Back in Bangers

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To be in Bangkok or to no longer be in Bangkok? That is the question. My trip back to the US didn’t exactly give me the clarity that I wanted on the next steps that I should take in life. But it seems in life that things become less clear before they become clearer.

After hopping around half the largest metropolitan area’s of the US of A—DC, Philly, New York City, DC again, Chicago, Philly and then flying out of New York—I came back to Bangkok feeling not like I was coming home. I didn’t expect that really. After all, I had been here 10 months, and Bangkok, well, is not quite a homey sort of place. Even for those expats who have lived here for years, it doesn't feel like home. The reasons for this are the topic for another blog.

The thing is, while I was in the States, I quickly forgot the little life that I had built here. Much like, after four years in DC, I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would. Even when my life in Bangkok isn’t all that I had dreamed it would be. Of course I haven’t forgotten that life. It was a good four years wherein I had come into my own as an adult. What I wonder, however, is whether I’m just so good at adapting to change, or whether I just love it so much?

Thomas Friedman, probably my favorite author, writes in his most recent book, The World is Flat, that those who can adapt best to change and can constantly reinvent themselves in the face of an ever-changing and increasingly competitive world will be most successful the global economy. I like to think that I can adapt to change quite well. After all, I picked up and moved to Thailand without a job or family or friends here to help me out and have found or created work and a life for myself.

But if those that can adapt to change well are most successful in the economy, is the same true for their success in personal relationships? Or is the correlation an inverse one in that case? Relationships—friendships and those beyond--after all, are about being a constant for someone through thick and thin. They’re about making that connection or attachment to someone that often hamper one’s ability change circumstances, location, job, etc.

Sure not all individuals that enjoy change or are able to revolutionize need be commitment shy. But to be a change ultra-specialist, the big question is: If change is our best friend, does that mean we can have no true friends?

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Comments

[ste]

constant change
i can kinda relate to you on this. i moved around when i was growing up and recently moved to Jakarta from California. Sometimes being able to adapt means that you have to lose that attachment . i dont believe that we cant find true friends with change, it will be hard to be in a certain commitment, but im sure u have that few people, that no matter where you are, you know they have your back.