Some people spend years getting over shit. I used to. It would take me months just to come to terms with the Multitude of dung unravelling around me. Not any more. It’s safe to say I have achieved more in the last 9 months than I probably did in the last 9 years. Is it all down to moving countries, to a place where everyone is permohappy and where winter never comes? I think not, although it clearly has a lot to do with it. I’m sure the best thing I’ve done is quit taking drugs. Of any kind. It’s given me the energy and focus I was sadly muting down for I can’t remember how long. Simple as that. Although would I honestly have been able to whilst still surrounded by the negativity and despair of my former life back in the U.K.? I doubt it. Finally turning my back on my place of birth and breaking free to a land where I am far better equipped than most to deal with life has certainly given me a new spring in my step. Indeed, I have even become a bit of a celebrity in my new chosen location via starting a Facebook newsgroup which today after only 5 months has over 27000 members in it. I even have my own highly successful brand of merchandising ffs! I live in a beautiful condo with 250 degree ocean views for the same price it costs me to rent storage space back in the UK. I have a lap pool and a fully equipped gym which allowed me to get fit like I have never been in my life.
The group gives me a multitude of avenues to explore. It’s helped me make friends, money, and to feed my constant need to write. The city I live in can be a confusing place for those newly arrived. And so I share the trials and tribulations of my early days here. My widsom and hopefully humorous approach to it all. The group has taken the city by storm. It’s a godsend for expats who until the group was born maybe have been living in isolation. I know about this. Also for the thousands of tourists that visit here every month its a constant update of what’s happening in this unique place. It seems the skills I learned in other jobs have all nicely been converted into making the group the success it now is. I’ve been approached by investors to use the name to open bars, restaurants and hotels, amongst ‘other things’..But it comes at the cost of my anonymity and so I’ve taken to Wearing a mask. Quite litetally as opposed to metaphorical one I wore before.
If anything its even more ironic as I have never been so open and myself as I am now. I take no prisoners, don’t deal in any bullshit and if people come even close to upsetting me they are instantly banished. But this rarely happens. I am generally of a good nature. The lifestyle suits me far better than the £50 suit I was wearing around this time last year pretending to be something I’ve clearly never been, whilst experiencing a quite severe breakdown. I also have a beautiful partner who is as devoted and good as the day is long. And she is trustworthy. She has moved with me from the holiday island where I met her. She teaches me Thai and I teach her English. And every day we are happier than we were the day before, in this paradise by the sea.
I’m very lucky to have ended up here. As with all good things, it was not planned. I came here as a result of being alone. I came here with a heavy heart and a broken spirit. I came here with no faith left in human nature. I came here as a result of meeting a guy in the Immigration queue at Bangkok Airport.
One year on I’m wearing a mask to stop people grabbing me in the street insisting on buying me a drink.. one year ago no one would give me the time of day…One year on.. I’m pretty fucking good.
