Naomi Geidel: A Southeast Asian Odyssey

Have you thought about living in Japan, Indonesia, or Thailand? Wondering what it might be like to call Southeast Asia home for a while?

In Episode 6, Season 2 of Creating Your Happy Place, Naomi Geidel shares her story of leaving the United States and making a home for herself first in a traditional home in Japan, then in a villa in Indonesia, and finally studio apartment in a high rise flat in Bangkok Thailand. 

Professionally, Naomi provides support and encouragement to creatives so they can bring their ideas to life.  Her Inspired Change program supports those ready to take life by the hand and create a way forward.  She is single & childless so has a deep understanding of navigating the twists and turns of life and living a life unexpected.  You can find Naomi wandering streets she’s never seen before looking for creative inspiration and joyful moments.  

- - Where to find Naomi - -

Instagram: @acreativepurpose
Podcast: A Creative Purpose
Website: naomigeidel.com

- - About the host - -

Rebecca West is a business coach for ambitious residential interior designers who are determined to become the only designer their clients and contractors call.

She's also obsessed with creating happy homes, so if you need some advice for your home you can check out her book Happy Starts at Home or sign up for a via-Zoom Design Helpline. 

Rebecca can't resist a costume party or a cat video, and has a weakness for Oreos, Taco Bell, and Scotch whiskey. 😁

🙏 If you like this podcast, make sure to review, subscribe, or share! 

Transcript

Rebecca: 0:01

Welcome to Creating Your Happy Place, a podcast that explores what it takes to create your happy place and then empowers you to do whatever it takes to make sure that your home makes you seriously happy. I'm Rebecca West, host of Creating Your Happy Place and author of the book, Happy Starts At Home, and I'm so glad you're here today. Now, this season we're having some fun exploring the idea of becoming an expat. It might sound like a great adventure to leave the United States and set up home in another country, but it comes with challenges. Here in the United States we have not just a remarkable amount of choice when it comes to shopping and finding things that suit our personal style, but we're also very used to being able to get almost whatever we want, whenever we want it. And it's not necessarily like that everywhere in the world. Today we're chatting with Naomi Geidel, currently living in a studio apartment in Bangkok, Thailand, but as we speak, she's packing up and moving to Jeju, South Korea, and this is gonna be her fourth country as an expat already having lived in Japan and Indonesia before moving to Thailand. When she's not sharing her relocation adventures on a podcast, Naomi is a creative, a coach, and an international teacher who provides support and encouragement to creatives, helping them find the clarity and the confidence they need to move forward and bring their ideas to life. In particular, her Inspired Change program supports those ready to take life by the hand and create a way forward. Naomi also has a podcast of her own called A Creative Purpose, which you can find on her website, which of course you'll find in the show notes. I am excited to welcome her to the show today. Hello, Naomi!

Naomi: 1:42

Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Rebecca: 1:45

I'm very grateful for your time because you are literally right now moving to South Korea. Thank you for making the time to talk with us.

Naomi: 1:52

Happy to.

Rebecca: 1:53

Well let's start with a little bit of context for our listeners. Way back before you made your first overseas move, what kind of home did you have in the United States, and did you really personalize it?

Naomi: 2:03

So at that time I was living in Orange, California. I was living in an old Victorian house that was split into four apartments, so still a small space, but still a lot of character. And I loved living in Southern California cuz you have the Rose Bowl flea market, Long Beach flea market, great estate sales. And so I was always finding things very inexpensively, repainting them, bringing them into the home. Yeah, so that's what that season looked like and I loved it.

Rebecca: 2:35

So now we fast forward and you are about to leave the United States. What created the first opportunity to move?

Naomi: 2:42

I was kind of unsettled and so I was just putting out feelers, talking to people... and somebody mentioned this opportunity in Japan. So I explored what that would look like and um, took that leap. I had, you know, had to pack up, it was like, whatever you can fit in your two suitcases, that's what you get to take. And so, um, that's what I did.

Rebecca: 3:03

And then from Japan, you moved to Indonesia.

Naomi: 3:07

Actually I came back to the states.

Rebecca: 3:09

Ahh, okay. So what's the timeline of this adventure, starting with your first move.

Naomi: 3:14

It was my late twenties when I moved to Japan for a year, and then I actually moved back to Colorado where I had grown up, um, thinking I wanted to settle in and do all that. So I was there for about eight to nine years and bought a townhouse... That was another great season of having my own space and painting walls, buying lots of shelves for all my creative things. Then, in my late thirties a door opens up for Indonesia and that was a big transition cuz that's when I sold most of my things.

Rebecca: 3:49

Including the house itself?

Naomi: 3:50

Yeah, yeah. Because at that time I was like, uh, do I want that responsibility of renting it out and what does that look like?

Rebecca: 3:58

So you went to Indonesia just with what would fit in two suitcases. Same process?

Naomi: 4:02

Same process.

Rebecca: 4:03

So you're in Indonesia then did you come immediately to Bangkok or was there another US period of time there?

Naomi: 4:09

So I had gone back to the US again for two years. This time I ended up in Nebraska closer to family. I found this old house that was two levels, very charactery, hardwood floors, beautiful windows. And again, I started to collect and find these treasures. I had actually gone back out to California for a while and hit all the old jaunts of collecting things and I actually came back to Nebraska with a trailer full of treasures, um, thinking I was gonna settle in and have fun with that.

Rebecca: 4:44

And how long did the Nebraska chapter last?

Naomi: 4:47

That was two years.

Rebecca: 4:48

Two years. And then Thailand, how did that come up?

Naomi: 4:51

At this time I had a friend living in Thailand and she's like, Hey, yeah, why don't you, you know, see if there's any jobs open. And at that time in Nebraska things weren't falling into place like I had envisioned, I was just like, this isn't working, I need to figure out what to do next. And so, yeah, Bangkok opened up and I had actually been through Bangkok and I knew I liked the city for the ease of transportation and availability to things as an expat, and so I knew I could live here. I knew it was a livable city for me. Um, yeah, so that door opened and I walked through that one again too.

Rebecca: 5:28

What worries did you have moving to Thailand?

Naomi: 5:31

Yeah. Making friends, can be tricky. I'm an ambivert, so it's not like I'm out you know, on the town. Um... and just what would life look like day-to-day? You know, just navigating new streets, navigating a new transportation system, just knowing that your life is gonna be kind of, not in shambles, but just really not normal for a while.

Rebecca: 5:54

And not easy. My experience was I no longer had anything that could be on autopilot. Nothing. Not getting up, not showering, not buying shampoo. Nothing's on autopilot, and that's a really exhausting period of time.

Naomi: 6:08

It is. Yeah.

Rebecca: 6:09

You've put yourself through this three times and now you're doing it again. What makes that worth it for you?

Naomi: 6:14

The experience of it, the expansion of my ideas of people, because being put in a new culture, it can be exhausting, but it's also exhilarating to be like having your eyes see something you've never seen before, and getting to know other people and why they do things and how they experience life themselves, yeah, I think at this point in my life, it is kind of this expat life of... you know, wanting to stay in a place for a while to really get to know it, and then we'll see where the next door opens.

Rebecca: 6:49

Let's talk about setting up your home in all these places. Let's start with Thailand. Did you find the place on your own? Were you working with an agent? Did you Airbnb it? Like, the logistics? How'd you find a place to stay?

Naomi: 7:00

Yeah. So I worked with an agent here, um, cuz it wasn't like, usually in international schools, depending on the country, they provide housing for you. In Thailand, a lot of schools will give you like a stipend and then you have to find your own housing. And so, um, I knew I wanted a small space because I am a collector and I was like, you're not collecting as much. So I did choose a studio for that reason. And I chose one that was well decorated, you know, something that already felt like home, like the paint color on the wall with beautiful artwork already. So I felt like it was just a move in and I could then enjoy other things and not make a home again, in that sense. You know, it was more like, Can I invest in the relationships and other cultural kind of things? So that was kind of different from other times.

Rebecca: 7:53

So it came fully furnished, it had everything you needed and it was also beautiful cuz you were thoughtful about the place you chose. Did you end up loving it as much as you hoped you would?

Naomi: 8:02

I did, yeah, it was a little bit tricky just because of the size. I dream of possibly having a tiny home at one point so this is good practice for that and yet part of that time was covid and so it did feel like the walls were, you know, creeping in. Um, yeah, if I had a normal schedule, I wouldn't care cuz I'm not home much. And so it wouldn't have mattered in that sense.

Rebecca: 8:27

Right. Which is what a lot of people experienced through covid. Like, this home worked great when I wasn't here 24 hours a day.

Naomi: 8:34

Yeah.

Rebecca: 8:35

Given the kind of place you chose, maybe you didn't have to deal with setting up utilities and things like that aside from setting it up, did you find tiny little differences, like how the light switches work or how and when they pick up the garbage or if they even pick up the garbage these things that we take so for granted as the norm.

Naomi: 8:54

Uh, good question. Um, I mean, like, you have to go down and get your big jugs of water, right? And so that's like, what company do I use? How do I get them to deliver it? Um, I had the same thing in Indonesia, but it was delivered to my door. Now it's delivered downstairs. You gotta, you know, hike that thing up there.

Rebecca: 9:14

Is that something you're doing because you didn't grow up and you're not used to the water there? Or is this something that all the people there do they all just have water delivered?

Naomi: 9:22

Yeah. Pretty much everybody has it delivered, yeah.

Rebecca: 9:25

But there is running water, showers and everything. So this is just the potable water that you drink and cook with?

Naomi: 9:30

Yeah, and some people, like I brush my teeth in the water that comes out of the sink, so I'm not too scared about it. And I cook with the water cuz usually I boil it, but for drinking water I just get the bottle water just to cut down on any, you know, tummy issues that might arise. Cuz that is never fun to deal with.

Rebecca: 9:48

Mm-hmm. You go through that once and you're like, that was plenty of times.

Naomi: 9:52

Yeah. I think Bangkok was an easy transition from like coming, like already having experienced a lot of that stuff in Indonesia. You know, like plugs are different, lights are different. You know, just having the light on the outside of the bathroom instead of the inside. You know, some of those kind of things or, um, yeah. I feel like this was a easier move than before.

Rebecca: 10:16

When you think about what you thought would be the hardest thing about moving to Thailand versus what ended up being the hardest thing about moving to Thailand, are they the same or are they different?

Naomi: 10:26

That's interesting because I didn't think I'd come back to Southeast Asia, like I was like, no, it's just too chaotic. I'm ready for kind of some peace and quiet. But then Thailand is interesting. They don't have a lot of horns, you know, with the cars so it's a lot more quiet in that way. They have more sidewalks that you can walk on. I think that's what I really missed too, when I lived in Jakarta. I was like, oh, I just want a good sidewalk to walk down without having to, you know, trip and fall on a loose brick or something like that. And I feel like, there's a lot of availability for that here in Bangkok. And so that made it more, I don't know, homey if you will, you know, like, oh, I can walk and not stumble. So yeah, different things like that that I was like nicely surprised with. And, if you've never been here, it's so different than what you would imagine or see on pictures because there is so much availability to what I have back home. You know, like I can get cheese, I can... I don't know, get Lucky Charms if I wanted, you know, yes, I might have to pay a little bit more, but like if you are really craving home, um, you have access to that.

Rebecca: 11:44

And is that specific to Thailand, and you didn't find that to be true in Jakarta and in Japan.

Naomi: 11:50

Um, you can find certain things. Yeah. So it just depends on the country, what home kind of things they import. Like when I lived in Japan, Pepsi was my thing cuz it reminded me of my mom, or I forget what Jakarta was. It's usually food, you know? Um, so yeah.

Rebecca: 12:12

I love that because it's such a small thing, but it represents such an anchor to home. Like all you needed was a Pepsi occasionally, and you were like, all right, I can survive.

Naomi: 12:22

Yeah. Yeah, it is funny.

Rebecca: 12:24

Yeah. Well you do have two moves already under your belt and it sounds like living in Thailand just felt more familiar overall Yeah. Interesting. Now as a fully furnished place, um, what did you love most about this place that you're now leaving?

Naomi: 12:40

Uh, I think just the ease of it, right? Like the small space, not having to manage a lot, um, of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I still have my stuff. I still have my craft stuff, but I think before, like when I lived in Denver, I had two floors and bedrooms to manage and clean, and here it's just very simple. Like your kitchen isn't very big, so it's not like you can make a huge mess. Everything's pretty accessible and close to you. Yeah, I think that's what I like in the season is the ease of things.

Rebecca: 13:12

That makes sense. I think most of us are looking for a little bit more ease in our lives in general. So a smaller space is a good way to create a lifestyle that supports ease instead of struggling against having just too much stuff, too much space. Given that it was completely furnished, what, if anything, did you do to make it feel more like your space?

Naomi: 13:32

What did I do to it to make it mine? Plants always, plants can't get enough of those. Um, oh, I do bring pillow cases because I know that's an easy way to make it mine. And it's easy to pack, it's little. So I bring some of those. Uh, what else have I done? I think just like my little creative things like my art supplies, you know, having maybe my brushes or colored pencils in a jar just to bring in those kind of elements that I like. And candles. Yeah, that kind of stuff.

Rebecca: 14:11

Yeah, just bringing that, that sense of pleasure into the house. Yeah.

Naomi: 14:16

Definitely.

Rebecca: 14:17

Okay, so that's your time in Thailand. Stepping back to Jakarta, to Indonesia, what kind of place did you live in there?

Naomi: 14:25

Yeah, so that was an interesting one. I don't know if you'd call it a studio, because like the bedroom was all glass. So it was like, you know, very open, but whatever. Um, so I lived in that for a while and then I also moved to this kind of villa place, which was a one bedroom apartment. So really like beautiful space. Had a beautiful kind of patio out to greenery where I had them put in hammock hooks, so I could enjoy that. Um, with those two spaces, they were decorated nice, but like in the second one I lived in, I, you know, it was kind of like an old couch and so I thought I was gonna stay there for a while. They had IKEA there, so I got some couches that I could afford and tried to, you know, really make it a home in that season as far as like a new table or, um, setting up a bigger craft space. So that was a little bit different in that sense of really buying big pieces of furniture, um, more artwork, rugs, the whole thing.

Rebecca: 15:33

Did you end up staying long enough in that space that you felt like you got the value out of it?

Naomi: 15:37

Good question. Um, I think so, and that's where I kind of have come to like, my space is here. It's like Even if you're here a year, a year is a long time and also a short time. But like, space is very important to me and I want it to feel like home. I want it to feel comfortable. And so for me, making those investments kind of doesn't bother me, except now when I'm trying to pack, you know, maybe I'm like, ah, why did I do this?

Rebecca: 16:08

Yeah, of course.

Naomi: 16:09

But yeah, it's important to me.

Rebecca: 16:11

When you transition, do you tend to give away or sell your things or is it a combination?

Naomi: 16:17

Yeah, combination. Um, I'm kind of to the wire, so it's kind of like, okay, who needs this? Let's just get rid of it. Get it out of here. I always had big hopes of like starting earlier and you know, having this all planned out nicely. And now it's like, okay, we're two weeks out when you have to get outta here

Rebecca: 16:35

I've seen a lot of fire sales on the expat groups like, like what you want guys? I gotta get outta here.

Naomi: 16:42

Yes. Yeah,

Rebecca: 16:44

And then, same question as I had in Thailand. Things that you were surprised by. Things that were funky about how the house worked, cultural expectations. What did you find in Indonesia?

Naomi: 16:55

Well, it's interesting when you have those little geckos or tea checks, they're just in your home and you know, and I don't really like them, but then I was like, well, they're eating the mosquitoes and they're not hurting me except one time I opened a cabinet and one flew out. So that was a little bit, you know? And so it's like fun stuff like that, that you're just like, oh, that's interesting. Or, um, like my, the bigger apartment, it had like a maid quarter, you know, like a helper quarter. So that was interesting. I didn't ever have one, but to see kind of how they had their places set up for, you know, an extra set of hands.

Rebecca: 17:34

Yeah, actually, even though you just said you didn't have help, I think it's still really common in these countries for there to be household help. Like that's a normal thing to have nannies, housekeepers, even cooks, right?

Naomi: 17:48

Yeah. Yeah, very normal.

Rebecca: 17:50

That's very interesting. Cause that's not normalized here in the States at all.

Naomi: 17:53

No.

Rebecca: 17:54

It's the ultimate luxury.

Naomi: 17:55

Yeah.

Rebecca: 17:56

I love that you brought up the geckos cause I remember when I was younger, I got to be in Tahiti and they had geckos, and they had mirrors over the headboards of the beds on the wall behind the bed in theory so that the geckos couldn't climb up over your head. Geckos can climb on glass, no problem. They were like, this is just another wall. Speaking of geckos and eating mosquitoes, those are all tropical locations, do you have mosquito netting around your bed? How do you mitigate for mosquitoes? Are there screens on the windows?

Naomi: 18:29

Uh, I've never had a mosquito net. Um, maybe when I was traveling, but never in the places I've actually lived long term. I'm on the 29th floor right now, and so it's pretty high up. Um, yeah, so I don't have any issues. But, um, you do have, like here in Bangkok, we have German cockroaches and American cockroaches, and so you have to like deal with some of that.

Rebecca: 18:53

What's the difference between a German and American cockroach aside from the language they speak?

Naomi: 18:58

I know, right? According to pictures, I think the German ones are smaller and, kind of... cuz I was reading up because I mean, that's the hard thing living in, I think there's 42 floors in this apartment building, so that's a lot of people, and it's just kind of a natural thing in big cities. You're gonna have cockroaches, you're gonna see rats in the street, you're gonna see all these things. And so I think, not like I love them, but I have learned to live with them. You know, like this is just part of living in some of these areas and around a lot of people. And so you just do your best to keep them at bay because I do live alone, it's not like I have anybody else to deal with this, so you just kind of have to... deal with it and make the best of it. But yeah, some of those bug issues are kind of, not so nice to deal with.

Rebecca: 19:53

Not your favorite.

Naomi: 19:54

Yeah, just different.

Rebecca: 19:56

Let's talk a little bit about Japan. Your very first move. What kind of home did you have there?

Naomi: 20:01

Yeah. So initially I was in a traditional home, and...

Rebecca: 20:06

What do you mean by traditional home?

Naomi: 20:07

So, let's see, how do I explain this? Um, you know where you have your shower room separate from the toilet room, you have the sliding doors, the tatami mats, the katatsu, which is that table with the warmers underneath for the winter. You know, not central heating, but you have like a heater that's running and so more traditional like that. Then I moved to another really small studio, where like, it only had a twin bed, but they kind of built it up on stairs so you could have storage underneath, amazing, you know, design, um, as far as small space.

Rebecca: 20:45

I mean the Japanese do stuff with storage that nobody else does in the world. It's amazing!

Naomi: 20:50

Yeah, I love it. I'm glad I had that experience to live in that small space and again, very simply at that time.

Rebecca: 20:58

Anything, about Japan that was particularly strange? By strange I just mean unfamiliar to people from the United States, about the utilities, the electricity, those kinds of things.

Naomi: 21:10

Hmm. Well, I think just having to run a heater, like I've never had that experience, you know? So like, not being able to run it forever so you have to put more blankets on your bed in the winter. Like, I remember some winters I would sleep underneath the katatsu because that was the warmest thing, you know, to like just snuggle up under. So just some of those different things that I think we take for granted, walking around our house and being warm all the time. There it's like, okay, you bundle up more, you have your slippers and socks on, and it's not, um, just comfortable temperature-wise, every part of your house. And so I think that was different.

Rebecca: 21:51

Yeah. We are in, in the United States, so comfortable in our perfect homes. Perfect temperature, perfect everything. And of course, the convenience of getting everything we want when we want it. How do you feel like it's changed you having to accommodate your spaces, put on an extra blanket instead of having your space accommodate you?

Naomi: 22:10

Hmm. Good question. It's made me more patient, you know, not so I need it now." It's interesting because it's uncomfortable and yet it becomes comfortable. Like, yeah, that's just the way it is. Like you come in, it might be hot in your apartment because you don't have the AC going all the time. So I think, I hope it's changed me in that I realize how lucky I am, I just hope that I appreciate it more.

Rebecca: 22:40

I was listening to a podcast about happiness and they were talking about how one of the most effective ways to be happy is to take away the thing that's making you happy for a while, because then you appreciate that thing a lot more. I know that when we, we spent three months in Paris in very small apartments, and when I came back to my, I think, I think our place is like 1400 square feet, it's not big by American standards, I'm like, this place is amazing. It's so huge and I've got two bathrooms for us, for two people. Like it's crazy. There was this almost honeymoon period of re-loving the luxury of being in an American home.You get so used to it, you get so acclimated to the luxury that it stops becoming a luxury. You stop feeling how lucky you are.

Naomi: 23:28

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah, I was, I was trying to think like, What am I excited to go back to? You know, and it's maybe like drinking tap water from Colorado because it's so yummy and cold and...

Rebecca: 23:42

Seattle too! I know. I love our tap water. It's one of the main things I miss when we travel.

Naomi: 23:47

Uhhuh.

Rebecca: 23:47

Yes.

Naomi: 23:48

Yeah. You know, just little things like that that I hope, I just am aware of and appreciate more when I am back to it. Um...

Rebecca: 23:57

When you have come back those two times, what was the hardest thing about coming back to the United states? Where was your biggest...

Naomi: 24:02

hmm.

Rebecca: 24:02

...culture shock?

Naomi: 24:05

I think the amount of choice, like I remember going through Walmart and Target and I'm like, so they have Lucky Charms oatmeal now? Or you can only, I know I'm talking a lot about Lucky Charms, so this is interesting.... but what, you can only get Lucky Charms marshmallows? Like you don't have to eat the cereal part of it? Or yeah, just the vast amount of choice the new innovations that they're trying to market. it's a lot and a lot overwhelming, yeah.

Rebecca: 24:36

We are addicted to choice in the United States. If we don't have choice, we feel like something is wrong. My first time coming back from a less developed country, I remember that experience of walking through the grocery stores and I just felt completely overwhelmed, I didn't even know where to start picking peanut butter. I'm like, there are 12 brands of just this one kind of peanut butter that's just the smooth side and there's also the crunchy side. It was just too much.

Naomi: 25:01

Yeah, for sure.

Rebecca: 25:02

So you're about to move to South Korea now. What's bringing this opportunity up for you?

Naomi: 25:07

Yeah, just a new teaching opportunity. I love Bangkok and I kind of wish I could have stayed, but now that this is happening, I'm excited to go there and see what that's like. Jeju is an island and a lot of nature, so I'm looking for more of that in my life. I love wandering city streets, but I also really miss the mountains or access to more greenery. And so, yeah. So it'll be a fun change.

Rebecca: 25:35

Now that you're so seasoned as an expat are you feeling anxious about anything in particular, or are you just like, yep, this is just the same ol' same ol'.

Naomi: 25:44

The new language piece is overwhelming. I think there's always anxiety around like, am I gonna meet a good group of friends to do life with? Um, how does the bus system work? How am I gonna ship my stuff there? You know, like getting a quote and I was like, I can't afford that. So now I have to figure out a cheaper way to do that. I think there's always anxiety with change, but it's like also a good anxiety and not like a anxiety that's gonna stop me from stepping forward and taking on this new adventure. Cuz it's like I know that I'll figure it out. I know I'm gonna have some stressful moments and might have a temper tantrum, you know, just from frustration like that all comes with this experience, but I also know I have a, lot more patience cuz I've done it a few times now.

Rebecca: 26:35

Right. You've shown yourself that you can get through it, there is a light at the end of the tantrum tunnel.

Naomi: 26:40

Yeah. There's gonna be frustrations. Okay. Just ride it out and make it more of an adventure.

Rebecca: 26:45

Do you learn the language in each of the places you go?

Naomi: 26:47

Uh, I wish I did, so when I was gonna move to Japan, I got CDs and was listening to that so I felt like I had a good basis, not fluent at all. Indonesia, no clue. Tried to take lessons but, it's interesting working in international schools cuz you're always speaking English. Thailand was a little bit interesting. I remember being in a taxi with my boss and he studied Thai and he was just saying all this, all the rules of Thai and all the intonations and, and I was like freaked out. So I was like, oh, I'm never gonna learn this. So I didn't really put a lot of effort in, which makes me sad now, you know? So I am starting to learn Korean cause I was like, I don't wanna leave there and not know anything like I think that's important. So yeah, I would like to know more. It's not my strong suit, so, it's a little bit more challenging, but it's doable.

Rebecca: 27:39

Of course. Yeah. I mean, most people that don't live in the United States speak 2, 3, 4 languages. So clearly it is possible, even if we don't tend to do it very much.

Naomi: 27:48

Yeah, definitely.

Rebecca: 27:50

What advice would you like to give people out there who wanna create their own happy place overseas?

Naomi: 27:56

Hmm. I think just go for it. If you are set on a certain country, figure out ways to make it happen. Um, if you don't know where you wanna go, just start putting feelers out and see where that leads you, you know, that sense of adventure. Bring some of those things that are near and dear to you, whether that be like a candle from home or pictures, art, um, books. just take it with you. And you'll find too that it's about the people and the experiences that really make it home.

Rebecca: 28:29

You've mentioned a couple of times that one of the challenges of each of these moves is making new friends. So do you tend to like hop on Facebook and find a bunch of groups? What are your resources for creating those personal connections?

Naomi: 28:41

Yeah, so some of it has been Facebook groups, meet up groups, just, you know, trying different activities. Some has been working events. Bangkok really does have a strong women's kind of collective as far as, you can find lots of people to do things with. You may not click with everybody, but at least you have the opportunity to meet a lot of people and see which ones do stick. I think that is one of the hard things though, because it is a transient community, and so you might have your good group of friends that you're doing life with, and then one of you moves... I think being okay with yourself as your really good friend, like having that foundation, you know, so you're not sitting in loneliness or, I mean, I think there's parts of that, but like not all the time. So then you can go out and meet people and enjoy time with other like-minded people.

Rebecca: 29:37

But you're not reliant on them for your happiness.

Naomi: 29:39

Right, right.

Rebecca: 29:40

That's one of the hardest relationships any of us ever have to navigate is the relationship with ourself and being an expat can feel very isolating and very lonely. You really get to know yourself when you go to a country that's not your own.

Naomi: 29:54

Yeah. It's our longest relationship. It's the one we're most intimate with. So how can we start to foster better relationship with self?

Rebecca: 30:04

Yeah. Thinking about all your homes, which one has been your favorite home, and why?

Naomi: 30:10

Hmm. I honestly can't say I have a favorite because they're all special in their own unique way as far as the season of life, the people that were around in that season, how I set up that home. And so I think they're all really unique in a sense. It's interesting because, you know, being homesick, right? Like, now I have how many places to be homesick for, and so it's just interesting because it's not one place.

Rebecca: 30:41

You've used the word season quite a few times. What does the word season mean to you?

Naomi: 30:47

You know, in nature seasons change. Like if you're going through a hard season, it will come to an end, and there will be another beautiful season on the forefront. Some people might refer to it like a chapter of a book, you know, that page turns and now you can move on to a new part of your story.

Rebecca: 31:06

It feels like you're saying enjoy what's now and know that it's gonna end, so don't miss it. Or, it's okay that you're not enjoying what's now because it's gonna end and you can survive this too. So no matter what, it creates a sense of perspective that says both you can get through this and also don't miss it because it is going to pass you by.

Naomi: 31:28

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I do have a little bit of that yolo attitude, like you only live once. But then I also recognize there are hard seasons in life that you are just navigating minute by minute, You know?

Rebecca: 31:42

You do anything to get out of that season if you could.

Naomi: 31:45

Yeah, and sometimes you just have to sit in it and it's not fun. And yet by sitting in it and going through that, you will come out different and stronger and you will be able to see things in a whole new light and the beauty for what it is.

Rebecca: 32:01

Do you find that you're keeping friendships or do they tend to be seasons as well?

Naomi: 32:05

I think it looks a little bit different depending on what life looked like after, like was I able to maintain those relationships? Even if it's not like I'm in contact with them all the time, I feel like I have really good friendships that you can always go back to without dropping a beat. I know I can always call somebody and we can pick up where we left off. I think that's pretty cool where, I feel like I can go a lot of places and know somebody.

Rebecca: 32:34

Well, I like that you framed it that way because I think that sense of loss actually stops a lot of people from taking on an adventure like this, that they don't want to let go of what they have and you are not describing it as a loss. You're saying it changes, the relationship changes, but it didn't go away. That's very hopeful.

Naomi: 32:52

Yeah. And it, I mean, it is hard to say goodbye to people that you love and you are comfortable with. I do think that stops a lot of people from taking that leap. And so I guess I would encourage anybody just to take it and be open to what that might look like. I would say usually it turns out better than you expected. Um, there are no guarantees, you know, like me coming, like, I think I had eight or nine months, and then Covid happened, you know. That was a hard season, and yet we've worked through it, and so it's just like, yeah, we make it through.

Rebecca: 33:30

You also can start with smaller risks. You don't have to sell everything and move to Indonesia. You could take a solo trip to Hawaii for three days and just see how that feels, because even just traveling alone is a big leap for a lot of people.

Naomi: 33:44

Yeah! Even just going to the next town over a different route than you usually take to work. You know, like just exposing yourself to what's not in the routine gives you new eyes to see other possibilities. You don't have to travel far.

Rebecca: 34:00

Oh, that's beautiful. I love that you brought up the idea that that can be as small as changing the route you take to work or going to the next city over. It's such an accessible way to begin an adventure.

Naomi: 34:12

Yeah, definitely.

Rebecca: 34:14

What would you like to leave our guests with today?

Naomi: 34:18

Well, as far as home we can make it anything that we want. Our physical space, the people we surround our life with, what we invest our time in, hobbies and all that stuff. Coming from America where we feel the stresses of the cost of living right now, if you are feeling the heavy weight of things, how can you find more joy in the little things and play? I would encourage that exploration.

Rebecca: 34:44

And where can people best find you?

Naomi: 34:46

I like to hang out on Instagram@acreativepurpose or you can find me on my website at naomigeidel.com.

Rebecca: 34:53

And of course, that'll be in the show notes. Thank you so much for taking time with us today. I really appreciate it.

Naomi: 34:59

Thank you. This was fun. I appreciate you sharing some of your expat observations as well.

Rebecca: 35:05

Oh, and I'm still learning. Definitely.

Naomi: 35:07

Yeah.

Rebecca: 35:08

To our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Creating Your Happy Place and that you do feel a little bit more empowered, and hopefully excited to make your home your happy place no matter where in the world you're located. If you're feeling less than happy in your home, please remember that my book, Happy Starts At Home, is here as a resource for you. It's full of exercises meant to help you figure out how your home could be better supporting you and the lifestyle that you want to live. That's it for this episode of Creating Your Happy Place... until next time!