I Attended A Writer’s Retreat In Bali For One Week. Here’s What I Learned:
When I first saw “Writing Retreat Bali” being advertised on my Facebook wall, I thought it was a scam.
“I mean, whoever’s heard of a writing retreat”? my inner cynic cried.
“It’s probably going to be a bunch of hippies sitting around a campfire, singing songs and being pretentious” he grumbled.
If you can’t already tell, my inner cynic is a little bit of a pr*ck.
Yet for some reason, I stopped scrolling. My mouse hovered above the Retreat’s caption, which promises “seriously playful wordplay.”
I suppose it came at an opportune time. I was trying to fulfil a long-held childhood dream — I wanted to be a writer. A professional one.
After months of procrastination, for which I — as well as a great many writers, are legendary for, I finally decided enough was enough and took the plunge.
I started writing on Medium, as well as on my own blog. Mainly for practice.
“So why not take a chance on this too?” a small, less judgemental voice in my head reasoned.
I shrugged my shoulders, took a sip of my dank morning coffee, and clicked on the link. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
1 week, 5 workshops and 20 new friends later, I’m back in Singapore.
I am missing balmy Bali, resplendent in all it’s conflicting, spiritual beauty. I am missing the compound I stayed in, an all-organic, vegan village, complete with free-roaming animals. Most of all, I miss my fellow writers.
Here are 3 things I took away from my week-long stay in Ubud.
#1. The People You Surround Yourself With Are So, SO IMPORTANT
I cannot stress this enough.
When I was a kid, my dad used to quote this Chinese idiom:
經朱者赤, 近墨者黑
Being close to cinnabar makes one red, being close to pitch makes one black.
Growing up in the martial arts, I’ve come to realise how true this statement is. People who train with winning teams tend to win, and winning athletes tend to be attracted to winning teams.
It’s a Cycle, a repeating pattern.
Like all cycles, it can be positive or downright vicious. It’s all up to you and the people you choose to associate with. Nowhere was this truth more apparent to me than during the Writer’s Retreat.
In Singapore, one’s artistic endeavours are often frowned upon. Singaporeans are a notoriously pragmatic people, and we as a nation adore the STEM fields and cushy corporate jobs.
Dreamers are constantly told to conform. Ask any aspiring artist or anybody trying to do something different in Singapore. They’ll tell you they’ve been told the exact same thing.
100% guaranteed.
Imagine the culture-shock I felt when I arrived in Ubud and everybody was so incredibly supportive.
In fact, it took me several days to get used to it.
These weren’t just empty words either.
Everybody listened to each other’s works attentively, and yes, stories around the campfire were involved. We appraised each other, sought out and dished out constructive criticism in equal measure.
The only goal was to help each other improve, to learn as much as possible in the short time that we have with each other. To help each other become the best writer we could possibly be.
In some ways, it reminded me of a successful fight camp. Everyone helping each other improve, no ego’s, no bullshit.
I loved it.
These weren’t nobodies either. They were all successful writers, most of them having published original works. Some of them were professional writers, writer’s who made a good living off their work.
Which brings me to my next point…
#2. It’s Important To Choose To Learn From REAL Teacher’s (Not FAKE Ones)
I just got done reading Fake, Robert Kiyosaki’s (he of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame) new book.
Say what you want about the man himself, but a core idea in Fake got stuck in my head.
Find REAL Teachers, not FAKE Teachers!
An example in my personal life:
I was in school studying for my diploma. My lecturer was an old, disgruntled gentleman who taught Journalism.
Oh, how I hated that module.
Which surprised me, because I love the subject. I love reading articles online, whether it be Sports or Crime or of an expose.
After the Retreat, I realised my lecturer was a Fake Teacher.
He had never written an article, never worked for a newspaper or a magazine or otherwise came remotely close to being a Journalist! The things that he was teaching in that module was Fake.
He went to school, rote-memorized all the theories on the topic and was able to regurgitate them in exams and score well. The System then recognised him as being proficient, and lo and behold there he was, re-regurgitating all his theoretical information on Journalism to my class.
But he had never been a Journalist, had never written a piece of anything.
Fake Teacher.
Ever since I did martial arts, and more recently have started up Singapore BJJ Open, my eyes have been opened regarding Real and Fake Teachers.
Learning from somebody who has never been in the trenches is not practical — It’s practically suicide.
That’s like learning how to be a professional fighter from a coach who’s never even fought a match in his life.
There are exceptions to the rule of course, but they are few and far between.
Exceptions are exceptions for a reason — they are exceedingly rare.
During the Retreat, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop under Nathan, yogi extraordinaire and professional Journalist.
I learned more in that one workshop than I did in all my lecturer’s lessons COMBINED
He was succinct. He gave us real tasks, real-world examples of successful Journalism.
He opened up his email and showed us his pitches, which ones failed and which one succeeded and why. He showed us his articles online, and how he improved over time, how he refined his methodology and grew to become a successful freelance Journalist.
That’s the power of having a Real Teacher.
#3. Having Money Does Not Automatically Mean You’re Happy. It’s What You BUY With Your Money That Matters
In my travels across South-East Asia, I have noticed one very peculiar thing.
The people there, many of whom are living near poverty, are not less happy than the people I know in Singapore, or any first-world country.
In fact, a lot of them appear to be even happier than us!
Thailand is called the Land Of Smiles for a reason, and Bali likewise has its fair share of cheerful citizens.
Of course, this is all very subjective. One can be deeply unhappy and still go about in public with a winning smile.
Just look at The Joker.
So it is fortunate then that we received an assignment from Real Teacher, Nathan.
We were to travel around Bali, choose a topic, any topic, and write an article on it.
“Pow! Wow!” The creative juices started flowing. I immediately saw myself as an Asian Hunter. S Thompson, prowling around in Bali, uncovering secrets. Gonzo style.
I paired up with 2 other group-mates and elected to do a piece on our Balinese personal driver, aptly named Dollar.
We travelled to Dollar’s compound, my group-mates in his car and me tailing close behind in my rented scooter.
There, we had our hearts melted and eyes opened.
It was a typical, traditional Balinese home, complete with a personal shrine and laughing, running kids. We met Dollar’s wife and family, and they brought us refreshments.
Over the course of an hour, we chatted with him and his family. They were casual and cheerful and we quickly broke the ice. It didn’t take us long to convince them to go on the record for our project.
Two things really stuck out.
One, how happy and contented they were. Dollar makes about $500 USD in a regular month of driving, a quarter of which goes to paying for religious ceremonies.
Most of us make many times more than what Dollar makes, but how many of us can say we are that many times happier than him?
As my group-mates interview Dollar, I snap some candid portraits with my iPhone, trying to be low-key. I am acutely aware and a little guilty that my phone probably costs about a month of their combined income.
That feeling dissipated when I showed them the pictures I took. “Wow, these are amazing!” one of Dollar’s relatives exclaimed, a broad smile on his face.
That’s when they told me they have never had such good quality images taken of themselves before, much less together with their kids.
In all their years of marriage, Dollar has never had a portrait taken together with his wife.
I sat them down and take pictures of them as a family.
I proceed to send him all the pictures I’ve taken.
Genuine smiles all around.
That’s when I realised:
It’s not how much my iPhone costs, but what I choose to do with it that counts
Instead of using my brand new iPhone to mindlessly scroll Facebook or play the latest games, I chose to make someone else’s day, and in the process, make my own day as well.
Happiness is infectious. Happiness doesn’t have to cost a lot.
Taking those pictures didn’t cost me a single cent, but to them, those pictures meant more than Dollars and Rupiahs.
They had nice pictures together as a family for the first time.
Their smiles stayed with me, long after I left the compound.
Real Teachers.
Thanks for reading my story :)
