I’m on an exchange in Seoul, South Korea. While it has been both the scariest and most wonderful experience of my life, I have slowly started to learn how to navigate in this city of ten million inhabitants. This experience has thrown me off of every routine I have ever known. However, learning how to live again has been a valuable lesson on what I have to do to enjoy new experiences in a new environment. Furthermore, I think these steps can apply to smaller cities and towns as well, as it seems that being busy sometimes exists only in our heads…
To do things you love, you have to learn how to find your inner self, even when there is constant pressure to get busy, buy, and stay hustling from the outside world. Following these steps, homesickness eventually dissolved into curiosity and love for the city.
Disengage from media
Sometimes, or more than often, to be honest, it’s necessary to spend time doing simple things; reading a book, taking a nap in the library, concentrating on making a meal with my own hands, watching birds fly across the hazy sky from the window. Media is a wonderful tool to spread awareness and necessary information, but sometimes looking at others doing things can make us feel like we’re not doing anything with our lives. In the worst situation, we could actually be wasting time scrolling through something we do not particularly care for. And often that time is simply away from the activities we’d like to engage in. So, when I feel like time should go a little slower, I put the phone down and start doing something with my hands, feet, and eyes. With intention and peace in my heart.
Time in nature
Going to nature is definitely a little different here in Seoul – instead of diving into an endless Nordic forest, I usually go hiking to a mountain next to my dorms. Luckily there is nature up there too, and there is nothing better than smelling the scent of the autumn leaves and getting away from the masses. The biggest difference is that, every once in a while, you get to this spot with an enormous view of the city. The city is busy and loud, and the heavy curtain of pollution can sometimes be seen from the mountain. It is different, but somehow it makes me appreciate the silence of the woods a little more. Nonetheless, being in nature grounds me. There, I realize that it is not necessary to rush.
Become satisfied with being incomplete
“Done is better than perfect” is the mantra I’ve been telling myself for ages now. Sometimes in a city like this, you can get easily caught in the rat race, always trying to do something, do better, do faster. In the process of trying to follow everyone else, we can easily forget our own values and interests, becoming unhappy sooner than we realize.
What has been helpful and comforting is the understanding of the fact that no one on this planet is complete. No one knows it all and the people we look up to the most did not become skilled in their field overnight. Thus, we should always keep learning and stay “being in the process”. When I acknowledge this, I remember that it is our differences and flaws that are so significant. They have always been our greatest source of strength.
Find your tribe and realize it can be found anywhere
I have made some amazing friends here on the exchange; but truth to be told, in the beginning, some voice in my brain doubted if I was going to make any at all. When everything is new, it can be a little hard to open up and make deeper connections. However, as everything settled in, I realized that everyone is a potential friend. Living in a new environment is much more enjoyable when you have someone to share it with, and no matter how different you think you are, it turns out you aren’t. Everyone is somehow different from another, everyone is unique, thus, you’re in the same boat!
At first, it was easy to feel alienated and homesick and long for familiar things. But somehow, once I realized everyone else was going through the same thing, whether it is the exchange or life in itself, it became easier to be present with my new friends and the new culture. It became easier to listen to my heart, be myself, and live a little slower, once again.