February 14th 2025, Paksong, Laos

I am doing it. I am going to volunteer in the middle of rural Laos on an organic farm. I have been talking about volunteering for a while now and I am happy I finally found a nice experience to commit to. Right before committing to the volunteering this morning some tension arose. Should I keep moving? How will I get there? What if I don't like it? I have been on the go for so long, moving to different places every couple of days. It has become against my nature to sit and stay at a place for a week or more. But, that is exactly what I need in this trip at this point. To be comfortable not on the move, not going on a crazy adventure each day, but to focus on a single task over a longer period and perfect it. This is a microcosm for life. Eventually I will want to build and work on a directed goal in career and family. I know I thrive when I put my head down and grind on one thing. Over the past few months maybe I have lost that because I have been going from one crazy experience to the next. Anyway to be able to do this volunteering experience I had to extend my visa in Laos. Thankfully my friend told me to check when my visa expired which I would have never thought of. At the border the officers did not tell me how long the visa is. I had to check on the stamp they gave me which it said it was 28 days. This morning I had to go to the immigration office and fill out a visa extension form. I needed a photocopy of my passport, a passport photo, and money to extend it. It was about 8 dollars to extend my visa for an extra week, which I think is worth it to fulfill my commitment to volunteer in this country. I found out about this farm when I rented a motorbike from a shop. I asked the owner if he knew of any volunteering experiences and he recommended me Shared Happy Farm. Online it had raving reviews of people coming for a farm stay or for food. I messaged the owner of the farm and he was so nice and personable and welcomed me. He wanted me to stay for a month or two but I told him I could only commit to 7 days right now. I also had another volunteering experience to build camping platforms in the Pakse area. What made me commit to farming was really the warmth of the host. He messaged with a voice note on whats app which made it feel like he really cared and made a connection. I realized this is really important in life and in business. When someone is deciding to pick between two equal products or experiences, making a friendly personal connection really helps give you an edge. I want to improve on putting that out there for everyone I meet. Being more friendly and personable. Anyway I am at a local bus station now waiting to take a bus to the middle of nowhere. There are no other tourists or white people. I have to tell the driver where to drop me off on the way and hopefully it works out. Here's to a new adventure, taking it slow and into the details.