What Would You Do If You Make Malaysia Your New Home Country?

I am at an age where it is very easy to become a creature of habit. I am pretty good at selling change and transformation to businesses but I don’t necessarily deal with change so fantastically myself. But here I am: about to make a huge change in life, so I’m writing down my thoughts to see if you lovely people might tell me what you would do in my situation. Creativity is welcome!

My family and I are relocating to Malaysia late next month. My wife is helping her employers set up a new finance department there. The company brand is strong in four continents, and has recently won a big project in Asia. When all goes well, it should lead to further expansion.

Australia

The move has been delayed six or seven times over the past 12 months. It was so often that I’d convinced myself it wasn’t meant to be and I could go back to being a creature of habit and stop letting my subconscious mind jump between anxiety and excitement on a daily basis.

Things recently moved forward and we were asked to fly to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for five days to look at schools, places to live, sample life and meet some of my partner’s future colleagues. I presumed that I would be looking to continue my sales career and met up with a couple of connections towards the end of the trip.

Just before venturing to my meetings, I was hit with a bombshell from my wife: the business licences had been significantly delayed. This resulted in further delays with our work visas – meaning no immediate work eligibility for me. That being said, they needed my better half there as soon as possible and fortunately managed to arrange for her to work under a different type of visa.

Suddenly, I have the opportunity to take approximately three to four months to be a stay-at-home dad in Malaysia. Of course, I can’t combine that with travel as there is a little boy to drop off at school at 7.30 am and pick up at 2.30 pm every day. But I do have the freedom and flexibility to have a bit of an adventure.

My to-do list

Here are some of the ideas going around in my head – and impacting my Google searches in preparation for our new life in Malaysia.

A short course to learn basic Malay language.
A short course to learn and be able to act on the fundamentals of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).
Evaluate if sales is my true calling or use this chapter of my life to take my career in a different direction.
Start writing more about the things I’m passionate about.
Get heavily involved in volunteering work to support the underprivileged.
Put 100% dedication into just being the best parent I can be – not stressed out – but constantly playful and actively listening to his needs.
Do the things I moan about not doing enough of, i.e. meditating, exercising, reading and practising gratitude.
Become a Netflix addict (joking, but have you seen Narcos?)

Taking a step back

Maybe you’ve had some time off work and moved to a new country. What did you do or even not do?

Did it shape or change your life for the better? Please let me know! I’d love to hear from you.

As I know no one in KL, I’m also looking to become connected with great people in Malaysia. If you have a friend or connection who believes in the power of personal and business relationships, please take the time out to connect us.