I’m in paradise right now and I’m not even kidding when I say this. 5 weeks ago I decided to quit my job and travel to Thailand for 2 and a half months. I like it that much here that I might add another week just because I can. Because why the hell not? Because I might piss off some people? I’ve done that so many times that I’m kind off used to it. It’s like one of my mentors once said: “only dead fish follow the flow”. But that doesn’t mean that dead fish don’t complain when you go in the complete opposite direction. Anyways I just arrived here, to be honest, but I already learned a lot. I already learned more lessons here than I did during the whole year that I had a normal job.
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: meet your “heroes”!
I got in touch with my mentor before I decided to get the mentorship (read it here) but I followed him way longer. He was the second YouTube channel that I ever watched. He gave me a warm welcome the day after I arrived and he even asked me to join for breakfast with some others after my first training session. It was pretty fun to meet other people who kind of have the same goals or at least quit their job and went to Thailand to train.
I think the whole never meet your heroes thing is kind of bullshit. People are either nice or they’re not. Besides I even don’t like the word hero to be quite frankly honest. That puts people on a pedestal. I have a lot of respect for my mentor though! He has achieved a lot of things that I want to achieve as well. Plus he lives in Paradise so that’s kind of a bonus.
Ps: don’t forget to check out my podcast with him!
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: I won’t meet myself because…
In Belgium, we have a saying that goes as follows: “make sure that you don’t meet yourself”. This means that some people find out things about themselves that they don’t like when they travel to another country because they have a lot more time to think. I already met myself a long time ago. I figured everything out until now. This trip isn’t a form of escapism (read here what I mean), this is me going after what I want. I say this because I once claimed that traveling is one of the most subtle forms of escapism. I still believe this but I also believe that traveling is great to get to know who you are. You might meet yourself but then it’s up to you to figure out what you don’t like about your life and figure it out.
You can escape reality your whole life by abusing alcohol, partying all the time, going to exotic places just to sit at the pool and so on. Or you can travel on your own and become extremely happy. It’s like I said I’m already 3 days here but I don’t feel tired and I train hard. Back at home, I was way more tired and more frequently so I guess I was bored with my life. But I did something about it so I’m all good.
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: just do it.
People see me traveling but they don’t see what I missed out on. I had a fight offer (cage fight in June) and I could have ended up in a relationship but I quickly figured out that she wasn’t the one. That relationship was doomed from the start but I would have done that in the past. I can’t explain that right now but I promise that I’ll write a blog about it or do a podcast about this matter. Anyways most people want to do what I did but they always find excuses why they shouldn’t do it. Well, my “why” was a lot bigger than my excuses and I figure things out if I face adversity but I can debunk the most abused excuses easily.
Debunking excuses like a boss.
“It’s not too expensive.” You either learn how to save money or you learn how to make money abroad. This trip cost me about 2000 euros. I know people who blew away a lot more money in a week. I also have a training partner who came to Belgium with only 400 euros on his bank account. He’s doing more than fine now. You make things happen if you want too.
“Traveling alone is not dangerous.” I traveled alone twice now and I’m fine. Even a woman can travel on her own to Thailand. I feel safer here at night than at night in Brussels and Brussels is the capital of Belgium. Nuff said I guess. Just don’t travel to unsafe places, I mean this is pretty self- explanatory.
“I can’t let my parents down.” Look at one point you have to say the following thing “mom, dad thank you for giving me my life but now you can’t ruin it. I’m going to do what I want to do.” Will they like it? Who knows?! Some parents are supportive and some aren’t but the ones who aren’t should shut up and let you do what you want. You are in charge of your life and they shouldn’t try to control your life until they die.
“I don’t know anybody.” Talk to people and you might meet new people with the same interests. Do a Muay Thai camp as the Muay Thai retreats from my mentor or a yoga camp or… well you get it right?!
There are more excuses but those were the ones that I heard the most frequently.
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: proper planning goes a long way.
Did you know that I was planning this move for 2 years? That’s right, I planned this when I dropped out of college but failed 3 times to make the move. I had opportunities though. I could be living in Stockholm right now but I fucked up and let the opportunity slip by. But I don’t regret it though because I’m in paradise right now. The funny thing is that I assumed that I would end up in Stockholm but I ended up in Thailand. So what happened you ask? I met my mentor and that changed a lot.
15 February 2019 I quit my job and on the 23rd of March 2019, I was on the plane to Thailand. During that period people kept asking me if I was afraid or scared and I wasn’t because I was well prepared. I’ve seen this trip so many times in my head that my heart didn’t skip a beat when I stepped on that plane. You can’t be scared if you’re well prepared, you can only be scared of the unknown.
Life is all about getting out of your comfort zone but I’ve never felt so comfortable.
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: enter the echo box.
Ever heard of the echo box principle? It means that people repeat your opinion and then those people conclude that everybody thinks like them. Here’s an example. In Belgium, a person claimed that everybody assumed that I was stupid because I quit my job and went to Thailand. The funny thing about this is that she didn’t ask everybody what they thought about it. That person only asked the people who would agree. Smart move but doesn’t work on me.
Here in Thailand, everybody agrees with what I did because most of them did the same thing. Others just respect my choice. I also did meet people who didn’t agree with my choice but they’re still in Belgium secretly peaking at my Instagram stories. Too bad that I can see who views my stories.
Aim for balance.
I like to surround myself with people who challenge my ideas/beliefs. What I don’t like is being surrounded by yes- people. Those are the worst because they make sure that you either never improve or in some cases that you remain plain stupid. So I always talk to people who can learn me a thing or two. I can guarantee you that I have a lot of things where I’m like “did I believe something like that?!”
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: age is a number.
We have a pro fighter at our camp who has more than 60 bouts. She’s a real animal and she’s over 37 (I don’t know her exact age). She runs like 20k in the morning and then trains some more during the day. She also fought 3 times in a single week (#lifegoals). You can see that loves it. The fun thing is that she mentioned that age is just a number and I completely agree with this. We have a guy at our camp who had his first fight at 35. It’s never too late to start something. Right now is always the perfect time.
So I kind of laugh when people claim that I’m too old to fight. Bitch please, I’m 26. I’m just hitting puberty. I’ll hit my prime in my 30’s. So I’ll fight for the next 12 to 13 years if everything goes well.
Conclusion: life’s a lot more fun when you stop making excuses and start doing shit.
Releasing a blog straight out of paradise: the return of the king.
My osteopath told me to read a certain book before I left Belgium. He told me to read ‘The Return of the King: A Renaissance of Masculinity’ by Ton Van Der Kroon. The book is about how you go from being a boy to being a man. he uses a lot of stories (like Lord Of The Rings) and old myths to explain everything. I understood why my osteopath told me to read the book. Because I could relate to so many things. Every guy should read this book in my opinion. Especially the ones who’re looking to do something similar to me. Because you might leave as a boy so that leaves only one question open right? How will you return?!
On the side note: women should take such a trip as well if they want too.
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Alex
Dude I love this article and I love that you stepped out and went to Thailand! I’m not a fighter but I’d love to come hang out on the beach, do some bodybuilding work, and decompress from life for a bit myself.
Thank you Luke! Yeah you can get Some great training done here bodybuilding wise if you look around a bit. Well now you know what to do if you’re sick of the States