I just realized that I haven’t properly posted here since August last year.

On occasion, I have the odd brain wave about turning my personal blog into travel/ digital nomad blog, but they come and go. Let’s be honest, in the main personal blogging is dead unless you’re trying to sell something, and if you’re not all the smart guys now post to Medium; I do like Medium but the same reason I wouldn’t host my personal blog on WordPress.com is the same reason I wouldn’t host it on Medium either: I like the control, even if I don’t post very often.

But I digress.

My last update was August last year after my 2 month long grand tour of Asia and it was an amazing time and a year later I do miss not doing something similar, with different destinations, again.

I’ve had some life drama over the last 2 months: I severely sprained my ankle, was in a cast and on crutches. My better half took up a new job where she was bullied and treated appallingly badly and quit after 2 weeks (if it was Australia we would have been in court by now, it doesn’t work that way in Thailand) and then she was in a car crash. The stress of all that gave me my worst case of tonsillitis (and migraines and an ear infection…3 from 3 🙂 ) in 20+ years and as I write this I’ve only really been physically better in the last 2 days.

But here’s the thing. For all the drama in life, I’m grateful for what I have.

I have some good to amazingly great friends in Chiang Mai and other places in Thiland now who from fate, or luck, I am beyond fortunate to have made.

Life is good, and I live in a place I love, not just because Northern Thailand is insanely cheap versus Australia (it helps soooo much 🙂 ), or that I hate cold weather and it’s rarely cold here, but because it’s just a legitimately lovely, nice place to live and when I decided to reset my life when I moved here the plan actually ended up working out.

Life is never boring, and there are always challenges, but I’m grateful for what I have now, and grateful at the age of 40 that not only did I live this long (never thought I would 🙂 ) but heading through middle age (it hurts me to say that 🙂 ) if all goes to plan I’m set for life even before 50.

Chon Chang, which in Thai is a toast to elephants (Chang is elephant…weirdly it’s also my Thai nickname 🙂 ) that they may win the war.

If life is a war I think that after far too much bullshit for years I might actually finally be winning it 🙂