Describe What You Do in 7 Words
The moment I figured out how to define what I do
🎬 Sometimes the story keeps writing itself even after it ends – A behind-the-scenes moment is waiting at the end of this post, for The Secret Journey members only.
📍Da Nang, Vietnam
Lately, I've been talking more and more about writing, about why I do what I do. People have been asking me about my goals, and I knew exactly what to tell them. At one of the meetups, someone said: "Describe what you do using exactly 7 words," and everyone cracked up because we all knew how hard that is.
"Oh, that's easy!" I immediately started counting in my head.
"I write about personal growth through travel."
I saw recognition light up in everyone's faces.
I felt like I'd totally nailed it. Finally, after months of trying to figure out how to explain what I do, months of understanding my writing - what is it really about? I write about all kinds of things, but how can I capture everything in one short sentence?
I write about myself around the world.
I write about myself through travels around the world, through other people, through places. I don't write about places in the typical travel blog way of describing the destination, but about how the place made me feel. I don't just write about people I met - I tell their story because they helped me understand something about myself and about life itself.
I write about personal growth through wandering, because there's no better teacher than life on the road (yes, sometimes I'm totally cliché).
Funny that today, as I sat next to this local coffee stand in the middle of the street in Da Nang (seriously the best coffee in the city!), this older guy with white hair showed up, and the barista - who's basically the owner and everything else rolled into one - totally lit up when he saw him. Clearly old friends.
I was right in the middle of chatting with the barista when he arrived, so we ended up in this great three-way conversation about coffee and this incredible city.
Turns out he's Australian from Brisbane, has and been living in Vietnam for 10 years, and traveling the world for 30 years, "even before there was internet," he laughed. He's lived in the Vietnamese mountains for years and has zero interest in ever going back to Australia.
"I pay $13 a night here for a hotel with gym and pool - why would I go back there?" he said, and I totally got it.
When I shared my 7-word description, he immediately replied: "Travel is the only way to grow," and we had this instant connection.
"You can grow and learn from anything if you're aware enough," I felt the need to point out, "but traveling just puts growth right in front of you where you can't ignore it, so you have to deal with it" I added with a smile.
We talked about how normal life bores us, how watching TV kills the soul, not to mention the brain, while travel around the world gives you no choice but to develop and grow.
I sat there listening to his fascinating stories, he'd been literally everywhere in the world, and when I asked which city he loved most, he smiled and said: "Da Nang". We talked about the large nomad community here and how this city embraces foreigners.
"Why didn't you stay in Australia?" he asked out of curiosity.
"I thought about it for a moment when the possibility arose, but I realized I didn't leave Israel to immigrate to Australia, or any country for that matter. I just want to keep moving, even though in Australia I was very comfortable, too comfortable" I spoke like about an old love.
"I understand exactly what you mean! It was also just too comfortable for me there, I didn't feel like I needed anything, I was just bored because I had everything,," he said, and I heard myself.
From the outside, this probably sounds like a conversation between two masochists who don't like comfort. It's funny that everywhere I am, I look for comfort and do everything to be comfortable, but the moment I'm comfortable, that's it, I've achieved the goal, and now I'm looking for the next challenge, otherwise, it bores me.
I told him I stay a month in each city I arrive in, because after a month it starts to get comfortable for me - I already know the neighborhood, the cafes and bars, feel at home, recognize people on the street, find myself in a routine. And that's exactly the time for me to move to another place.
He smiled and understood exactly what I was talking about. He's already thinking about retirement next year, and loves living in each place for a year, at a slow pace, being local.
"You're my inspiration!" I said when I heard about his lifestyle, and I was so happy to meet another nomad at an advanced age, who teaches me it's possible at any age, and maybe, we can no longer go back to a "normal" lifestyle.
Just like I told him that after my first visit to Thailand when I saw clothes cost $4, and since then I couldn't buy clothes at high prices, I'm afraid that now this is exactly what's happening to me with accommodation payments - I can pay $250 a month, and anything higher than that seems like robbery to me! He understood exactly what I meant, and we laughed together.
He told me his friend paid $800 a night at a hotel for his family on the Gold Coast and he couldn't believe it: "That's two whole months in Moldova! How do people do this?!" he exclaimed.
This makes me wonder about financial management, and I remember seeing a blog post that said,, "Want to save money? Go travel!" - which is a great headline because people think traveling the world is expensive, while they regularly spend tons of money on car maintenance, insurance, housing, and living costs in expensive countries.
When it would simply be much cheaper to move life to other countries, and yes, moving every few months - it still costs much less than living in a Western country, no matter how you look at it.
Mind-blowing thought.
This also makes me think about the digital nomad community, with a reputation for being frugal, when actually, they simply choose to invest money in different places, like flights and experiences, and not in permanent and material things like cars or mortgages.
We're people who care more about our lifestyle than social expectations or accepted norms. We want to live now and not wait for retirement, and we made a smart choice to live where our money is worth more.
And maybe we understood that security is an illusion anyway, so better to ignore it completely.
Your support helps me to continue experiencing new worlds and sharing them with you through my words. Sometimes, a single cup of coffee can make a difference.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
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