My partner Bar and I officially became ‘ex-pats’ just over a month ago when we made the mutual decision to downgrade our entire lifestyle and move to the tropical Indonesian island of Bali. For us the decision to go ahead and book our one-way ticket with no steady employment or housing lined up for us on our arrival was a no-brainer. While some would understandably balk at what they would consider a reckless abandon of security and stable living, we simply saw an opportunity for freedom and adventure. A golden finger beckoning into the irresistible unknown. Between us we have already worked and travelled extensively all over the world; teaching English in South Korea, freelancing as a photographer in Vietnam and life art modeling in Denmark (I’ll leave you to guess who’s the last one is!) So, for us, the traditional map of university, career, marriage, home and babies did not stimulate the streak of wanderlust that colors our spirit. We yearned for an alternative lifestyle. For a pretty non-traditional couple we found that in London we had somehow managed to become entrapped by a conventional middle-class lifestyle… speeding along in the rat-race and climbing up the social ladder. We both worked long hours at office jobs from Monday through Friday, traveling to and from work on a tube packed with irritable commuters, and had only a few precious hours to ourselves in the evenings before having to wake up and do it all again. The daily grind was leaving me feeling stagnant and unfulfilled; increasingly I was starting to resent the monotony of sitting at my work desk staring at a computer screen and earning money for someone else. When the winter months rolled in and we were waking up and coming home in darkness, without once feeling the light of the sun on our skin, we began to hatch our plan for escape.

For the both of us Bali represented an opportunity to create the life that we longed for. Having both visited the island separately we agreed almost instantly that this was a place where we could find our happiness. While cheap living expenses and endless days of sunshine are definitely a bonus, I longed in particular for the laid-back, stress-free beatitude I saw in the smiling faces of the locals. For the Balinese, life runs in the slow lane. They don’t feel our sense of anxious urgency to earn as much as possible. Living is cheap and money always comes. They are a pure and beautiful example of mindful living; they don’t stress about tomorrow, living purely for the present moment. I’ve read that this mentality stems historically from the difference in seasons from East to West. Westerners have ingrained into their psychology an anxiety about the future; with the barren winter seasons they knew they would have to plan and gather food beforehand or they would starve, while in the tropics no such anxiety occurred; the people knew they could pick fruit to sustain them all year round.

In London I felt only too keenly the lack of mindfulness I was practicing in my every day; tiredness and apathy were leaking in through the cracks and eventually making time daily for yoga and meditation was being pushed to one side with increasing regularity. I was rarely ever present in enjoying the little joys, being too preoccupied with my thoughts and fears for the future, money worries, maintaining relationships and earning money for all the things I thought I ‘needed’. The Balinese do not possess this Western preoccupation with setting up for the ‘perfect future’ due to their religious beliefs. For them this is a waste of mental energy as this earthly life is just a precursor to the afterlife and to become a better being in this second life they must simply work hard and be a good, honest human being in this one. Material gains, social status and planning for an idealistic future matter little for the Balinese and I am aspirational towards this pattern of thinking.

Today I walked through the streets of Ubud, freshly scattered with frangipani and scented by incense from the religious offerings laid outside their store-fronts. Cicadas and birdsong provided the soundtrack to my footsteps and reminded me to slow my stride, no rush. Fruit vendors and taxi drivers, shop keepers and café waiters mill about on the street together; they talk and joke, sit on stoops and stools and smile into the sun, bring each other nasi champur, lift up each other’s babies. When they smile and say hello to me as I pass by, it comes from the purest place. I’m still learning how to shed my city skin, to peal the layers and reveal myself in my truest, purest form. The process is not easy, scary even, but with this island as my guru and its people as my inspiration, I am hopeful.

Lou is our new blog contributor! Find her profiled in ABOUT section of the blog. Enjoy her posts? Check out her blog, Papaya + Lime where she documents her new move and life in Bali.