From practical engineer to spiritual van lifer| from technical to creative| From timid to courageous

Hello everyone, this is Vivi. Welcome back to my channel. Have you ever heard of the phrase the only constant in life is change? And it was said by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. In order to support this statement, I recently stumbled upon a video on YouTube here that I want to show you. It's relatively short. It demonstrates how our solar system is not fixed. It actually moves through the whole galaxy. When the sun moves, it holds all the planets to move along with it because of the gravitational force. So the whole system moves simultaneously and harmoniously with each other. And that's why we don't see the sun actually moves, but it does. How interesting is that? That is in the microcosm. But when we look into the microcosm, so above is below. When we look into the microscope, we also see that the cells and the atoms and molecules, they actually vibrate. When they vibrate means they also move and that means they also change in physicality. And that proves everything changes. Life is a flow of river and it constantly moves. It constantly changes. In spite of this perspective, I was curious to reflect and look at my life, how I have changed as a person. Because ever since I live in van life, ever since I moved to Canada actually, I feel like I have changed so much. Every year there's new challenge. Every year I feel like I'm a completely different person. It feels like a shedding skin. So this video has been pretty fun to make and a lot of reflection along the way as well. And I think that it offers a different perspective than the stories in my book. It can also be supplementary or complementary to some of the stories in my book as well, which is more esoteric and more philosophical because of the framework of alchemy. However, in this video is a lot more laid back and I explain the process of growth and change in terms of skill sets and how my personalities, my characters has evolved along the way as well. So let's travel back in time and see how I have changed as a person. This was me about 10 or 11 years ago. I was a total nerd. This picture was taken at MIT when I was a research assistant there. I remember I was a very timid, shy and reserved person. I always felt like I wasn't good enough. I felt like I was a little mouse in such a big intellect environment because everyone there was a genius. Everyone was so extremely smart and I felt really intimidated to be in such a place. And that was the reason why I pushed myself to grad school and did my master engineering at Cornell University. It was quite interesting that during grad school, I discovered my passion for photography even though I was in a scientific field. It was because the Ithaca Tower in upstate New York is a really, really beautiful place. It's like a little fairy tale place with so many waterfalls in the area. Just the Cornell campus alone has several waterfalls that run around the campus. It's such a beautiful campus. It's probably the most beautiful campus that I have ever seen in the whole country. I visited quite a few universities there. It was the reason why I chose Cornell because when I came there, I just fell in love with the place. Not with the school, but the nature and the beauty of it. The campus is located up on a hill and you can see Cayuga Lake. All the beauties of the buildings, old buildings and landscape really captured me and that's why I chose the school. It wasn't because of the program. But anyhow, they did have a pretty decent, pretty good program there. I thought that was interesting that in grad school, it unlocked the creative side of me that I didn't know that existed. In fact, in my project, I decided to not work in research, but to do more creative projects like a medical device prototype instead of doing repetitive research projects. During grad school, I still didn't really socialize that much because I wanted to focus 100% on school and on studying. I did have some hangouts with friends. I wasn't socializing that much and I took school very seriously. I had always been someone that very studious and because school was very expensive, so I didn't want to lengthen my time in school and have to pay more for tuition. I just kind of crammed all the courses that I could and just took them on and finished within one year. So it was really intense for me because I didn't want to pay a lot of money for tuition and after one year, I decided, okay, now I'm done with school. Now I can get loose a little bit and go socializing and go partying. So after I graduated, I moved to Boston and I had a lot of fun time partying in Boston. It's such a diverse town with so many people from all different places because there's a lot of scholars, a lot of visitors from around the world that come to Boston. So I got to meet people from all different places because I also got involved in couchsurfing where I hosted people, hosted travelers and I met a lot of scholars from different universities, different industries, particularly in pharmaceutical and medical devices industry. I went to networking events several days a week, like every single week, if not every day. I even went to meet up groups and I had a lot of fun for two years, almost two years there being back in Boston and socializing and engaging, meeting people. And it made me realize that, oh, maybe I wanted jobs that have more social interaction with people because I kind of enjoyed the people socializing skill and I had a lot of fun with that. And I didn't know that that was somewhere within me because all those years in school, I just really focused in studying and I didn't socialize that much at all. I just didn't know how much fun it would be to meet with people, especially people from different backgrounds and different countries, like places that I never know about because I just love to explore and studying and things that I don't know. So that was the reason why I was very sad for me to leave Boston and I tried to hang on to that city for as long as I could because I had so much fun there. I came back to Vietnam and I miss the party life in the U.S. a lot. It's the weekend, I'm not going out, so this is strange. I think I was pretty depressed at that time. I was drawn back from my family. I separated myself from them and I created my own cocoon. I didn't really want to talk to anyone. But on the other hand, I kind of miss the party life in the U.S. So I still wanted to go party occasionally in Vietnam and in Thailand and that was fun. But somehow it started to fade out when I get to travel more into remote places like Cambodia, northern Vietnam, and Japan. I met many travelers on the road and I felt like I had more interesting connections with them because we share interests in traveling. And the conversations were more interesting as well and it's just not as vague as the people that I meet at the party. So my second year in Vietnam, it was getting quiet down and I started having many reflections and it was the year that I had to focus on my immigration in Canada also. So there was a lot going on and the last six months in Vietnam, I adopted Marko. So he was a big catalyst that changed me because during that time, I completely stopped going out and traveling or going anywhere. I had to stay at home to raise this little puppy that was very skittish, very difficult, and so demanding. But it was all worth it because he was so really cute. During that time, I also started planning out my life in Canada and what kind of lifestyle that I would like to live. And so I researched into different lifestyles and that's how I came across Vanlife. So when I got to Vancouver, I started my van within three months after moving to Vancouver. The first year, it was difficult for me because I had to get used to a new country. I had to get to a new place, got a van, started living in the van. Moving around a little bit within those three months also and that was pretty tough. And then I had to look into getting a job. So a lot of things to figure out so that was pretty stressful. I didn't have that much fun with Vanlife during that time. After six months, then things started to get a little easier because I had a stable job. And then I had another offer which was so much better so I took that one. I get to engage with people and so it was a lot of people and social networking skill that I love and it wasn't all that technical. So I had tons of fun with the job. When things started to get stabilized, I get to work part-time and part-time traveling and spending a lot of time being in so many different remote places in BC. I went to Squamish, Whistler of course and a lot of time in different islands in the southern Gulf of BC. They all are beautiful. Probably Sunshine Coast is my most favorite. It's just so stunning there and I had a lot of bear encounters as well and yes during that time I started to have more questions about life in general and that was when I became more philosophical somehow. Like all these thoughts and ideas just pop out in my head and I never thought that I was interested in philosophy ever. And I even wrote several poems so that was really interesting for me to see how much I have changed and became more creative over time and some of these subjects or things I never thought I would consider was the one that started to pop out in my life. So I thought I should dig in and to get to know myself more because I didn't think that I would be this person but I turned out to be this person so that was very interesting. Who am I really in the core at the soul? So that was really intriguing for me to find out and I got introduced into spirituality through personal development courses and through a relationship that I was in at the time and he really opened my eyes up into the world of spirituality and metaphysics and I just thought that this is a whole new horizon and there's so much to dig into and I was just really excited and intrigued to get into the subjects because when I just thought well what else to learn about life and now a whole new subject just opened up for me to explore. So that was very interesting and the more I got into it the more I was curious and then I started to learn energy healing like Ricky and I thought wow that was just really mind-blowing that you could feel energy in such a way that I just never thought it would be possible like what is it is it was like magic so that got me to grow in a whole new level from 2019 to 2020 was a significant growth in my life that I went from scientific person research person to someone who's living in a vein and started to get into spirituality so that was the turning corner the twisting ground in my life that started to go in a whole different direction. I think 2020 was a very interesting year for most people it was chaotic and filled with a lot of negativity however for me it was a year full of positivity with lots of growth lots of transformation beautiful memorable experiences and a lot of adventures as well so around February in 2020 was the time that I felt pretty unfulfilled with my job and I had a nudge that I needed to go toward the east coast of the country I don't know why why that happened I just had a strong gut instinct that that was something I needed to do however at the time I felt very comfortable and I really enjoyed my life in Vancouver BC I had great friends great co-workers a stable job that I enjoyed even though I felt pretty unfulfilled and bored but it was at least comfortable then it really hit me in March 2020 when everything shut down due to the COVID pandemic that I realized well nothing is really permanent and I should not rely on anyone except myself and I needed to be independent and that if I wanted to achieve the dream of my life I needed to learn to overcome all my fears step into the unknown tech life is an adventure and that's exactly what I did I followed my gut instinct and scared to death I had so many overthinking questions because of my fear what would happen if I travel across the country whether my van could make it what if something go wrong with the engine and whether I could find any resources water gas propane shower to make my life is comfortable because I don't know any of that resources would be available on the road so I did as much research as I could to see whether there's any available showers or places that I could get water at least along the way before facing this big fear into the unknown of going across the country I decided to put myself through a lot of challenges in order to build up my confidence it's like building a muscle at a dream that you need to build up your courage your confidence slowly and that's what I did so I pushed myself to overcome many fears and many challenges like fear of judgment the fear of not being good enough that was the reason why I started this youtube channel because I was afraid of being in the public eye and speaking of that was actually one of the challenge in my coaching program to record a youtube video so that's how this channel was started it was it was meant to document my growth through this whole journey I actually cried a lot before I recorded my first video I was terrified I was really scared if you go back and see my first video you and look into my eye you can probably see that around my eyes it was a little bit swollen because I cried before I recorded the video but then now looking back I realized well there's nothing to be afraid of and I think I have built up my confidence a little bit along the way to learn how to speak up to learn how to record video I realized that there's nothing to be really fearful of and all of your fears are actually illusion and it's just what the mind is tricking you in order to prevent you to be growing and to be the best of yourself to be the better version of yourself and so that's the reason why it's so essential to overcome these fears if we want to live the life of our dream a life of extraordinary would requires you to have courage and these fears are what holding you back from being the best version of yourself and I after two years I realized that was probably one of the best decisions that I have ever made and so that's how this youtube channel came about during that time so 2020 was a very significant year of growth for me a lot of things changed huge change and it was scary at first but it turned out to be very positive in the end and it was at that time that I learned to forgive as well being in nature is it helps me to release the grudge the resentment and all the anger to all the people that hurt me and so I release everything and started my life anew it was transformative and it was uplifting it wasn't easy for me to forgive it's really changed me as a person to be so much more mature than who I was and stop blaming all the people and started to try to forgive and to love myself more and to let go of all the things that burdened me for so long and just when I started driving out of Vancouver BC and really make my way across the country permanently without knowing whether I would return to Vancouver or not in my mind I was thinking well maybe this is going to be a one-way trip and it's gonna be one hell of an adventure that was when everything started to open after the first lockdown in the summer and the opening was very slowly in some places however it was just enough for me to get to all the facilities that I needed in order to have my life sustained at least and somewhat comfortable along the way so that was such a huge blessing so there wasn't that many travelers on the road and I wasn't really stuck I could still get to see so many beautiful national parks it was like being on heaven especially at the Rocky Mountains and I thought that was maybe my reward to have the courage to leave Vancouver and to follow my gut to follow my instincts I had a lot of fun during that time and I spent two months in the Rocky just because I couldn't leave I hiked every single day and I think I wear my coat out a lot because we were hiking so much because I wanted to see everything everywhere because everywhere was just so beautiful and I felt really grateful for having that experience and I really love all the national parks that I passed by in BC Banff and Jasper in Alberta it's truly a heaven on earth at these places the scenery is just out of this world beautiful I think that TransCanada Highway is probably one of the most beautiful and also probably the longest highway in North America that I have driven the scenery is just so diverse it started with the Pacific Ocean then the Rocky Mountains then the Prairie and the Meadow in Ontario and Quebec during the fall foliage is just so breathtaking it's like walking in a dream so my drive was just really colorful like through and through because I get to see the wildflowers in the Rockies and when I get to Ontario I get to see the fall colors with all the leaf changes from yellow to orange to red maple leaf and it was just so beautiful the more I travel the more I appreciate and respect the beauty the graciousness and the abundant love of Mother Earth it is what really inspire me and that's the reason why I capture her beauty and share through my photos and videos I just hope that her beauty would be reserved for years to come because without her we wouldn't exist in this planet during this time in Sault Ste. Marie I just happened to meet Krom from Van City Van Life a pretty popular YouTuber and I think that many of my viewers here discover my YouTube through Krom as well because at the time I only just tiptoed with my YouTube as I just started for only a few months yeah another chunk of time yeah he go all the way to the water and Marco is like nope not going to the water he's so delicate he's like nope not getting my paws dirty they're just like you guys I thought that was a very interesting synchronicity because we knew each other in Vancouver through the Van Life community in Vancouver there but we barely ever get to meet because we always travel in different places in different direction and here we are just bum head each other at Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario on our travel so I thought that was really cool I was heading east toward Montreal and he was heading back to Vancouver off we go in opposite direction and travel through different places again and I don't know when we're gonna see each other the next time so that's the life of a nomad you just don't know who's you're gonna meet on the road every day is an adventure so I stopped exploring at the end of the fall that year and I settled in Montreal for the winter December 2020 I thought that everything worked out really well for me throughout the entire trip I did not get sick I did I never get COVID and my van did not break down I met a lot of amazing people I had a lot of fun so many adventures and I always wonder if I didn't make that decision to leave Vancouver to go across Canada what would actually happen to me in Vancouver what would life have been um would it ever be this fun this amazing well I'm just really glad that I listened to my intuition because it guided me toward a much better direction in life to have such a beautiful year I also learned that it is truly up to us to create our own reality regardless of what's going on out there in the world so long as we have a strong boundary and don't get sucked into all the negativities we have the choice and we have the power to create a beautiful life for us and I think that was the biggest lesson and the most beautiful lessons for me to learn on top of that I also developed a new skill set this year which was video editing hence this YouTube channel if I could go back in time and tell my younger self 10 years ago that one day I would have a YouTube channel I think the younger version of me would roll on the floor laughing historically to that insane comment it's just beyond believable before I started the channel and my trip going across Canada I did several manifestation exercise and I did visualize so many beautiful comments toward my videos in my meditation I could not believe that what I visualized became reality and all these beautiful comments started fluxing to my channels at the end of the year it was just mind-blowingly shockingly amazing like all of these comments and the kind viewers like you really fill my heart with so much gratitude and joy so thank you so so much for making my year super memorable with all of these beautiful comments on top of all the fun that I had that year it was an awesome year for me hey guys if you want to know more about my life journey and my growth process you can check out my book living through alchemy that's available on amazon and lulu all the links will be in the description