3 Things I Must Do To Survive

When I made initial trip abroad to Cambodia (leaving Las Vegas), life was at a tipping point. I had a varying degree of success at a few different professions. I knew so much, yet knew so little, even after traveling to dozens of countries and exploring. How was I to move forward in such an off-the beaten path locale? I told myself I would make it work and could not give up in a time of change and that is just what I did.

Being in a new place, unfamiliar to its surroundings, always poses challenges. I had to get accustomed to the culture, language and way of life. I had to adapt. I had to adapt to my surroundings or feel largely out of place, whereby, I am physically bigger than 99.85% bigger than most of the population, am of a different ethnicity than those before me and I did not speak a lick of the language. How you doin (Joey from Friends….think back a minute)? I felt like a fish in a frying pan and it is very humid in that pan. Life changed.

I quickly sought out a couple different teachers and gravitated towards a language which seemed out of context for me. But, I hung in there and began to change my tone (literally and figuratively). I started to navigate a new place and life was beginning to make sense and yet I was still confused. Where was this new experience going to take me? How would I adapt to the given surroundings and survive? Well, be careful with the food you eat as I was prone to getting food poisoning in the Kingdom of Wonder. You think I would learn to shy away from some foods, but somehow, some way, food poisoning crept in about 10 times in just a few short years. Ouch.

Without a network of friends available to help me in Cambodia upon arrival, I struggled, especially when falling ill. I am forever thankful to the people that helped me to the ramshackle clinics to cure my ills. It was through their goodwill that I discovered something which has been forgotten and lost in the USA; kindness, caring and true friendship. Living on a handful dollars a day, life can be painful, but Cambodians strive to achieve, not wealth, but happiness. A happiness index of sorts was something that I had not encountered in any other place in the world. Life seemed to never be measured by wealth and flash, but by happiness and friendship. It was through this happiness index that I began to measure my life. If I took a job or went to eat somewhere, I asked to myself, am I happy? It seems simple and straightforward, yet most people gauge themselves and others on the size of their house, brand of their vehicle and how much savings they have for their perceived retirement.

We live on this earth for a very short while and sometimes we become misguided. We lose our way in life because it slips through our hands and we do not pay attention before we realized, 20 years went by. You never need to convince anyone about anything if you are satisfied with your own decisions. No one should tell you what you can or cannot do as long as you are living a life without sin. Sure, we are not all perfect and engage in behaviors, that at times, may seem a little obnoxious or unbecoming. But, alas, you get the jest of the idea. How can I or how can you become a person who is truly happy with life? How can you find your treasure without letting it fall through the cracks? Take charge in the low moments, build your foundation to life, your building blocks, and know that life will blossom with a little bit of paddling. If I can find this peace and happiness and ignore the western world and its judgements and that makes makes me happy, then that is all I need. What you need versus what I need may be different, but through the creation of a happiness index, you can be the final judge and jury of your life, no one else.

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Original story (created by me) published on Medium.com. Any changes and/or updates that have been added on Vocal.media are for content consumption purposes.

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