I left a very high stress job in London to take a much slower paced job here in Thailand. I am absolutely loving it - the hours are great, minimal stress, working with kids etc - but there is this nagging little voice in my head that is saying that things are just TOO easy. I really didn't like the stress of my last career, but I think I came to expect it as a requisite if you are working. It's like not going to the gym for 6 months, but still having a great figure - I still have a good lifestyle here but do not have to give blood, sweat and tears to achieve it and that makes me feel bad! I guess it's that 'no pain no gain' idea that is deeply instilled in me.

Is this something that other members have ever experienced on moving to LOS, or just moving careers? Do you think that you do need to feel a certain level of stress and challenge in your daily life?

I also left a stressful job in London to have a more relaxed life. I also teach and love my job, but after the initial learning curve and settled into a routine things do become slightly 'easy'. What I have done i taken up further studies to get that feeling back of working hard and pushing myself mentally. I am doing a post-grad research course and loving it. It is in applied linguistics so relevant to my work and gives great stimulation and a feeling of achievement. Also as I am sure you know well, that pressure to meet deadlines

I know what you mean, life is good when you do what you enjoy & have a fairly stressfree life. For me it wasn't that life was too easy or a nag that it was too easy but more a nag that I knew eventually life would get a lot harder if I didn't start building some foundations for the future. When you are single & in your 20's life is & should be simpler IMO but once I started aging (for want of a better word!) & especially once kids or the plan of kids came into the mix then I started to want more stability. And thats where my nag started to sour life in Samui....

We had a great life there but I just knew that I wouldn't be raising kids there & that work would either mean schlepping for someone else for a pittance & living month to month as well as having to contend with visas & work permits or work at our own business & contend with increased rents, low season, mass competition. So 3 years ago we decided to take a few years out & moved to the UK to buy a house, save some money, get property & land in thailand & have our baby, we have acheived all of it now & plan to move back to thailand in the near future with a more secure & less worrysome future but I had 7 great years living it up on Samui & met some of my best friends & have such wonderful memories

So enjoy it now whilst you are young & carefree as nothing stays the same IMO, life is always changing & you need to be flexible to ensure that you change with it & adapt to your changing needs. What makes you happy & content now may just end up keeping you awake at night & hating everything around you in a few years. Then again you may live in contented stressfree bliss for the rest of your life but the point is, you just never know & should be ready to adapt

God, I am not one to ask

I left the US right after graduating from Uni and have lived on the beach in Thailand pretty much ever since.

But yes, I always wonder if I am missing something, or should I feel like I am missing something? Unlike Boo, we don't have kids (and that is one of the reasons why-- education system here would require a return home) so I never felt the pressure to go back and have a career. We started our own restaurant on land owned by the inlaws, they built bungalows a few years ago. So, no rent, just in laws to deal with. Needless to say, after telling you that, we don't have an easy life, it certainly has its stresses but the stress free times make up for the stressful ones (most of the time).

there is this nagging little voice in my head that is saying that things are just TOO easy.

this is what i am feeling right now too... especially after just having visited the US again... it's not that i want to or have to jump back into the rat race, but i feel like in thailand i have dropped out of life almost! where i live i miss out on a lot- art, films, music, job experience, intellectual stimulation... on top of that the people i meet here aren't really successful or inspiring. they are more interested in hunting down pills for the full moon party. i have found the thai men here to be an utter waste of time, but there aren't many intelligent, talented, or interesting western men above the age of 20 around. i am happier in thailand, but i am still not fulfilled, there are a lot of missing pieces. i am actually considering not coming back, going to live with my friend in amsterdam for a bit, but even if i do come back it may be only for a short while before i move on. keep in mind i have been living in thong nai pan for over 3 years and it is just now hitting me. like the poster above said, be ready to adapt.

girlx,

maybe u should just relook at what u mean by being fulfilled... its like the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack, once u find it, so what?

should I feel like I am missing something

?

i have to say that since i have remarried i find that i have 'settled' much more; and it really doesnt matter where i am located...

previously, i was considered by my friends as 'restless' 'not settled' 'free spirit' (even while i was married, obviously now i know i wasnt happy or satisfied so it manifested in being a little 'wild and crazy', always searching for something). i never liked the bright lights or city life, but actually put all my energy into my work (which can be 24/7 anyway).... and what is successful or inspiring? just cause u meet up with good lawyers or entrepreneurs doesnt mean that they can be inspiring. i actually find most of them insipid and lacking in down to earth personality. regardless of country.

i mean, i live in a country now that i would love to leave just cause i;m sick of the political situation/tension/racism narrowmindedness of people. on the other hand, why would i htink it would really in all reality be any different any where else... most people get up in the a.m. go to work, come home, and live... regardless of country... probably in all reality, thailand would be the same in the long run:visa problems, racism reversed of course, lack of interesting job, people that are mainly interested in getting up in morning and going to work and coming home to eat dinner and go to sleep... i.e. living their life.

change of scenery but your 'personal baggage' goes with u... so any new place will eventually have its charm wear off...

at the risk of sounding new age ish, maybe u have to recheck what u really want with yourself, expectations from life in general, or what others mean by fullfillment may not be what u feel is fulfillment...

but then again, i lack in ambition and feel that even if i have 'reached' one person/child in my daily work, then i have reached a world, and that makes my day...

i have to say, though that i've been a practicing buddhist before i met anon since i was a young girl so maybe i have different ideas of what fulfillment should be...

maybe u have to change scenery in thailand, or change your mode (not sure what u do as work/career cant remember if u did mention it somewhere) of work; to meet like minded people. i mean, if u like animals, u cant work in a high tech office and meet too many others that work with animals... u have to go and work in a zoo; so maybe u just are in the wrong job or wrong area.

i guess i also dont understand the need to achieve something specific. i think living life is in itself an achievement and getting along with my husband is an achievement, and raising my kids certainly is, and so is getting a baby goat to nurse from its mother, ... its the little things in life (oh god do i sound like a hallmark card...?!!! its age related.... it must be... i dont think i sounded like this 20 yrs ago... and finding a bra that fits is an achievement... and as u know i have more than half a brain so definitely can have stimulating conversations if need be...

i

have found the thai men here to be an utter waste of time, but there aren't many intelligent, talented, or interesting western men above the age of 20 around

maybe the key is MEN... as u mentioned about age and personality in your post.. so that if u were to meet that perfect someone, it wouldnt matter where u were located... (thus breaking the feminist myth, argh!)

not saying u should marry and settle down!! just not sure what u are searching for?

early morning rambling, off to see poor dok mai (the goat) expecting any day now with an udder that is about sized GGG she really needs an udder lift...

bina

israel

well to be honest, i am bored of where i live in thailand. i am happy there but like my friend says the point of life is not to be happy it is to truly live. it's not so much that i want to achieve something (though i do, ie. finally write a book or get my own business off the ground), it's more that i like to surround myself with intelligent, progressive, interesting people and they are just not here (mssabai excluded ). it's a bunch of party kids, and the rest of thailand doesn't attract the best elements either. i like to learn from and be stimulated by people who have big ideas, i like to see new things....that is why i travel the world. plus entertainment-wise besides said parties, there is little to be had- no art galleries, live music venues, independent film centers. i am a city girl at heart, i like the fast pace and lots of options. i am attracted to the slow pace of life to live in, the beautiful surroundings in thailand, but ideally i would like to have those other things nearby and accessible (still looking for a place like thong nai pan next to a place like NY ). also, when it comes to my career, i really need to be in a place where i can hop on a plane at a moment's notice or have a skype meeting at 4am without worrying that my internet connection is going to drop out halfway through. those are just not possible here. i don't think it is because of any personal baggage.

i am in buenos aires now and it has elements of both the slow pace and the range of options. headed to rio de janeiro in a couple of days and have a feeling brazil might have some of what i am looking for too. i love love love thailand but after 8 years of going there i might be burnt out on it. there are a lot of people stuck in their small world there. but we'll see what happens when i get back...

well to be honest, i am bored of where i live in thailand. i am happy there but like my friend says the point of life is not to be happy it is to truly live. it's not so much that i want to achieve something (though i do, ie. finally write a book or get my own business off the ground), it's more that i like to surround myself with intelligent, progressive, interesting people and they are just not here (mssabai excluded ). it's a bunch of party kids, and the rest of thailand doesn't attract the best elements either. i like to learn from and be stimulated by people who have big ideas, i like to see new things....that is why i travel the world. plus entertainment-wise besides said parties, there is little to be had- no art galleries, live music venues, independent film centers. i am a city girl at heart, i like the fast pace and lots of options. i am attracted to the slow pace of life to live in, the beautiful surroundings in thailand, but ideally i would like to have those other things nearby and accessible (still looking for a place like thong nai pan next to a place like NY ). also, when it comes to my career, i really need to be in a place where i can hop on a plane at a moment's notice or have a skype meeting at 4am without worrying that my internet connection is going to drop out halfway through. those are just not possible here. i don't think it is because of any personal baggage.

i am in buenos aires now and it has elements of both the slow pace and the range of options. headed to rio de janeiro in a couple of days and have a feeling brazil might have some of what i am looking for too. i love love love thailand but after 8 years of going there i might be burnt out on it. there are a lot of people stuck in their small world there. but we'll see what happens when i get back...

I'm not a party kid? Am I over the hill already?? Arrrrrrggggghhhhh....

I get what your saying though and I would say that maybe it is time to move on for you. I have just have 7 years in London and to be honest I am bored of BIG things. I am appreciating the small things again (I grew up in a village), like knowing your neighbours and having minimal stress. But that may all change again.... I am happy for the time being though and I am trying to put those ideas that I am missing out on something out the window.

If the need to surround yourself with culture, art & what you define as interesting people is important then a small island off the coast of thailand is probably not the best place to base yourself. The people there will be either local who more than likely have no interest or time to be interested in art & culture or non locals who have been drawn to the less stressful non concerned with the world, way of life. Unless you can really decide what is more important, the island way of life without all the interesting people or a more populated, possibly city location that offers what you need to be stimulated the you will continually find fault in everything if you are in the wrong place.

IMO on KPG it isn't possible to have both. Culture, art, cinemas, galleries & intellectuals are mainly congregated in city areas, near universitys & places that offer them the stimulation they need, these people tend to be urbane so urban areas will be where they are found, a developing island isn't going to offer anything except a more simple way with friends who are locals or transient tourists . In 15 years or so of developement it may be close to offereing the kind of things you say you want but at the moment it doesn't.

I think Bangkok is best for culture and stimulation. There you can join uni classes, see art exhibitions, meet lots of intellegent conversationalists and Chaam and Hua hin are only a short way away if you need sea

I'm not a party kid?

i said with exception of mssabai!!!! and i love thong nai pan for the same reasons you do but i am not ready to retire, ya know?!

seonai that's true and i have thought of bangkok, but i lived there before and the traffic and dirtiness made it not so fun. also my dog would be miserable there. there has to be ONE place in the world that is laid back and lovely like thong nai pan but close to a lively city!?! i am determined to find it.

Prachuab outside Hua Hin?

hmm never been there, maybe i will check it out

PM taxexile, I think he lives in Hua Hin now.

i live outside bangkok abit ( near rangsit uni) very quiet here house with lake u still can hear bird sing in the morning...but as soon as u go out ...its nightmare bkk traffic... !! thats why i always stay at home and play with dogs ...