it is really always ever we, even when we see something that is obviously wrong or suffering it is our wrong and suffering not just of others. I think that the latest wave of nomads, location independent people can make a great impact on this direction.

Derek,
Thanks as usual for your insightful posts. One of the best books I ever read in grad school was Martin Buber's "I and Thou" that talks all about the space between you and I, creating "we." It has forever changed and shaped how I approach relationships in trying to find the "we" versus "it" and "they."

Thanks for continuing to write thought provoking articles!

Not in childhood though. I am convinced there is something special in having had one single root for your infancy, a town to call your early home.
Met a few "sons of nomads", children of expats hopping across the plane - despite the undeniable rich cultural baggage they get, I often saw shallowness or, worse, a feeling of being "above"...a bit in myself as well (Italian native, i live abroad).
Spending the first 15 or 20yrs of your life in one place is priceless (well...to me - should I change my mind meeting someone from another culture ? ;)

"Where are you from?"
OK, we're all becoming citizens of the planet, but where are you from?
I strongly disagree. See my “I’m an expat / world citizen” section on sive.rs/about. — Derek

A very wise person I knew ages ago said to me once "If you go it will work out" or something like that. And in time discovered all my fears were misplaced as he had suggested.

While I won't be moving, for those considering it, it is the move that is scary, once you in motion you should be fine!

And if it doesn't work out - go back with a fresh perspective to where you came from, and plan the next adventure.


The adventure called life is what you make of it.


Nice post Derek!

Bon voyage

Good writeup.
This is very hard to explain to those people that see themselves as "travellers". You know, the ones that go to places where "others don't go". They hate to be seen as tourists. But what they're actually doing is just checking off bucketlist items or simply taking the pictures, upload them to instagram and watch the likes roll in.
I think what these people miss is exactly what you're talking about. They only go skin deep into a country. Maybe because they're afraid that it might change them if they dig deeper than the instagrammable visuals. And the counter-intuitive thing about it all is that these people wouldn't understand what you're talking about. They sincerely believe they experienced a country that way. While they could grow and understand more about the country and culture -- and themselves -- if they would heed your advice.

Hi Derek, I love to travel and talk to new people, observe cultures and understand different ways of being in the world. I also like being home and having familiarity in my life which reflects the higher percentage of introversion to extroversion that swirls around inside. The trick is to meet both needs. I do not envision myself moving around a lot past a certain age or within certain life parameters. And I also envision having a loving husband in my life whose needs/desires I would also take into deep consideration. Home is where the heart is.
It is a deep joy to learn and I am a good friend of our library system but there is little to replace experiential learning.
Congratulations to Tynan on his new book! Thank you for the book list!
and Thank you for the post!

yup.
i like being outside my 'native culture'.
life feels more... vital.
i feel more irrelevant, absorbed into the
amorphous mass of my compatriots. a nobody.
emerging from a city to a rural area meant
redeveloping some basic survival skills and
habits. i can't walk out at midnight and
get what i need, have to plan ahead, focus
on essential resources. chopping wood for
your heating becomes a practice, making sure
i have supplies requires forward planning.

Thank you, I can't wait to check this book out! It's great to move to another country for good, you notice the good and the bad of your country of origin and choose to adopt the good habits of both countries. Hoping to live in another country for at least 6 months when my son is older so he can experience it at a young age :)

Very timely post, thanks for sharing :)

We are currently setting everything up down here to live on the road, we leave on 2nd May and travel Europe first, then ... who knows :)

In case you are around I am in Welli from tomorrow on till Sunday morning

cheers
Lenz

Hey Derek,

Nice article. Does this mean that you'll keep moving too?

Miranda

P. S. Heard myself on the minimalists podcast the other day. It was fabulous. The NZ accent is pretty unique. Also, I'm making efforts to reach out to people to combat the isolation :)

Nice post.

This is advice I've been giving for quite a while. I've moved around quite a bit in my adulthood. Unfortunately I've never moved out of the country. In most of the places I've moved to the locals have all grown up in one place, stayed thete, and have never experienced living anywhere else. Even in other parts of the United States, people have different beliefs. It's changed my position on a number of things and I'm a different thinker because of it.

Whenever I meet with someone at the end of high school or college I always tell them they should move somewhere far away after they graduate. Even if they come back someday they will be better by having been exposed to different ways of thinking.

Thank you for sharing the book. Looks awesome!! Need to read this. Lived in Japan for two years - what an eye opening experience. Can't wait to do more nomading!

It seems wise not to stay in the same place forever but I don't see the point of moving forever. I always thought differently than those I grew up with and never found that my location had anything to do with any fundamental values. That came from my own thinking and reading, which are location independent. The more superficial values for me personally would not be worth a series of moves to challenge. It does seem like a way to reduce boredom though.

Thanks for sharing Derek. Being a current US expat in Paris I completely agree. And if you want to take it up a notch I suggest moving with your entire family, in my case, my wife and two daughters (ages 3 & 1). You do feel more humble and it gets you thinking in different perspectives, but be cautious as it does have its side-effects. Getting groceries, finding doctors, and going to the post office are all different, but they take a mental toll on you especially when trying to do too much at one time. Be sure to pace yourself as it can be very emotionally draining.

And for those that can't easily move somewhere else, try dating someone from another country. Or in my case, marrying them! My wife is eastern European and her perspective on things in the US have really helped me look at things from different perspectives. Having someone in your life like that helps you stay humble and to think subjectively.

Gracias¡¡ esta palabra es una virtud que aunque tenía no era consciente. Esto que dices de moverse es lo que voy hacer¡¡ Yeah¡¡

El sufrimiento desaparece con el conocimiento, y qué mejor forma que conocerse que VIAJAR¡¡

Gracias, un saludo desde España¡¡
Estoy aprendiendo Inglés y así saldré de mi zona de confort y sufriré menos...

Great article makes a lot of sense...new environments is a growth of the mind and being.
THANK YOU!

I couldn't agree more but it also makes me think of, The Alchemist. At the end of the day, do we find that everything we experience was with us all along but we need to see it all to recognize it?

Great perspective! This is also accomplished in the present when we allow ourselves to be aware of the people, places and things that constantly change and morph in our daily travels. In my moves within Canada, travels over the world, the one constant I have come to accept is “no matter where I go, there I am. Great article as always, thanks.

love this philosophy and practice. the practice part i struggle with only because i'd love to take my kids with me and let them experience this lifestyle, but with a split household, their dad would resist. however, it's certainly in my future, and I encourage my kids to embrace their inner explorers as often as possible even if we are bound to a home base...for now. no better way to realize there are more opinions, cultures, beliefs, and ways of doing things than to get out of your bubble, make yourself vulnerable (and brave), and immerse yourself in LIFE.

Need advice from you nomads with kiddos!

The forever nomad life has been calling to me for years. To that end, I've been building a business that would allow the flexibility to be location-agnostic. That feels like the relatively easy part. And so, my husband and I are finally taking the dive this June, moving to Poland with our 2-yr old.

It seems simpler before the little ones are in school. Would love suggestions from others who have done this with children... (both preschool and school aged)
I've moved countries three times with an under-6 child. No advice needed because the kids are the easiest part. It's only hard for the adults. ☺ — Derek

It is easy to be forever nomad for an American, because unlike traditional nations (Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Egyptians etc.) American people have formed as a nation artificially and relatively recently. In this sense American people have no deep roots, no true motherland and no values that were inherited from hundreds of previous generations. Therefore, moving is not a big deal for a US citizen, but a huge deal for an Asian, African or East European person. Well, Derek, you should know that perfectly (living in Asia).

Great read. Although there are cultural differences, there also are eternal truths anywhere you go though. lds.org :)

"Get Surprised" - the title of your next book, Derek. :)

Rolf Potts changed my life with 'Vagabonding.' Tim Ferris again many years later. It's time a read something new and Got Surprised.
cheers to you.
- Nelson

Thanks again Derek! I truly believe it's important to keep 'flexibility' in ones life. Flexibility in learning new things, and keeping an open mind. I've lived in six different states and one different country so far and if it weren't for moving I would not be who I am today.

You are so right! When you are young you can live almost with just the clothes on your back. It is in the adventure. If you keep moving, you stay light, bright and learning! Best wishes! Thanks for inspiring!

Cesar

"Unless you’re surprised, everything is fitting into your existing thought patterns. So to get smarter, you need to get surprised, think in new ways, and deeply understand different perspectives."

This goes deeply into getting out of your patterns of thought more than your patterns of view, groceries, currency, language, and culture. Until you surprise yourself you won't be open to the surprises that await you anywhere in the world. The thousand mile journey doesn't begin with the first step. It begins with the surprising change of thought and the decision to make the journey.

Thank you for another eyes opener!

Greetings Derek,

You have a creative mind. Ahmad

Hi Derek! Great to hear from you!🌺 Yes the difference between traditions and universal truth. Beauty of truth is just that!
Thank you Derek!
Have a beautiful day exploring!
Rachel🌷🌺🎸🎤🎶🚣🏄🎬

As I recall, Genghis Khan and his people and Aristotle educated Alexander The Great liked to move around and learn from the natives. Genghis had a special interest in different religions and philosophies.

Great insight! Love it

Derek - Thanks, and Absolutely Yes to this.

I used to move and move, and ahhh, just LOVED it, and often found myself thinking in terms of Us and We... loved that, too...
though I have roots now - a partner, a home, and a mum-in-law in an attached apartment to the home, aging in place. I'm - we're - glad to be able to help her do that.

So I'm learning to find and create opportunities for surprise and novelty here, in our little town. I introduce myself to new neighbors when I'm out walking, ask them about themselves, and I have a growing online community, and I learn and learn, and keep expanding the sense of Us and We.

Not only are these observations correct, but unfortunately when one stays in the same original environment they grew up in, they internally refer to it as 'the truth' thereby BLOCKING OUT thier fellow man in diverse places as 'foreign' when we have everything in common, howbeit camouflaged by color, culture and geography! Thank God Jesus' reconnects us through those willing to receive His love which supercedes our assumptions and established us in the 'one country' of Himself - however mysterious and beautiful it is!
Yes! Great point about “the truth” and blocking out. This is exactly the point I've been thinking of adding to this article in the future. — Derek

Brilliant Derek, right said Derek, thoughtful and very true.

This is a timely article. I moved from Canada to South Korea and have lived here for 20 months now. I've been getting quite sick of the noise, the shoving, and even some of the differences that are objectively harmless. I've even been drawn into the "Why oh why is it like this?!" circlejerk that is always apparent among expat groups in person and in real life a couple of times.

When I first came here I was really nervous to even go outside and walk around. People stare at me and I didn't know if/when I was doing something embarrassing. Anyway, after a week or two I was walking around the block and came upon a street that looked really beautiful in the evening light. There were lots of little shops and kids playing as they ran down the sidewalk. After I walked a little further I realized it was the street I now lived on! I viscerally felt that realization. Not only did I have no idea what was 50 meters away from my apartment, I realized that my attitude toward what something is quite literally defines what it is. Whether I think it's my dingy little road or a lovely place for an evening stroll, I'm right.

This was a really nice reminder of that.
Yeah I've found every place has the expat complainers! There were tons in Singapore. I either avoid them, or fight the other side of the argument (and then avoid them). — Derek

We are currently thinking about where to travel to whilst our house in the UK is being done up. I have 3 different perspectives and ideas on this.

Currently life is overwhelming, am working to making it less so that we can do things like travelling. We also want to wait a bit until our youngest (5 months) is a bit older.

My parents moved about quite a bit when I was younger and I was not really happy about it. Sure it's made me who I am, but there were some not so great experiences. Obviously, I hold that deep in my heart now and am very conscious how thing might negatively effect my children. Especially my boy teenagers. The world is definitely a different place now.

We believe we'd like to keep our base in the UK, (we do love where we live) but have the freedom to pick up and go as and when we please. Hopefully we will be better prepared for that within the next year or two.

I couldn't agree more! Last year I moved across the world, from Chicago to Miryang South Korea, for a 54 week period. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life and you have eloquently put into words a lot of the things that I learned, experienced, and lived throughout my time abroad.

Perfect, and same.

Cheers!

Martin

Thank you for pointing this out - it makes sense that we grow when we are exposed to diverse new places and people. I have been recently falling into unproductive habits, stagnating any growth.

But there is a conflicting part of me that is trying to find a place of my own that I can constantly build on and eventually pass along to future children. I love the idea of self-sufficiency, providing my own food and guiding the growth of nature around me. Fruit trees take years to bear though.

Seems I need to make a choice - nomad or farmer

I did this. I literally moved to the other side of the planet (south India) from where I grew up (NYC). I love it here *because* it's so entirely different. I've gone completely native, wear local clothing and study the religious teachings (Rāmana Mahārshi, if you're curious). A while back I decided to contact some of the people I grew up with. They're either senile, dead or in prison. At 71, I'm still youthful, virile and always learning.

I was having a conversation with a friend on this exact topic the other day. Our brains have NOT evolved to understand math, language or music.

The primary purpose of brain for our early ancestors was to navigate the world, make sense of other people, learn to survive in new environments.

When we travel to new cultures, I feel like our brain is put on overdrive. It works hard to learn its surrounding. In this process it creates new connections and expands its capacity to absorb information.

I personally find that my creativity is enhanced each time I move to a new location which is why I am "Forever Nomad" :)

Thanks for the book recommendation Derek.

On limitations and flexibility:


“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations,” said Orson Welles. “Economically and creatively, that’s the most important advice you can be given. You have limitations. … Instead of having money to hire hundreds of extras, you have to sneak a cameraman in a wheelchair through the streets of New York City and steal the shot, which gives you a look of much greater reality.”

I'm in Jaipur, India right now, working on a crowd-funding campaign for a small manufacturer or artisan textiles. I met Shari and her family three or four years ago, when I took a year and a half to live around the country, house-sitting. I spent six months at their home in Chapel Hill, while they were in India. That's one way of getting out of your comfort zone--housesit. It does force you to integrate quickly into a new community. And it's possible to do it around the world, esp in Australia and Great Britain.

Thanks, Derek. This was a very, very timely post for what I am going through today, doing a lot of what is mentioned here physically, but have been struggling mentally and emotionally with a lot of it after so long being gone. This has helped to put back some proper perspective in my mind about where I am, even if I have no idea whatsoever what I am doing here or where to go next, or even when!

I love to travel. And I keep a post it in my studio for when travel isn't feasible. It reads: Do what you can with what you have where you are.

I'm going to push back a bit gently.

Moving to a foreign country definitely opens your mind and is a wonderful thing, but it could also have some costs:

(1) It might slow down your career considerably depending on what kind of career you want. E.g. if you move abroad for 10 years and then come back home to start over with no professional network.

(2) It might make your personal life more challenging. For example, it might be harder to find a serious long-term romantic partner than if you had stayed home, due to cultural differences or not staying long enough in one place.

Of course, not everyone cares about those things, and certainly, if you are very young you probably care even less, but all I'm saying is that we should be aware of the tradeoffs.

This is not to discourage people (I am a proud immigrant myself!), I just wanted to balance out the discussion, particularly for the sake of those considering it seriously.
I agree! Thanks for bringing this up. — Derek

What I really don’t like so much about traveling, especially flying is the huge cost on the environment. I try to make my big European footprint smaller. When I read Tynan’s blog he just flies all over the world all the time, going on cruises, which is all *really* bad for the environment.

:-(

Hello Derek,

Your article is truly insightful, and it's very refreshing to me. Enjoy reading it!

Cheers!
Gong Qian

It's funny you should have a take on this topic, Derek. Ever since I retired, I've been slowly getting into that "fixed pattern" habit. I started noticing it about a year ago. I believe you're right....getting surprised is good brain food, so I've been taking a lot of time talking to very young people lately. They surprise me on a constant level and I think it's working. It's amazing how much I've learned from them.....Derek.....you never cease to impress me.

I love this! I wish all people would go live somewhere “uncomfortable” for at least a period of time. Our work rod would be a much better place for it. Blessings, my old friend. 💖

Very interesting insight Derek! Thanks for sharing. I have been to a handful of countries for a week or two at a time and have never thought to label myself as anything other than visiting. Or never really considered how a full immersion and move would completely shake up my perspective.

Even just pretending to move for a few weeks and truly acting like that from day 1 would likely yield some interesting realizations. Do you think that 2-3 weeks of embracing that mindset in another country would yield material results as an experiment?

I'm curious what a couple of your realizations have been since moving to New Zealand in particular?

Cheers,
-Jon
Good question! Let me know if you try it. — Derek

I moved to San Miguel de Allende Mexico. Great move and rather good timing. Immersion in a new culture is invigorating. Staying put, even in cool Portland was getting way old. Do miss the beer though.

Thank you !

Derek,
I’ve contemplated your article “Moving for Good” at length. It occurred to me that many of the benefits of moving can be almost replicated with travel, a profound book or movie, or an encounter with an interesting individual.
Thank you for your website and books!

Hi Derek,

Thank you again for sharing some thoughts. I think it’s always important to keep learning and evolving ones perspective. I see this on a daily basis where some just don’t have the mental strength because they’ve stayed in one place for such a long time. They don’t have the ability to flex their mindset to see from another point of view.

I like the idea: you are a product of your environment. I have been lived in the eastern of China when I was born and never go some place far from my hometown until 2015. I went to Guangzhou , a city located in the southern of China. I stayed there for two years, I have learned a lot, made new friends, got new ideas and perspectives. It changed me in some point. and I want to go abroad someday. New environment will bring new things to your mind, the more experiments you make, the more colorful life be.

hi Derek

i've been listening to your interviews on the tim ferriss podcast and i've read all of Tynan's blog posts and now I see you have written a forward for one of his books.

how did you and Tynan meet?

thanks for sharing you advice I connect very well to your style.

Dean
I was a fan of Tynan's “Life Nomadic” blog, so I emailed him and we became friends. — Derek

As for "we" here at home, I can relate to how the Japanese like to say "we" about the company they work for.

I have realized something: If I can't say "we" about my company, then I am in a bad place, and I should move on.

Well said Derek! Living life on repeat is the procrastinator’s playlist. I find that going through the same motions every day is usually accompanied by a hum of busyness that becomes an excuse to avoid actually following through on things that are (more) important to us. After most of my life in Pittsburgh, I recently picked up roots to try to beat the "location inertia" that set in. More on my journal/blog for anyone who is interested: interestinlife.com/early-retirement-blog/places-that-make-you-rich
Keep on keepin' on,
Max

Well done, Derek.

A post about travelling, mental patterns, learning and growing, and tolerance, all in 11 short paragraphs.

I moved easy and often.

Fun if you can.

And

MWSmith Lamu, a song, check the lyrics ;)

Brilliant as usual. Short and packed with great thoughts. Thank you Derek.

I’ve liked only in a few different counties and 2 continents and feel what you write about. And how I could move more.

One thing I experienced in a different way: keep the tourist mindset while becoming a local. For me combining the two yielded better results. Perhaps because tourists ask loads of questions and want to discover everything, while locals stick with what they grew up with.
A generalisation but you get the idea.

The best for me was when I returned to the same city and decided to be local but keep the tourist mindset. Having friends over and over helps to integrate these 2 mindsets ;-)

I totally agree with this one. Traveling has given me so much!l

Met the mother of my two wonderful children while I lived in LA, 2001-2005. We then moved to Sweden where we had two wonderful children together. Then we moved our family to New Caledonia 2016... However, that’s where our culture differences and upbringings hit us like a sledgehammer. Long story short, me and the kids are back in Sweden, their mother stayed in NC. They meet their mum once a year for 20 days. I don’t recommend the distance between a mother and her children but life sometimes throws you a curve ball. (If life gives you lemons)

When the kids (now age 7 & 11) want to see their mother I book them a ticket to France where their mother meets them at the airport (she has to fly from NC to meet them in France). The system for kids traveling without parents are amazing, my kids love the trip. They now speak Swedish, English and understand French. On top of that they travel between countries by themselves, to them it’s what you do.

The three of us missed Sweden but my kids are already fantasizing about studying in the USA when they get older. The move to New Caledonia was something that had a sad ending in many ways. But in many other aspects it has made all of us braver and stronger.

I agree with you Derek, to live in different countries will make you grow!
Great insights, thank you!

For Marilyn at #21, where a fellow American stabbed her car tire, I believe that within any sufficiently large group of residents are one or more with mental problems, often to be spotted because their body is habitually hotly wired up, not loose and relaxed.

I think that when I am vulnerable, such as being a in a group where I don't say "we," then if a single person criticizes me for being below group standards, then I tend to have a "thinking error" that the whole group is like that. Or as a child, when one parent or sibling was nasty, I tended to lump the other parent and siblings as believing negatively too. Most recently, someone was nasty at a party, and I never associated with folks gathered there again, partly because they were all silent in the face of that nastiness. (in fairness, nobody else was nasty at the party, so I shouldn't say "they" but still... at least it gave me material for a blog post)

I strongly believe that for mere mortals, including the rich popular kids at school, the default is to feel alienation and isolation. All my life I will take action, mental and physical, against my default. Even if I stay in one place.

Being curious, I love to travel. I used to enjoy new experiences, but there's another way to open up your awareness. Give attention to where you are, to this one moment. Yesterday, I noticed something different in my garden. My cauliflower plants, which have attained an enormous size, are beginning to make those white heads. At the center, small leaves are swirling with energy. What magic! I will call them cauliflower shamans.

WOW, both this concept and the book seem very close to where I am going!
Thank you

This may be the most near perfect text I have read up to this point in my life-----
every word is placed and used and theorized in the most adequate way; wow.


I actually think that the above is all true; every single word that makes the sentence up of what it is, that is. I will stop trying to explain it and listen to McCartney and let it be.

zach

P.S. I tend to send things to quick and after the fact I have further thoughts.
The fish, the fish what about the fish? Well, peradventure the square fish are there and somehow, even though there are no "square fish cameras," that I am aware of, they always seem to have a good day. It reminds me of Darwin who I can picture sitting in the Galapagos, and Hemingway in his boat, floating in the sea. Birds and fish, a bird in hand, there is a saying for it----- I forget how it goes. I would be interested to see Spielberg take up something about fish and birds, maybe with a great white, a dolphin, or a tiger and somehow between land and water that entails a postman who built his version of Hollywood.

zach