I Decided to Just Do the Thing I Feared Most

Into the water

There was a time when my life was shaking. If you drew my life as a graph, it was the very bottom. That was when a thought suddenly came to me: if things are going to be this bad anyway, let me try the thing I have always feared most.

What I had feared all my life was water.

When I asked myself what would make me fear water the most, the answer was scuba diving. A friend who had already tried it had told me about diving, so the idea came quickly. All right, let's go scuba diving.

So I headed to the Philippines, where it was reasonably priced, the scenery was beautiful and the sea was relatively warm.

I can still recall how I trembled on my first dive. Whenever I imagined something going wrong underwater, I started with this thought: if it happens, I will simply accept it.

“That experience changed a lot about how I face what I fear. You just do it.”

What matters to me

Health. If body or mind is not healthy, the nomad life can run into trouble.

Kindness and smiles. Most locals and fellow travellers I meet on the road are kind. When we share a smile, the day flows a little better.

An environment that suits me. I am easily affected by my surroundings. When a new place feels bad for me, I change my environment to get better energy. Even a short visit to a café, a forest or a beach during the day can shift it.

On the welding sites

It has been more than ten years since I started welding. I worked at many kinds of sites: shipyards, plants, semiconductor and battery factories, and offshore.

When I was young, I worked believing that physical work trained both body and mind. But it was a hard environment, and when I overworked I got very tired.

What I regretted most was the people side. Working with many people means many things happen. Even though welders work alone relatively often, I could never fully escape that.

Working abroad

When I first worked in Australia, I felt how well work and life could fit together. In Malaysia I had the special experience of working out at sea, and it is still a good memory. In the United States I felt work, freedom and fun together. If I worked abroad again, purely for the work, the US was my favourite.

Honestly, working abroad makes you compare it with the hardcore work in Korea. The work culture, the environment and how relaxed people are all differ, and that influence is hard to ignore. So the feeling that I did not want to work in Korea any more could only grow.

Choosing a different life

When I first started welding, learning the work and improving my skills was fun. Being recognised through my income felt good too, and I was satisfied.

But at some point I began to feel this work no longer helped me grow, or helped my life grow. The more I worked and travelled abroad, the more I thought about ways of living. In the end the wish to live differently arose naturally, like flowing water, and I kept exploring what I would do and what kind of life I would live.

Now I am focused on building apps and SaaS, trying to become a digital nomad: Tovi, an app for making plans together, and Sitrilo, which helps with reporting and records on job sites.

People around me reacted in different ways. Those in the position of worrying about me mostly said I shouldn't. A friend who trusts me said it was cool and cheered me on.

I have no hesitation. I just keep trying to ‘try it first’. Try what you can do now, and if it doesn't work, what else can you do?

What it took to live this way

Money. Even if it isn't much, it matters to have enough to keep living. But life is never that simple, and crises come. Then all you can do is find what you can do in that situation and do it.

Courage. And living to fit your surroundings. If you want a lot or your standards are high, it can be hard. Some places are good and some are bad, so you have to fit your routine and your spending to where you are.

A mind that is not shaken by other people's eyes and judgements. I live in the way that feels comfortable to me, not to meet some standard.

A sense of reality. I am a dreamer, so I am weak here. Someone with a good balance would build this life more solidly.

What living well means

Having hit the bottom, done what I feared and lived going with the flow, I think this is now a life I won't deeply regret. Maybe living well means making choices you won't regret, meeting each day as it comes, and living out your own character.

Everyone in the world has a different temperament. Just look at how widely MBTI types vary. Some people would want to live like me, and some would feel quite uncomfortable in my situation and want to get out.

“If my life draws you in, I want to tell you just one thing. When you picture what you want, think of the thing you fear most that comes with it, and just do it. That one thing can change a lot.”