In the blink of an eye, I’ve been in Thailand for a month. Although I’ve traveled to Thailand many times before, living here feels quite different from just visiting.
The concept of being ‘chill’ is very popular back home. Living in Bangkok for a month has made me realize some reasons why it’s hard to be ‘chill’ in my home country.
The core reason is that the evaluation system in my home country is too uniform. In a society with a public evaluation system, you unconsciously evaluate everything and are also evaluated by others. How can you be ‘chill’ in such an environment?
In the core areas of Bangkok, the ratio of people with yellow skin to other skin tones is about one to one, and among those with yellow skin, Thais make up no more than 50%.
Therefore, the mainstream Thai cultural system simply cannot dominate in such an environment.
Everyone’s attire, behavior, and manners all carry their own cultural background, and you cannot evaluate them with a unified standard.
As a result, the automatic evaluation mechanism that you have developed over the years of living in your home country will fail. You will find that you cannot evaluate others, and you will not be evaluated by others either.
In this state, you will become very ‘chill’.
Moreover, the cultural foundation of Thailand is Buddhism, one of the core concepts of which is not to judge, neither oneself nor others.
I don’t know if there are other international cities with this cultural foundation, but I have not experienced it elsewhere at home or abroad.
In addition, the pace of life in Thailand is slow, and the safety is high, which may also be the foundation of being ‘chill’.
For example, in the apartment where I live, there is basically no need to lock the door. When I ask people who live here regularly, everyone basically only locks the door when they go out for a long trip.
During the day, I am usually at Starbucks, leaving my computer and even my wallet on the table. When I go to the restroom or even go out to eat, no one will take your things, and they will not occupy your seat.
The atmosphere at the gym here is also my favorite, which can be described in one word as ‘quiet’.
I never thought that ‘quiet’ could be used to describe a gym, but the gym here is basically silent except for the background music and the sound of treadmills when there are many people.
Everyone speaks softly and does not make a loud noise, nor do they drop weights or barbells on the ground.
Even the sound insulation of the group exercise room is so good that you can only judge whether there is a group class by looking.
Overall, here, the only rule you need to follow is to avoid disturbing others and respect their space, and you will be given the same respect.
Thus, you can better focus on yourself and explore yourself, which may be the essence of being ‘chill’.