Five goals for my time in Bali

Yesterday, after months of planning and preparation, my wife and I arrived in Canggu, Indonesia. This little Balinese town will be our home for the next six months. Getting here required quitting our jobs, breaking the lease on our apartment, and selling/storing just about everything we owned. I’m sure there will be more details on that process in another blog post – stay tuned.

As we prepared to move, our friends and family would often ask: “Why are you moving?”, “What are going to do over there?”, “How are you going to spend all your time?”, etc. Those are big questions with long answers, but there are some goals and intentions I’ve developed that I’d like to share. Here are five.

Write

This is a big one for me – see Why I’m going to write more. In addition to blogging, I plan on continuing my daily journaling. Check out morning pages to get a sense for what that looks like.

Exercise

Over the past five years, I’ve done a mix of CrossFit, running, high-intensity interval training, and powerlifting. Each had their ups and downs, and each helped me better understand my body.

In August 2017, I decided to focus on weightlifting and began tracking my progress in several key lifts (back squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press). Focusing on a few compound lifts let me (1) improve my form, (2) lower my risk of injury, (3) measure my strength over time, and (3) reduce the time I spent in the gym. In all, this has resulted in an exercise routine that I both enjoy and believe is doing my body good.

I plan on continuing this strength training routine in Bali, with the primary goal of getting my squat up to 250lbs/113kg. Doing so will require consistent training as well as eating healthy and sleeping well.

Cook

While traveling, it’s easy for me to eat out 2-3 meals each day. Though this can be fun, it can also make it difficult to eat healthy. Cooking ensures I can eat the foods that best support my body and mind.

Also, cooking creates adventure: it encourages me to explore my neighborhood (e.g. Where can I buy fresh produce?), it exposes me to new flavors and ingredients, and it connects me to the local culture and language.

Read

While living and working in San Francisco, I’d routinely read books in ~20-minute sittings, usually either at work or at home before bed. This approach netted me about 3 total hours of book-reading time each week (in addition to countless hours reading on my phone and computer).

In Bali, I’m going to block 45 minutes each day to read books. Reading for extended periods of time is challenging for me – creating the time, blocking out external distractions, focusing my mind, finding a comfortable location, etc – and I’d like to practice the skill.

Learn the language

Learning Bahasa Indonesia will enable me to participate more in the local community. It should also be a fun challenge for my brain.

These five focus areas are intentions I’m bringing to my time abroad. In all, I think they’ll occupy something like 50% of my time each day, but it’s hard to say. I’m excited to see how they evolve as I settle in!