I came to Chiang Mai with the purpose of breaking free from an environment where I couldn’t find my way out from thinking about what to do next.

If we know how to live everyday like our last day on earth, are we going to feel fulfilled and happy? Is it pragmatic to take this motivation cocktail every morning?

Then I read a beautiful book about story. The author lived his life with intention to make a good story that is worth making into a movie.

He said story is about ‘a character overcoming conflict to get what he wants’.

I smiled reading it. I smiled looking back at my journey. I smiled embracing struggle.

Whatever I went through at the moment, I knew I will love it later.

Am I living a good story?

When I thought of my life as a story, I saw myself in the chapter where the character goes through series of struggle, pain, fear and tears; I am in the journey to figure things out.

A story that moves us is always about a character sacrificing everything and keeps trying even though he might fail.

Soon, I’ll make a move. Then I will do everything I could to move in that direction, embracing pain and gain to overcome conflicts.

If I was to make a movie about two weeks in Chiang Mai, it will be a colourful, beautiful and serene movie that is a web of many lives and stories that intertwined.

As we became part of each other’s story in this journey, our stories could enrich or divert each other’s story line.

Be a wanderer

I came alive when I wandered on the streets of Chiang Mai.

When you have to learn everything about a new place, you bring all your attention to things around you, you listen to the sound of the city, you inhale the scent of surrounding, and you feel curious about everyone that passes you.

You are so focused in writing the new chapter of story that you have no space for old problems.

When you return, that chapter will have continuity because no journey in life is independent of each other. Everything we do will change a part of us.

I wanted to write a book about my story

Do I know enough to write a book about life? Will people care?

My self-doubt subsided when I started to see my life as a story.

Writing our life story is not about knowing enough about life, but to do enough in this life.

In a movie, a scene couldn’t move on without the character taking action. Nobody watches a movie to see the character repeating same action every day.

As we do more, we open ourselves to feel more and know more.

I want my life to be a good story with many memorable scenes, and a beautiful last scene that is full of love.

I want my story to make people feel grateful for life and take actions that make them come alive.

We do not create a good story by sitting on the couch. @isabellethye (Click to Tweet!)

How do we live everyday like it’s the last day on earth?

We live a good story, and be present in our story every day no matter which chapter we are in.

Isabelle Thye is a coffee enthusiast based in Malaysia. She co-founded a café consultancy business and started her own coffee label CHNO. Besides building her coffee business, Isabelle enjoys writing and backpacking around the world.

Image courtesy of unsplash.com.