Source: Unsplash

An interesting story emerged in South China Morning Post. Depressed high-flying Chinese women turned down a job offer from a Global 500 company, and traveled with her cancer-stricken grandpa all over China.

She spiraled into depression as her mum and paternal grandmother passed away in 2019. Her documentation of her travels with her grandpa won the hearts of many on the internet.

Reading this story made me reflect on my own life and interaction with my wife and family. These days, we are focused on exploring different places in Malaysia, and here’s why we are doing it.

#1 Does wonders for my mental health

I never had any anxiety or panic attacks when I traveled around. The only times I had them were when I was working and, in the Klang Valley, (yes, even on my off days, I still had those problems as I was stressing over things at work).

Do you know what I did a lot when I was exploring? Walking – Like a lot, sometimes up to 7km a day. I am one of those weird people who prefer to walk around places, rather than taking Grab or driving.

Even my wife complains about me – constantly. A 20-minute walk is standard for me. 30 minutes to 1 hour gives me the ‘running’ high, where my mind is so relaxed that I could keep walking for another hour.

It does wonders for my anxiety, to be walking around and discovering random things. There’s a very nice element of adventure when I do that with my wife.

#2 It puts life priorities into perspective

I realise how big the world is and how insignificant my existence is in the universe. There are just so many different things everywhere I travel.

The problems that I have are just problems, the same as everyone else in the world. During my travels, I get to re-evaluate my life priorities in a more introspective way.

There’s nothing more calming than a walk with my wife, or just coffee with my parents in unknown places. Work problems seem so far away.

I did not feel like I was running away as it felt like I was putting things into perspective in the larger scheme of things.

In 20 years, would I look back and think ‘Oh, I should have done that work better, satisfy this manager’? Nope, not at all. Instead, I will be thinking about the places that I could have gone to and the time I could have spent with my wife and family.

#3 Creativity skyrocketed

I always get the wildest ideas for articles when I am exploring around. It really gives me different views and perspectives.

For example, when I was in Tanjung Malim, exploring the town, I came across the town’s pasar malam. The whole town was filled with stalls selling all kinds of things.

An idea hit me on how pasar malam operators operate their businesses. The biggest cost that I could think of was rental, and raw materials. But looking around, I realize that they all had vans to transport their products and also diesel motor engines to power their lights.

In Seremban, I thought of the economics of Klang Valley tourists visiting other towns like Seremban, Ipoh, Malacca, and others. It does appear that domestic tourism help keeps many of these smaller town businesses alive as I see droves of KL cars litter the streets.

Coming back from all these trips, I was renewed with ideas in my mind on what to write, and I also crafted numerous poems (which you can find here) to describe how I felt.

#4 Enabled me to be more empathetic and open

I am bad at socializing. I realise that very early on. It is something that I have been trying to get better at but that process has been slow.

Traveling and exploring forced me to interact with people I would have not on a normal day. From asking for directions to what place is good to visit, I got to talk with people from all walks of life.

All of them were very kind and nice. Something that I find severely lacking in the big city of KL. They would always ask ‘Where are you from?’ or ‘Why are you here?’ and proceeds to be very amused with our intentions to just explore and soak in the place.

I feel like they appreciate that someone takes the effort in finding out what makes their beloved hometown tick. After all, we go to the most random of places and avoid the typical touristy places.

#5 Got me to be at ‘peace’ with myself

I am not going to lie. When people ask me what I want in life, I just reply ‘to be at peace with myself and with others’. Very abstract and my wife hates that answer. People just give me a confused look.

I understand. It is something … not usually said because it’s so … unconventional. When I explore with my wife, there is no better way to describe it. You are at peace with yourself, and more precisely, when I am in nature, I am more in tune with nature.

To me, I feel like I am most at peace when I am in nature and feeling closer to God. Nothing beats that feeling. You are just yourself. There are no pressures to conform, there are no pressures to fulfill.

I am still far from being totally at peace but it is something that I find in my travels and explorations.

Conclusion

I won’t describe traveling and exploring as the end-all, be-all cure for all of our troubles and problems. Everyone is different and wants different things in life.

However, the story of the Chinese woman focusing her time and effort now on spending time with her grandpa can get us to rethink our priorities in life.