When I talk to many of my relatives and friends back in the USA some of them think it is absolutely wild that I would choose to do something like this: Some of them think it is crazy. There were some very real reasons for me making this choice though and ones that I think others should possibly explore if they are unhappy with their life in the west.
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for most people, it isn't really like this
The rat race
For starters, I lived and worked in the United States for a while and it seemed like out of almost everyone I knew, virtually no one liked their jobs. I knew people that didn't hate their jobs, but very few people that genuinely enjoyed them. Most people, including me, were just going through the motions and just like the song says "Everybody's working for the weekend" and never really enjoyed much else in their lives.
I was working some corporate stooge job with micro-management and office politics and when I looked at my "career" I didn't really feel as though it was one. When I looked at the several stages of job opportunities above my own, I didn't actually want those jobs either so it was a bit demoralizing to say the least. I found myself looking for other jobs while I was at my current job - even on the job - only to get this sense of depression thinking that the reason why those jobs are even available is because they are at least as bad as the one I currently have.
I think it was the day when I went to a job interview to sell Xerox copiers, something I definitely wasn't interested in doing that it was the final straw that broke the camel's back.
I just wasn't interested in the rat race when I looked around I saw that everyone was just vying for a higher salary at jobs they do not like in order to acquire more stuff to make their lives more bearable. I really didn't feel like this was or is any way to live one's life. Which brings me to my next point
Consumerism
The desire to buy more and more "stuff" exists around the world. It exists where I am now as well but for some reason it seems less pervasive and omnipresent. You aren't constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest tech gadgets and there is considerably less pressure to always be buying stuff here. I wasn't entirely aware of this when I first moved here, but it became more apparent to me the longer I stayed.
Just to use one example let's talk about clothes. In the USA there is a near need to always keep your wardrobe updated. At the pinnacle of my buying into this notion I was spending 4-5 hundred dollars a month on new shirts, pants, and shoes that I definitely didn't need.
Once I moved to Asia, it was very important that I actually don't acquire too much stuff since I could find myself in a situation where I need to move rapidly and my life needs to fit into a couple of suitcases. Therefore, I almost never buy clothes and when I hang out with my workmates or just friends, nobody really cares what you are wearing. This isn't to say that I am dressed like a slob all the time but before I moved here I had dozens of pairs of shoes. Thousands of dollars worth of shoes and some of them I rarely wore. I remember being at Foot Locker one day and I bought some limited edition K-Swiss shoes simply because they were limited edition, not because I actually had any purpose for them. I think I wore them twice and they were more than $100. Today I have a pair of "professional" shoes, a pair of athletic shoes, and a pair of sandals.... and that's it!
Cost of living
Especially in high profile areas in the United States, which is where a vast majority of the good jobs are, the cost of living is very high. Late into my 20's I still had roommates and this didn't really appeal to me but I didn't have a choice. I couldn't afford my own place. If I had stuck around I likely would have been promoted to a level where I could afford a higher rent place but then I'm kind of back where I started, but now I am surrounded by a larger and nicer place that is now chewing up all of my extra salary.
Everything in life is relative. If I wanted to spend $1300 a month on a place here I could do that, but it would be something seriously luxury. Back where I used to live in the States, this was just a normal stock-standard and probably unfurnished downtown apartment.
This cost of living extends to everything that you do in your life from rent all the way to just getting a coffee for your commute - which leads me to my last point
Commuting to work
If you are fortunate enough to live and work in the USA or somewhere else in the western world and don't have to commute: I admire you. For most people, a commute is just part of their everyday life and it was for me.
I wonder how much time the average American spends in their lifetime simply getting to and from a job that they don't even like. I would imagine that it is a lot of time and this just makes me sad to think about. I also participated in this for quite some time and on a lucky day it would be 30 minutes each way, on an unlucky day it could be an hour and a half.
To me, this is a horrible waste of life and I can't believe that I at least at first, enthusiastically participated in it just like everyone else. In an 8 hour workday, which I already loathed almost all of, I was now adding and additional hour or more of unpaid travel time into my day. These days, I almost never have to commute to anything. I don't even own a car which is something that is basically mandatory in USA.
Conclusion
In the end my monthly salary is considerably less here where I live now but when you consider all of the above things and many others that I have omitted for the sake of this not being too long, I probably save the same amount of money per month than I would if I lived back in my home country. My mental health is also much better off because I never experience road rage.
Is life perfect over here? Of course not but to me this was an experiment and after more than 3 years of being not part of the American Dream, I feel as though I made the correct choice. I hope that I never have to return to my old way of life because I don't think I could handle it at this point: Especially since I have now seen the other side and have very little in the way of shoes.