Week 2 in Jeju-do, South Korea has come and gone. The week was low on productivity and high in social and community activity. I have been feeling a bit burnt out from balancing a communal digital lifestyle with visiting guests and my personal goals.

The vibe here in Jeju has been jovial and warm. There are roughly 35 of us participating in a program called Hacker Paradise, a traveling community of “digital nomads” – freelancers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and other remote workers. At any given time, you can check Slack to see what people are eating, drinking, working on, and otherwise planning.This essentially serves as an open invitation for anyone to join. There is a fair bit of humor involved too – new emojis made, giphys shared, and lively banter (sometimes drunken, sometimes sober). I am personally part of a few different groups, including hiking, yoga, writing, music, saunas, drinks, working at cafes, waterfalls, sketching, and actually, quite a few more.

We also have reciprocity sessions, where people ask for help on various personal and professional goals. Inevitably, there are people who will be able to help. Those meetings are then scheduled separately. For example, I helped one guy understand a bit more about personal finance and investing options. I am not an expert per se in this area, but I knew enough to be very helpful to him. I also helped another guy think through his business and got a consulting gig out of it! The modern day kibbutz.

I had been trying to eat modest meals in my hotel room – more like snacks – for dinner rather than full-on Korean meals, but I do think that breaking bread with other people is a big part of the experience. So screw the waistline, I thought, and endeavored to join people more this week on these types of outings.

I’ve been going out to drinks more as well. Given that I’m Korean, I can drink. More importantly, I will drink until I am wasted. And then I will keep drinking. And become extremely surly. One of these evenings involved me putting on a construction uniform and dancing around a bar, and that was pretty much at the beginning of the night. The problem with drinking like that is that it really doesn’t further any relationships. Conversations tend to be superficial, blurred.

I had a friend visiting for 3 days, and we drove around the island in torrential rains. It was oddly lovely. And I ate like I’ve never eaten before. My god.

Yesterday, I went to Sanbangsan Hot Springs and spent the day with a big group, naked with the ladies in the women’s bath section, swirling around from treatment to treatment.

All this being said, I do miss my stretches of solitude and thinking. The community and this period is great for socializing, harmonious group living, and ideas. I need to focus more though on execution of some of these ideas and setting some good goals for myself for personal development.

A few months ago, I was so burnt out that I couldn’t even check my email because I thought that was too much human contact. I think I’ve come quite far in that sense. However, I do need to respect my own boundaries and resist the urge to push the boundaries of how much social contact I need and want to be happy.

Week 3 will be recalibration week. My intention. OM.