Do you want to make changes in your life?
Set goals! That is how this all started. I decided to write a blog for a year. I am a bit of an introvert despite what many may think. I like to be alone, I enjoy my alone time, and yet I do love being out and about.
I decided to take on this challenge. Despite one glitch in posting because of the time difference and travel. I did post a blog each day for a year. It has been something that I needed to do because I needed to make a change in my life.
The blog got me out and into the public as well as helped me make new friends and acquaintances. Being in Bali and being a foreigner this is not all that hard. Many people will talk to me and open up to me so I did have quite a bit of help.
How did it change me?
I feel that regular blogging not only expanded my view on many topics but also the fact that I needed to get out and do things. Again, being in Bali this is easy. However, like all things, getting out does cost money. Gas, meals, and travel do add up, no matter where you are on the planet.
It changed me in ways that are hard to describe because this is me and you may feel different. Yet when I met people, I was able to relate to many of them. I was able to see how a family of four lived in Ubud and I remembered our struggles as a family when we moved from Hungary to Canada when I was 10 years old.
I interviewed small business owners and individuals throughout Bali and this was uplifting. A foreigner that wanted their story, not only from the tourist aspect but their life story.
Who did I meet?
Number one is Pak Kevin, or Kavien as he spells his name. He works in a rice field. He preps the fields and then others come and plant the rice. Bu Arick is a Kabaya (Balinese traditional clothes) seamstress who supports her family in Ubud.
Or Pak Agung, my Airbnb host in the Balian Beach area who is also the priest of the local village. Or the time I visited Bu Dewi and helped her out with her furniture business.
While I outlined my travels and most of my experiences in my blog. I also have some small stories that I have yet to share. I have travelled the small shortcuts and gotten lost more times than I care to remember. This was all part of my journey. This also came with some heartbreak but that is all part of a whole other type of story.
What did I learn?
People are the same, wherever you go. We may look different, we may act differently, and speak a different language. Yet we are all more similar than we think.
Values may differ, and political stances may be skewed but in the end, I met great people. When we started to talk a little deeper about our lives, one thing rang true.
We all want a brighter future for our children. We all want to have a better life and this is where things go sideways. I learned that being in a different country and that this country is considered a developing one… Westerners need to learn from these simpler people, who live a generally simple life. While the west is caught up in chasing a dream, these people live the dream. While we pay off loans and debts on the big house, these people are at the beach.
365 days!
That is a big number and essentially involves a page a day. 365 pages and days of my life all on the blog. I didn’t think this was possible when I started. However, thanks to my friend and editor Janet, I/we were able to pull it off.
Will I keep going? I want to. This is sort of part of my life. At the same time, it is not easy.
Thank you for the support and the encouragement and I hope that my blogs mean something to some people. it sure has been life-altering for me.
Thanks
Zsolt Zsemba
Zsolt Zsemba 