The Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) welcomed Art Wedmore who provided some advice about Expat living in Thailand at their Wednesday, December 28 meeting. Art Wedmore has and still does live life to the full, as he says I live on the plus side of life and always will even at 73 yrs. From being an Indiana farm kid, he has had a checkered career. His topic “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and create a new ending” primarily related to changes one may need to make for living a better life in Thailand.
Art began by saying, I am going to put 86,400 dollars in your Bank account; but there are conditions. He then cited the following: (1) You must spend it by midnight. (No balance can remain); (2) You cannot carry it over to the next day; (3) At midnight exactly anything left is deleted; (4) At one minute past midnight 86,400 dollars is back in your account and again it must be spent before midnight. Further, this will continue until for any reason the account may be closed. He then asked, what would you do with that money coming into your account every day…just how would you spend it?
He then pointed out that the number 86,400 is the seconds in each day that you live.” He then asked, what is more valuable, money or time? One needs to remember that all the money in the world cannot buy back time. To quote Ben Franklin, “Do not squander time, as that is the stuff that life is made of”.
He then proceeded to describe what he considers the 9 phases Farangs living in Thailand go through: (1) Delight – this is where you are in heaven here…climate, people, girls, booze, etc; (2) The Comfort Zone – money and free time go a long way and you love it here; (3) Surprise & Wonder – you discover deeper layers of Thai culture; (4) Irritation & Surprise – lots of things annoy you, 90 day reporting to name but one; (5) Anger, complaints & the wish to change them; (6) Acceptance – you learn to live with it…Thais will not change; (7) Lacks & Loneliness – homesick is part of this; (8) Choices – you have learned to live “The Thai Way”; and (9) Opportunities – if you are still here at this phase, hopefully you have found something that really makes you want to stay here.
Art then offered advice on changes one may need to make so as not to squander their time remaining. One is at the beginning of a new year, most people set resolutions and goals they want to accomplish. Unfortunately, he noted, that most often these fail because they have set their sights to high, making unrealistic goals that are unachievable. His advice was to set yourself a simple resolution. Further, it needs to be realistic and achievable. You should write it down and review it daily. Make no excuses not to follow through; focus and commit yourself to carry it out.
In conclusion, he mentioned that in living in Thailand, one will interact with Thais. For example, smile often as it doesn’t cost anything and can have great results. He then asked the audience to contribute any suggestions they might have about interacting with Thais. The suggestions offered included, learn to say please and thank you in Thai and use them; stay calm and be polite even when things happen that infuriate you; and probably most important for your own wellbeing, adopt the Thai attitude of Mai Pen Rai (“never mind”) when things go wrong.
MC Ren Lexander than mentioned some upcoming events before calling on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum portion of the meeting where the audience comment and ask questions about Expat living in Thailand. To view Art’s presentation, visit the PCEC’s YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rip7JsAjms&feature=youtu.be. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at: https://pcec.club.
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