🌱 Spring Life Update
Life lately in the Land of Smiles in 2025
Hey friends,
Spring has officially sprung—and with it, a little life update from me on 2025 so far (with some film shots sprinkled in along the way).
🌄 Past
I kicked off the year in the dreamy mountain town of Pai, where I reconnected with my creative self—writing poetry daily and savoring slow mornings. Then I returned to teaching English in Chiang Rai at a public boarding school in northern Thailand.
It’s wild to realize I’ve been in the “Land of Smiles” for nearly six months. I’ve learned boat loads and gained somewhere between 5 and 8 kilograms—and about a million new memories.
This season carried me through misty mountains, a motorbike fall, a half marathon, tearful goodbyes with my students, and an unexpectedly joyful side quest into Thai massage school.
There was pain—like a pack of stray dogs chasing me the morning of my half marathon. There were tears—every day of my final week of classes. There was simplicity in the rhythms: walks, class, grading, noodles, naps, boba, motorbike rides, more walks.
Much of this quarter was about listening. Watching what I naturally reached for when no one was watching (hint: it was always the mangoes at the night market). I kept coming back to writing, to stillness, to the art zooming out and noticing.
🌟 Some things I’m proud of:
Having all my Thai 7th, 8th, 11th, and 12th graders write letters to their future selves—and read parts aloud as a speaking assignment.
Running 98.5 miles in January.
Hosting a spontaneous letter-writing workshop while camping on my birthday for ten fellow travelers—and then rolling around on the floor with strangers at a 2-hour contact improv jam.
Handwriting 143 colorful, sticker-filled notes (plus ice cream tokens!) for my graduating seniors.
Ordering iced green tea with 25% sugar in Thai like a local.
Letting my body lead—swapping long runs for Kok River sunset strolls and weekly swims after my race injury.
Finishing books: Normal People by Sally Rooney and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Surviving Mission Less-Stimulated March by: using Google Maps fewer than five times all month (a perk of living somewhere longer than a week), listening to music less, and not looking at my phone until after 8am or after 9:30pm among other guidelines.
Recording 15 pages of my audiobook (and soon to be finished!)
Writing my students this farewell song (still working up the courage to record it)
🌊 A few dips in the wave:
PM 2.5 air pollution started to get unbearable in February. It made me cancel many plans of site seeing before I left Chiang Rai. I would be inside all day with the shudders shut blocking sunlight and this made me sad but it saved my lungs.
Bruising my hand and tweaking my knee trying to get back into Muay Thai boxing.
A lousy, lonely, air-polluted visa run to a city in Laos I still can’t pronounce—where I felt more like an IV drip from the bank than a welcome guest.
Attending a Theravāda Vipassana retreat that promised English translations but delivered Zoom meditations, iPhones everywhere, and me getting filmed while meditating (?!).
Struggles connecting with my Thai roommates despite my best efforts.
But one unexpected joy? Creating a little Stammbuch—a notebook or Album Amicorum in Latin for Album of Friends, where new friends I meet leave me notes. It's become a growing treasure of this chapter.
⛳️ Q1 Milestones
April 1 marked six years of daily journaling. Oh how I am still obsessed with my reflection practice.
March 30 marked five years of sharing letters on this Substack.
March 31st marked my last day as a teacher in Thailand. Teaching reminded me how lucky I am to speak English as a first language. It taught me a lot about communication and presence—but also confirmed what I already suspected: I’m not built for rigid school systems. Especially not within Thai government schools. My nervous system never fully settled. Still, I’m proud I saw it through.
🌿 Present
Right now, I’m in Chiang Mai. I’m having an artistic active April coming out of my hermit shell more.
The rains have finally started, and I’m grateful. The smog has lifted just enough that I can go on sunrise and sunset walks without a mask—that alone feels like a small miracle. Though I still sweat through my shirt since it’s around 100 degree Fahrenheit.
And to my surprise, I’ve loved Thai massage school. There’s something deeply healing about being in my body every day, learning through touch, and moving at a slower rhythm. It’s been the reset I didn’t know I needed.
Today, I performed a 165-minute massage from memory with over 130 positions. Then, I faced another fear: needles. I went to a traditional Chinese medical doctor and stuck my tongue out at him for acupuncture—and lived to tell the tale. found out my liver is inflamed too.
🔭 Future
Tomorrow, I take my final massage assessment. After that, I’ll be reinforcing my skills on friends and family.
Next week brings Songkran—Thai New Year, a.k.a. the world’s biggest water fight for three days.
Soon after, I’ll board a plane for the first time since I landed in October to meet my parents in Phuket. It’s their first time in Asia, and I can’t wait to share the firsts with them: Thai massages, night markets, mango sticky rice, tuk-tuk rides.
Beyond that? I’m in the “dot-connecting” phase figuring out what’s next on this pathless-seeming path. I’m staying open to new ideas, projects, and collaborations.
If something sparked for you while reading or if you just want to catch up, reply to this email and let’s find a time to chat. :)
Big shifts are on the horizon, and I’m taking them one season at a time in experimental bites.
See you next week. I'll be sharing more about why I chose my side quest of Thai massage in the first place.
Until then, keep on learning.
With love <3
Toodles,
Jen
P.S. Huge thanks to
for inspiring this reflective format on her recent update.P.P.S. Wanna dive deeper into the stories behind these seasons? You can order my book Letters to My Life available here 💌