How To Live a Better Life

Backpacking in Southeast Asia quite literarily was a life-changing trip for me. This trip was meaningful not just because of all the things I saw, the food I ate, and the bucket list items I checked off, but rather the lessons I learned during the experience. In fact, after leaving the region, I felt like I had found the secret sauce to a meaningful, purposeful, and happier life. Here are three important lessons I learned and how they created the formula for a better life.

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Ker Thitham: Fill Their Cup Too

On my last day in Luang Prabang, Ker did something that will forever be one of the most incredible things I've seen on any of my travel journeys. How did a person, who sleeps on a bench, making 33 cents an hour, with no time to study,, and a desperate desire to get his family out of extreme poverty, find the heart to lend his time and money to a stranger who he knew was financially better off than himself?

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What I Learned From the People of Vietnam

Getting to meet the Vietnamese people was one of the highlights of my entire life. I quit my job to backpack across South East Asia and getting the time that I did with the local people of Vietnam was life-changing enough to justify this entire experience. These people blew my mind and the more time I spent with them, the more I could feel myself changing. As much as I loved the backpacking social life, I found myself slowly passing on hostel happy hours, bar crawls and social gatherings, in favor of local interactions. I became obsessed with spending as much time with the Vietnamese as possible and learning from their way of life.

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Ichigo Ichie: The Meaning Behind the Powerful Japanese Phrase

Ichi-go Ichi-e, 11 letters that I resonated with in Japan. The phrase, in rough translation, means to treasure the moment, it may never come again. It is the perfect way to describe the way I’ve tried to live my life and the way I believe many people should. When I heard this phrase used by a tea master in Japan, I instantly formed a deeper connection with the country. It wasn’t just a nice sounding phrase, but one that actually seemed to represent the Japanese culture.

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