Post: #26

I went through about 5 years of really hard times, mostly of my own doing but regardless here's a few things I learned in that time.

Quality food, sleep and exercise are the key to keeping my head level. You need to have goals and a game plan as well as some blind faith that everything will work out regardless of what happens. Any time my back was against the wall and it was sink or swim was when the magic happened for me if I look back. I've been so close to being homeless but I just kept a blind faith that I would figure it out and everything always worked out in the end. I'm on the tail end of getting my shit together, and it sucks to think of the lost time and setbacks. I just remind myself that I've experienced some pretty hard failures and I'm better equipped because of it. 5 years of eating shit is a long time to formulate a game plan that can slingshot you ahead.. as much as it sucked, I feel like it's set me up to win even bigger. Keep your head up man.. smile.. make a game plan and just know it's all going to work out in the end.

Post: #27

Just a brief update:

I made it back to asia and everything seems to be getting back to normal. I'm back at the gym tomorrow and back to work in 2 weeks.

I've set myself some mini goals just to start rebuilding: read a few books, workout, travel a bit, write 5k words.

Post: #28

What are you're complaining about? If you're coming from the US or North/West Europe, You belong to the 5% wealthiest people on earth. Go live in a shack in Africa for a few months. Most countries and passports don't even have the opportunity to travel.

Post: #29

Stay away from alcohol. Take antidepressants if clinically depressed.

I also used to work in Korea and Japan so I know how difficult it is. You have to have all your ducks in a row and travelling abroad is still a life or death thing if you aren't careful. It's also stressful to make these kinds of intercontinental transitions. I've done it more times than I can count and I'm still not used to it.

Post: #30

Race to the bottom!

Nah, never clinically depressed - just got down after a series of calamities and mishaps.

Post: #31

(01-23-2019 02:38 AM)Bienvenuto Wrote:  I kind of felt like you were taking a long shot moving to Eastern Europe/ the Balkans..

Its the Vietnam rollercoaster writ Global. Call it the TEFL-world world-wide rollercoaster

Ive been thru exactly what you talk about recently - International western staffed Tefl school promised me 43 Million VND salary. Paid me 24 Million VND month by month..
Complained.
They said the government took in 'tax'. Bullshit.
Took them up on the issue. The British American Aussie soy boy faggots just threatened to withhold my pay. So many fantasies about giving them the hiding they deserved.

I think there is something to be said about points of failure and fall back. You weathered this because you built a reasonable fall back fund. So many people have no real financial understanding or resources. Maybe this is a financial red pill for you that means you will leave us low-energy low-output TEFL teachers living like middle aged frat boys behind you in your wake as you set about making this set-back a set-up for your financial future and you start building toward financial independence.

So many things go wrong.

I say this not to shame you or one up you but rather 'there but for the grace of god go I..'. My fucking moped key fell out of the ignition driving along at 40mph the other day. tiny little thing. only one I had. went back and it somehow stood out to the naked eye on the side of the dusty road.
Water supply fucked up in my house. Neighbours opposite me are racist 'young buffalo' gang members that yell fuck you! every time they see me. I almost got in a fight with them the other day. No matter what happened I would have ended up battered.
This morning I just posted on the forum that I was run out of town by an armed gang in a local village when I turned up to pick up my coffee date.

The reason why I felt pretty relaxed about it was I survived a hands on attempt to kill me by several people once.

That fucked up my life for years after. But made it easier to weather this little incident.

The impression I got is that you worked for a school called (acronym) rhymes with CIA. I went out to Vietnam to work for them without any notarised docs and they waited for me to get mine sent home and done. Pretty flexible.

I know a notary that I can do it for you by post. I'll PM you the details.

It happens mate. I ended up broke and shafted in a hick town with no friends surrounded by racists and locals that laughed in my face. I googled how to commit suicide for the first time in years and years. The mind proliferates and goes on a downward spiral on the back of even tiny things. At least it can for me..

I posted before about a flat mate from hell that I lived with.. very needy ex-boxer. I updated the thread recently saying that we had both gone on to better things.
This week I found out he'd had a stroke. Spoke to his Mum. He's in a Viet hospital in his thirties with his memory gone. Keeps thinking that a long gone ex-girlfriend should be coming to visit him..

I knew I was overdoing my own suffering compared to that but it took this morning's brush with reality to wake me up to it.

You're not alone. You're not the only one going through this by any stretch.

The others are right, it will pass..

But..

The trick is to achieve what you want to make happen whilst all that time is passing.

Why put up with this?

Why not move to Korea or some more civilized place where the money is better and the Vietcong won't murder you for talking to their peasant village girls?

If you like riding scooters Taiwan has that as well.

Post: #32

(01-29-2019 07:13 AM)flyinghorse Wrote:  Just a brief update:

I made it back to asia and everything seems to be getting back to normal. I'm back at the gym tomorrow and back to work in 2 weeks.

I've set myself some mini goals just to start rebuilding: read a few books, workout, travel a bit, write 5k words.

Good to hear, just learn from your mistakes:

Never trust recruiters and always do your own due diligence on companies. Glassdoor, talking to current employees via LinkedIn etc.

Also invest some money into an S&P500 index fund or CDs once you have 10k in savings unless you feel a downturn is imminent.

Have a look what compound interest can do for you: https://financialmentor.com/calculator/c...calculator

It's best to bear with mediocre jobs and places for some time until you have a certain base line in savings.

Post: #33

There's a novel thought-depression in the third world. Just the fact you can LEAVE when the going gets tough is something to feel bright about. The 3rd world doesn't have it's shit together so it should be no surprise there will be negatives along the path. Be prepared.

Post: #34

When you are feeling bad a lot of timesits not so much what happened to you as it is the stress of change and uncertainty. But that's nature.

I make a list of the things that are causing stress iny life. The act of writing these down reduces stress. So for example if you lost your job write that down as temporarily between jobs. Because of course you will get another job. It's just not the one at the time you though, so the temporary period in between causes stress.

It can also be helpful to list assets or resources that you have that are unaffected by the problem. For example, your ability to get a similar job is probably just delayed, not permanent ly ruined by a negative reputation. You also probably have savings, friends, etc.