Joining Substack...One Year Later
It's Coffee TV & Me's first anniversary! How do I feel about change now as I look back?
My very first Substack post launched on January 17, 2024 and it came at a precarious time for me. Not only was I in my first six months of a major life change by having moved from Los Angeles to Bangkok, Thailand with my husband Boyd and our beloved black cat, Mango, but I also had a career jolt when I was let go from my job at TV Guide Magazine in December 2023.
Don’t worry, I won’t rehash all of that in detail since that’s what that first post was about - change. What I was confronting in real time a year ago was that sometimes life throws you big changes and other times you are the conductor that orchestrates that change. In both cases, change is essentially unpredictable in that you don’t always know how things are going to work out and you just have to keep the faith and continue putting one foot in front of the other. Now, a year later, I’ve had some time to reflect on the past year
As you may have guessed from a lot of posts (or if you know me in real life), I’m more of a glass-is-half-full kind of guy. I’m realistic about the world and have learned from the bumps that come in the road but it’s my nature to be hopeful and as positive as possible. Of course, some days that perspective is harder to keep but while I used to write in a physical journal about my feelings and thoughts to work out problems of any kind, I’ve found in the last year that this Substack page has been a kind of journal where I can write about my feelings or memories or thoughts on a particular topic. It’s been therapeutic to say the least and I love it when I hear from readers who have experienced similar things or maybe my sharing of an experience (like the post entitled “From Stuck to Unstuck…” which you can read here) actually helped them in some way.
And it’s been interesting because as I write this, I am back in the United States for the first time in nearly a year. I’m here for some work purposes, applying for my next Thai visa (which I needed to do from the U.S.) and seeing friends and even some family. Being in Los Angeles, where I lived for a total of 25 years, there’s still a feeling of home here and with the recent fires, it’s no surprise to me to see communities come together to help one another via donations or just hours spent helping one another. L.A. is a city of survivors and it is filled with people who know how to push through the hard times.
One reason why I’ve had time to reflect while traveling is didn’t take a route directly from Bangkok to Los Angeles like I normally might do (with a usual stop in Japan or Taipei), I decided to spread the trip out a bit with pit stops in a few of my favorite cities. I wasn’t posting like I normally might on my Instagram, BlueSky or Threads about the day I spent wandering Asakusa in Tokyo or the three days in Oahu, Hawaii over my birthday or the past week I’ve spent in Los Angeles. Honestly, it all seemed unimportant and heartless considering what L.A. residents have been dealing with but I decided that I’d share a few photos on this post.
Being here in Los Angeles, where I lived from 1995 to 2023 (minus three years that I lived in NYC) has also given me time to think about how different life is for me a year and a half after moving to Thailand. I was truly ready for the newness that would come with living in a foreign country where the main language was one I did not speak. But in that time, besides just being immersed in the Thai culture, I’ve taken Thai language classes and can now speak ‘nit noy’ (‘a little bit’ in Thai) and I can read and write some of this difficult but beautiful language, as well. After 8 months of classes, I may not be fluent but I know more than I did before and it’s exciting to be able to hear Thai and have a better understanding of what others are saying. I never expected to be learning a new language at my age but it’s been a great experience.
Learning Thai was also made easier since Boyd is originally from Bangkok so he has helped me, corrected me and supported me as I said things right and wrong. I mean, the language has five different tones which can make one word mean five different things. It’s tough! (A new video of me speaking Thai is in my plan soon so keep an eye out for that!)
So what do I think of change after making a huge life shift? I think it helped that I personally was prepared for shaking things up and also kept myself open to wherever the road took us. I’m not a religious man but I did have faith that things would work out. Thankfully, that road has been mostly filled with good as we’ve been able to explore the country of Thailand as well as had the good fortune to visit other countries like Taiwan, Australia, Germany, Austria and Japan. We plan to venture to more places we’ve never been, which we’ve been chronicling on our YouTube page, Travel with Jim & Boyd. (Check it out and feel free to subscribe here! I just posted some fun shorts of my time in Hawaii and Las Vegas!).
So with 2025 only 19 days old, who knows what the year has in store and what I’ll be writing about a year from now when I look back on the second anniversary of Coffee, TV & Me. But I’m grateful for the outlet and I’m even more grateful for the support of my readers whether they pay for a monthly or annual subscription (which is still on sale until the end of January, fyi) or just check things out without paying a dime.
I also am very aware of another major change coming to the United States starting on Monday and I just happened to be reminded of a simple but powerful phrase that I saw on a piece of art last night in Los Angeles. That phrase is “This too shall pass” and no matter what you’re facing in your life, I hope you keep the faith and remember that the good stuff comes, the bad stuff comes and sometimes you just have to remember to put one foot in front of the other and, yes, keep the faith.
Until next time…
LOVE YOU.