laowhy86

Your Vice - Your Future

Added 2018-06-04 16:30:53 +0000 UTC

Hey Laowinners!

Vices. We all have them. Surprisingly, many of the things that you relied on back home change quite a bit after moving abroad, especially to China.

For me, I loved Scotch whiskey, Canadian beer, golf and sports cars.

These things were simply unattainable in China when I first moved there, so replacements had to be made.

Whiskey became Baijiu. Molson became Tsingtao. Golf became travel. Sports cars became a cheap motorcycle.

However, it was that shift and those changes that made living in another place so fun and interesting.

Instead of tasting scotch, and journaling the tasting notes, I was out getting jovial, partying with locals, meeting people, and learning Chinese over countless tiny shot glasses of Baijiu and Tsingtao. Gan Bei was shouted left and right, and my integration into China was quickly accelerated.

The idea of giving up golf was like a spear in my side. Thankfully I was so busy traveling and exploring that I hardly missed it. For me, perfecting my stroke, my heart pounding as I knew I had to get a birdie on the next hole to shoot par overall; this was bliss. I loved the outdoors and quiet as I got better at something I was so passionate about. But in China, the noise, the shock, the getting lost, and struggle at language and just getting around and trying to take care of myself was all the challenge I needed.

This ties into not being able to easily get a car when I first got to China. I had never ridden a motorcycle before, but the fact I could get a low end bike (yeah it only did 40 mph) for about $200 was amazing to me, and literally opened up my future career in media and what I do outside of YouTube today.

My point is, if your aim is to spend time abroad, realize that many of the things you might love might not be available, but that is only a good thing. When your life might be at a plateau, ripping out the roots and starting fresh can often make you a better version of yourself than you are today.

Thank you for all of your support. You guys are amazing.