Tuesday Talks with Zishan
In this Tuesday Talks interview, I share with host Zishan my journey of being global citizen, why I wrote Travel to Transform, biohacking in today’s world, and much more…
Listen to the full episode here:
Here’s also a fun snippet!
-
Zishan: Hello everybody. We are here for Tuesday talks. Now it's all about getting to know an individual and finding out what makes them tick. What do they care about how their career reflects that and what motivates them to keep going? Now today we have an amazing soul called Freeman Fung. Freeman is a true believer in the power of mind. He's on a Mission to awaken more world citizens. He is a fellow coach. He is a fellow musician and entrepreneur. So let's get Freeman on and hear all about his journey.
Zishan: Hello Freeman.
Freeman: Hello. Hey Zishan, how are you?
Zishan: Thank you very much for coming on to “Tuesday talks”. It's great to have you here.
Freeman: It's great to be here; thanks for the invite.
Zishan: I've done a short introduction for you already but you know it's true to the talk style, and this is the first episode to kick off the year with what an amazing episode is going to be then. let us know and to the audience, who you are and what you do. And the biggest question that everybody has on their mind for the talks, as you know, is why do you do it Freeman?
Freeman: Mm-hmm, great question. So, my name is Freeman. I'm a global citizen. And what that means is that I truly believe we are all equal, and we'll all have equal power to change the world and by day, I'm an international marketing manager for a multinational corporation in the tourism industry and by night, I'm a certified life coach, and what I've been doing so far with my journey is that I'm on a mission to awaken more global citizens and I truly believe that it doesn't matter what our skin color is. It doesn't matter what our eye color is. It doesn't matter what our cultural background, financial background, or educational background is. You and I have no difference because we are all just human beings. Well, there has been a liberating idea for me, which I have also spoken about in a TED talk when I was 22. Also, I recently just published my first book “Travel to Transform” as well which is advocating this new perspective to see global citizenships and to answer the question, how did I got here? And why am I so passionate about doing it? Well, I'm born and raised in Hong Kong. For my first 19 years of life; and I've never been the smartest kid and you know I've never been good at mathematics, you know I've never really been good at any Asian stereotypes and I struggled in life a lot when I grew up; you know, I live in a family of four and you know; I just found life has no meaning at all because it was a very competitive environment which by the way that was a live storm over here in Sydney.
Zishan: Yeah, I saw the lightning in the head.
Freeman: It’s like the lightening is spurring our conversation here and giving us inspiration. Back when I was in Hong Kong; I was, you know, just an ordinary kid. I never thought about traveling outside of my own country, you know, and I didn't think about doing anything big in my life. You know, I didn’t know what my purpose was. I'm just another cop in the big machine, as I always say. You know, I found no purpose. I just didn’t know why I'm here, and, you know, no one really can give me the answer, you know. I saw this society teach me the value of just studying hard. Get yourself certification, get into university. And you know, do all the things that come with climbing the ladder: get a job, get a promotion, get the car, get the house, get a family, and, you know, all sorts of things that I saw just repeat through the cycles of life in modern society, which doesn't give me joy. So, it was about the time of our university years when our hearts were really random. People always thought I was crazy, but I first started traveling solo at that time. And I went all the way to Romania.
Zishan: Wow
Freeman: And well, I was there for a whole summer. And most people thought I was crazy, like, you know, probably one of the very few Asians living in the whole Transylvania States, where the jugular is, the world-famous frankly is, and, and that turned out to be the best summer of my life and shift my whole paradigm and shift my mindset. So, while I was there, I was joining AIESEC. Some of you may know me or the audience may know it is an international exchange platform where we do volunteer work, and I was involved in a volunteer project for tourism, and then I was living in a dorm with 40 international people from 16 different countries. So that opened my mind a lot. I finally realized the power of diversity because we don't come to this world to be the same as others, but we are actually so unique that we all come here with a different purpose, and, you know, again, our skin color, our cultural background, and our story bring us to who we are today and every decision we make in life lists you what we are doing right now. And I think all those little bits of culture shocks on me and awakening led me to travel more. Do you know? That was the first time I traveled solo outside my home Hong Kong bubble, and I got to see the world and meet so many amazing people and then I craved for more. So that's the start of my traveling journey and then I went to the UK to study at Oxford for my academic’s exchange. And I went back to the Hong Kong departure station about tourism and world peace. And then, you know, I wanted to backpack back to Europe again. So, I went all the way to London to study for a Master’s degree and to begin my backpack journey around Poland and the Netherland, In Central Europe as well, and with an open Euro, which I wrote a lot about in my book; that's all in the lessons. I experienced this in every country and am fast-forwarding to today. Now that I'm in Sydney, I've been relocated to 4-5 different countries, and I've traveled with my company to over 20 countries and now I have been around 34 countries here today and still counting. And I just love this lifestyle, which, you know, has become my mission. Now not just to, you know, look amazing on social media, for myself, you know, after traveling all these amazing places, but we are all able to inspire one another because we are global citizens, right? We are all equal citizens of the world, and I just realized that travel is the ultimate…the ultimate self-growth tool to help us become a better version of ourselves, and that has been my mission to help awaken more Global Citizens as well to see that their life is a life worth living. That isn't limited by their local cultures, that isn't limited by their local society, that isn't limited by all the education, traditional education. Things that taught us that we have to climb that ladder That's only one way to be successful, and we need to find that money, but there are so many more aspects of life that get us joy, give us fulfillment, and, you know, make us connect with way more other global citizens in the world, and that's where the human consciousness comes in. That’s where I became so passionate about sending this message and just simply sharing that what an honor that you and I are no different and we can all thrive in this world. Oh, wow. And as soon as I said that, thunder came in.
Zishan: Should I say Thor agrees? So, I love this. I love this story and your journey is so amazing, you know it too. And I can see so many pivotal moments in that journey in terms of, you know, traveling solo. Traveling solo obviously, It’s a big challenge for a lot of people, (a) because a lot of people, when they talk about traveling solo, also mean, you know, that it's their first time away from family because maybe they've been used to just going on vacations or holidays just with family members or friends, right? So, now that you are doing that by yourself, which then is different because now you have to make all the decisions about how to plan out for your journey. what are you going to do, what excursions are you going to take, how are you going to walk around? What time do you want to wake up because you're not part of a group anymore right? So, who was leading? Maybe someone decides to organize everything and then we tag along, right? And so, you know, that's the biggest challenge that everybody thinks of as well, and also being alone means that you are also targeted in certain places, you know, as you said, in the culture shock. So you're like, Oh, I don't know if I can say this, or am I in the wrong place? You know, maybe my wallet will get stolen, maybe I will get beaten up. I don’t know. You know, there are so many things that people think of what I mean. Yes, such things are true, such things can happen. But, and I love that, you know, you're also part of the mindset, you did touch upon it that those things are very unlikely to happen, as is the fact that we are powerful global citizens. And as you said, right? And if you try to immerse yourself into that culture where you are, right? When you visit, understand why people are doing certain things too. What was the reason behind it?
Freeman: Yeah. Yeah Exactly.
Zishan: You know, you love the journey; you'll enjoy it and get along with it. So, the question, which I wanted to ask you, is if you could take us through your very first pivotal Journey because you said you went to Romania and, you know, got a culture shock there. And so, what was the pivotal moment that is still ingrained in your mind? You think, which I will say started all this for you like yet this is, because you mentioned in the beginning that you were looking for that purpose.
Freeman: Yeah.
Zishan: I believe if it was Romania, I could hear it was in Romania? That pivoted you to that purpose.
Freeman: Yeah, totally. Yeah, Romania definitely is the place, and I think the pivotal moment is what we call the global village. So, what happened when I was in Romania for that volunteer project was that there was a day when we organized this event called the global village in Timișoara which is a very small town in Transylvania. But the beautiful thing is that, as I mentioned, we have 40 nationals from 16 different countries. So, what we did is, literally, on that day, every country had its own booth, and I, you know, I never did it before. It's the first time I've experienced it as well. You know, I just obviously, I didn't know what happened; you know, I'm in a foreign country; I just did whatever the team says. And the funny thing is, that is actually the most pivotal and also the most inspiring moment for me that really makes me think for the rest of my trip as well. When I go back, and here's what happened on that day, essentially, people who are interested in talking to you were just come in-person into your booth, and then you exchange inverse hands, and that beautiful cultural exchange is nothing like reading something about the country on Wikipedia. It's nothing like you can read any cultural test to understand another human being and, on that day, you know, we have Greeks. We would do face painting for you, and you can play soccer with Brazilians. You can try Croatian snacks as well, and you know there are all sorts of different beautiful countries and colors in that square with the local people, and we all genuinely just talk to each other because we believe there's something more than our own local identity. And we transcend ourselves to become global citizens on that day, and I think that day is, you know, again you know, I was young; you know, I didn't know how beautiful this was. I was still confused. I was still thinking ahh my English is not good enough to communicate, you know, and all those feelings like (previously, as all those feel like), is that right? If somebody's going to steal my wallet, you know, all those sorts of things do happen, you know. Thoughts in our head, but at the same time, right? That experience is something so genuinely built, though, because we eliminated stereotypes from one another, right? Before I went to Romania it was so funny because people told me, oh! you have to stay away from the guys. Because, the guys would chop off your head and drink the blood from the skull, which is as you know from the story of Dracula back in the day, Vladimir and the black Dracula, one of the hero’s last kings, back in the movies. And then they say, oh, stay away from the women as well because they are prostitutes, you know, like, it's dangerous, stay away from them, and then people say, oh! stay away from the children as well because they are Gypsies. They are going to steal your wallet and you know, like before I went there, everyone in Asia told me all these things are like, oh, so I stayed away from everyone and only until, you know, I was living there, right? And I really lived in the culture of the people, waking up and sleeping in the same place as them. And then I learned that you know, they will have this stereotype because, yeah, you know, back in the day, Dracula ditched all people and then drank blood from the skull because he was trying to use that as a war tactic, right? To the devour people.
Zishan: Yeah. Yeah.
Freeman: To the devour people, his enemy from other countries (previously the country) and, you know, women are said; you know, in Eastern European women, they are saying they are prostitutes because so many of them are miserably getting trafficked. Human trafficking to red-light districts in Western countries, and this is actually such a sad story. We need to raise awareness about that, and you know Gypsies, as well as children, are misidentified as Gypsy, but gypsies are not even from Romania. They are another type of person called Romani, and people follow the gypsies. Gypsies that you know and all the stereotyping, like you know, if I weren't living in a country by myself to really have this first-hand exchange, hang out and exchange with the people as I would never be able to break that, and I realized that is so valuable because the same is also true. The other way around, people think I'm from Hong Kongese which is also the same as Chinese. You know, we have grown. You know, Hong Kong is a skyscraper city; you know, it's a mix of Western Asian culture; you know, we are traveling the world. As well, we speak English, and, you know, Cantonese is our native language, and we all need to learn Mandarin as part of our education. You know, we use Facebook as well. You know, we have English names, but it's like a whole different culture. So when we experience all this cultural exchange when I'm not in a bubble anymore with my friends or with my family when I'm traveling all this paradigm shift, right? And that people at the moment, you know, it's like a seat ingrained in my head, in that younger version of me back 10 years ago, this has such a powerful way, and that and that's it, right? It is what grows me into the global citizen I am today. Because when I realize, when my mindset shifts into a global mindset to understand what I've been trying to do in my life as a local Hong Kongese, why I'm struggling in the educational system and why I'm struggling in that race. Why am I struggling to find my purpose? It's because we're trying to find a local solution to solve numerical problems, right? If you think about it, the certain way we're wearing, certain way we’re sitting and the place where living in there all globalize, they are all making different parts of the world, and the phone that we're using right now, right? No matter if you're using an iPhone or an Android, you know, it assembles in a different place and then designed in Silicon Valley maybe.
Zishan: Yeah.
Freeman: And also, different parts, from that perspective, right? We are living in such a globalized world. But what we have been taught by our school system and by society is by our friends and families around us. Most of the time, it is to find that local solution, right? To climb the same linear ladder that the generations have been climbing on, right?
Zishan: Hmmm.
Freeman: And that's why most people get stuck in life, and I was one of those, right? The reason we are stuck in life is because we try to use a local solution to solve a global problem. And by global problem, it doesn't necessarily mean, you know, all the property, you know, global justice, universal human rights, right? You can refer to your personal lives, but looking at it at a well-known Centric level.
Zishan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. I know it because it's a perspective that nobody uses right? Especially when everybody is saying, you know, what is my purpose? What am I looking for? What am I here to do? And what you are doing is you’re looking in the box, which you are in at the moment, right? So in that box, that's the reason you don't have it. The purpose or something that you're looking for, whatever that is that you're looking for, is right? Because it doesn't exist in that box. So that means you need to take yourself out of that box. And then look for a still. That means your profession’s vision is to expand in terms of what kind of help is happening out there in the world? And then I go around and visit, and I love the concept of backpacking. Obviously not everybody in the world does it, backpacking obviously from my point of view, is quite famous for Australians. Because when in Europe, we talk about backpacking. Always an Aussie person will come to mind, right? Again, stereotyping it, right? So when people say, Oh, I'm backpacking around the world or I've been with some friends who are backpacking, I will think, oh, he's backpacking with some Aussie friends of his right now, they've met, and I've yeah, I've met in my time that there were quite a few backpackers who are Aussie and from New Zealand so those kinds and what they had told me at that time was that they get the opportunity just before, I think it's just before the last year of university or before they start university. One year out to go and travel the world. And that's why you find a lot of backpackers from Australia and New Zealand and they travel around the world. It could be the fact that they write from such a remote corner of the universe, right? 11 hours difference. So then they get the chance to know, go explore, and be global citizens that they can be right. And by the time they come back, they have a wider / bigger vision of just being in one place and whatever that place was offering you. Right?
Freeman: Exactly.
Zishan: So, if you are in one place, everything is limited for you, right? It's not unlimited, right? So, the only way you can have unlimited options is to expand yourself and put yourself in other positions, right? And go out there, and I love that story of yours.
Freeman: Yeah.
Zishan: That's leading up to that, right? So, whilst you were doing all these things, right? The question would be in terms of balance, right? So how do I know? Now you're, you know, part of the biohackers as well, in that you look after your health, and it wasn't like that one time, right? So how was that shift for you, right? So, to become a bit more conscious about your health and food, I know you've changed your dietary requirements, right? You know, the one you used to be before, so take us back to that, and how was that? What led you to do that for yourself as well?
Freeman: Yeah, beautiful question, and I think what the audience one day when they listened to you talk about health and well-being, oh! How is that even related to traveling? Like, how is that even related to, you know, the global citizen journeys you’re cropping, I deliberately include that as one of my key chapters as well in the last session, which is traveling to the depths of our spirits, and it's such an essential journey for me because I never thought about health and well-being at all, and you know, like growing up in Hong Kong. I ate the unhealthiest food you could ever imagine; you do it every day and every night, actually; you know, snacking before night or the MSG, you know, all kinds of chili sauce, you know. However, Asian cuisine, as you know, is all the stuff I tried. And you know, for me, I thought, oh! You know, we only live once; we might as well try everything. And there has been, you know, kind of my principal, right? Because I'm free to try everything, right? Unconsciously, I never knew about that actually I was putting a toll on my body so that, you know, Romania was ten years ago, and then, you know, actually what happened afterwards when I was in the UK, as I mentioned, I was studying there and then I stopped working in the UK, and then actually started DJ-Ing (Dance Jockey) as well. So, you know, back in the UK and around 5 to 6 years ago I was DJ-Ing (Dance Jockey) in the Ministry of Sound. I did a tour in Ibiza as well, and, you know, it's 24/7 Party Island. And you know it's amazing—I've had all the energy. I had all the energy to do it. And you know, like I feel like I was young, you know, I can do this. By day I'm marketing. I'm marketing in the multinational office, and then by night, I'm DJ-Ing, and I know Monday, I don't need to sleep, so I go into the office to finish my presentation, you know. So, I came from a state like that, and I still keep traveling, so, you know, in the eight years before COVID-19, the pandemic happened, I never stayed in the same country for over a year. So that was kind of my lifestyle, and, as you know, I love it. Like I could still keep moving or relocating and seeing new places; new continents, and you know I have all the energy to do that and then think that becoming a little bit different. when I was in Singapore, which was around three years ago. So I was in Singapore, living in the interlaced Condo, one of the world's most famous architectural condo for those who are interested? There's even a TED talk about it. It tells about how we can reconstruct our architecture to make human life different in the future. It's a fascinating thought that, without dragging too far, I was sleeping in the penthouse there with a lot of amazing global citizens, we have our private rooftop, a big pool as well, and then night party every week, and there was a day when I was in Singapore, you know, I woke up, and then, you know, I was just as normal, I put on my shirt, you know, my work clothes and get my bag and, you know, start to go to work. But then, when I was at the gate when I was walking down the gate and then going through all the sky gardens, you know, it's a beautiful blue sky, and then I started to realize the whole queue. So, I was on the shuttle bus waiting to go to work when I realized the whole queue. They are full of domestic helpers and kids rather than the usual people in suits who want to have funds managed or another expense, and I was like what's happening? And I realize, oh, is it Saturday today? I don't need to go to work, and that was the first, it was the first moment that happened in my life; it was a surprise, and there were subsequently way more surprises. So, I was walking down the street and I forgot, like, oh, what was I doing here? I went grocery shopping and then I can't remember what the one thing was that I needed to get. And I started having sleep issues as well. And, you know, I have insomnia, so I went to the pharmaceutical industry to see how I could solve my problem. I tried eight different kinds of sleeping pills and then ended up with (formerly just ‘ended’) depressant drugs and all different kinds of pills that never solved the problem for me and I only got worse and worse with my health. But, at the same time, as you said, right, it's about consciousness itself. Because, you know, what good it is to the world if Global Citizen is sick, grumpy, and angry all the time, right? And then it’s the realization, I start understanding that actually our health and well-being do way more in our lives than we originally thought. And at that time, I know I'll start looking for alternative medicine, possibly Chinese medicine as well. They do acupuncture, you know, and then I feel better. But the thing is, right? Because we, as more than citizens, we all have this mindset for a quick fix. We all want to take a magical pill to solve our problem, right? Not just help, you know; this could be a relationship. It could be our job to be our career.
Zishan: Everything is pretty much all right.
Freeman: Exactly! We want that magic wand; please help us to just have the best of everything happen, right? And for me, in this story, it is to help, right? And I still have that mindset, and then I was still actually drinking so much alcohol, and I'm a DJ-Ing, you know, I'm still skipping sleep, and then I went to Chinese medicine. Oh, you know, help me do that. I drink some herbal medicine. It makes me feel a little bit better after, but then, you know, I guess I could get going, right? So, that pattern has been on and off, and then the final blow finally came because I never took good care of myself and I still traveled and that was a stressful time to move from Singapore to Sydney, where I am now, and I moved in December 2019. It was a bushfire, the Australian bushfires. So, I came here, the whole sky was orange, and then I was having problems with breathing as well, then three months after, I went into COVID first lockdown of Sydney, so my whole mental health just went down the drain. You know I was in the dark corner. Now it looks here, back here but when I first started in Sydney I was living in a tiny shoebox. Literally, it was just a bad movie(formerly: a movie down bad), and then I worked and ate and watched Netflix at the same table, and that was my life for the whole six months, and it had created such damage (formerly: has been such a damage) to myself because I couldn't go out on shoreline. I don't have sticks to play with anymore. And you know, I couldn't travel, and, you know, obviously from the high side, now I can share the story. It was just a blessing in disguise, because in that dark corner, I finally have time to pause, right? I finally have time to pause to reveal the life that I have been going through because what happened is out of those eight years since Romania, I thought I was having an amazing journey, traveling around the world that, you know, people saw on social media and we could only dream of, as my peers back in Hong Kong would say, oh! That's amazing. You know all these little things. Right? Keep me going. And I never realized that I was trying to chase the the next promotion, right?
Zishan: Hmmm
Freeman: I was always chasing after the next goal and the next goal, but wherever I went. The answer doesn't lie within the country, so the answer lies within yourself, and I think that's where the beautiful journey comes in, and also why my book “Travel to Transform” is not just about the places I've been to; the cultural lessons I share with you are actually about how we bring that our journey of discovery of this beautiful outside world that we can explore. And having this beautiful inside—well, we all have this holistic mind, body and spirit, and how we put this to well coincide or collide together to accelerate our personal growth. That's the most beautiful thing about the life journey itself because the answer doesn't lie on the outside; it's always inside, but this beautiful world and traveling does offer us the fastest track and ultimate tool for personal development. So, what happened, continuing the story, when I finally understood that we are way more than just a mid-body? I've become a biohacker as you say, and you probably know me as someone very active in some of the power hacking communities. And for the listeners who haven't heard, hacking means we are using the art and science of understanding our own individual biology to optimize our health, well-being, and performance. And it was such a fruitful journey because when I shifted my mindset to that understanding that we have the absolute power to control and nourish our well-being, my whole paradigm shifted. After all, I think I'm so much more conscious about the things that I eat and out of my diet I can try and for the record, right? You know, when I speak from a place where now people see me as a biohacker, as the shaolin martial artist, as the lucid dreamer, you know, people see my health transform, and they thought, because you're young, you're energetic. Yeah, that place, right? But no, I should never come from that. I was sick. I couldn't sleep, I had nightmares. And I was diagnosed by doctors from multiple countries, an expert said (formerly; make it an expert to say) I have CFS, which is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and there is no medical solution for that until I make that shift and understand you and I as global citizens, we do have the power to control and choose what we eat, when we sleep, how we rest, and how we can show ourselves more self-love and self-care. And all this leads you to powerful tools that transform everyone's health and well-being, once you become conscious of it. And my journey at that time is, you know, on the record for the record, I ate, I used to eat pasta three times a day, and I drink two cups of bubble tea because I'm Asian and I love having that, you know, sugary spike. You know, that was my diet. And I came from that the next day; you know, I'm just trying to eat a bit healthier. So, I start preparing meals by myself, the next thing I know you know I start learning to read more scientific journals as well, or what kind of diet we can experiment with, right? Because it's not about whether you want to be a vegan, carnivore, or omnivore—or whatever diet you're on—but a lifestyle of being conscious of how we can be in tune with our bodies and, that is where that bodies upgrade for myself, or we can say that the health transformation comes in on my thoughtful journey, which is, you know, in the last two years that helped me become a biohacker myself and the reason I'm sharing this message with everyone, with every global citizen, is because you shouldn't wait for that time bomb to explodes, right? We are all living in a world in which we are told you are a civilized person. So, go into the supermarket and buy and eat whatever you want, right? And we are dedicating that all the time, whenever you are hungry and in fact, right? Like, that is exactly the opposite of food freedom. That's exactly the opposite of self-discipline, right?
Zishan: Hmm.
Freeman: And I learned that through the hard way because I was all you know lying in bed. I couldn't get out of my bed in my 20s and I was freaking out because I thought I had so much I could do in my life but I couldn't. And I never thought about the little decisions I make for my lifestyle that actually changes everything I could do, right? And having a healthy, you know, mental well-being and body, it optimizes our productivity and performance as well, right? We stress less, achieve more.
Zishan:100%
Freeman: Right? And it optimizes our health but also helps as an indicator of what we're doing in life, including our career, our finances, our project and our relationship, right? Our spiritual development, our intellectual development, right? And that is so essential because most people thought we just go for a job from 9 to 6 and then go back home, energy depleted, have our backs with them in there and the energy punch, watch some Netflix, go to bed, and repeat the cycle, right? That was my life as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm not passing judgment here, but I am showing this possibility that as more than just being a global citizen; there is a lot more we can do with personal mastery, right?
Zishan: I love it regardless.
Freeman: Yeah.
Zishan: I love this because what I'm hearing there is as well, you know, and what the message at the end is for everybody to take away from here is, you know, don't wait for that big blow. Don't wait for that time to be at your lowest point. But, you know, what I've seen is that a lot of people make that change only when the problem becomes big, right? When the challenge is huge. When there's no way out. That's the only time the realization happened, and that's the only time the pivot happens because the pain pressure has to be huge for somebody to take steps. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but what you and I are trying to tell everybody here is, you know, don't wait for that, right? Maybe sit down one day and look at your habits.
Freeman: Absolutely.
Zishan: Look at your routine. Look at what you're doing and see where this is leading to, right? I mean, because I love driving, I always bring up cars in metaphors and analogies, right? So, it's a bit like driving a car. So, your car is only as good as you care for it, right? If you are just driving it and, you know, revving it, speeding it, whatever you try to do with it. What do you think? The lifespan of that car would be, right? It's not going to last. Maybe if it was meant to last you 10, or 20 years, now it's going to only last you five, or six years because it's been used improperly, right? It's been used excessively. It's been used, or you know full speed or whatever, full engine, and all that stuff, but if you were looking after that car, in terms of knowing the journey from A to B, how far it is, and what needs to be done. Yeah, we understand the traffic and all that stuff. Sometimes you need to be rushing, you know, but you knew that this was your car that was going to take you from A to B for the next 20 years. Yes, you are going to look out for that car for the next 20 years. You know, make sure that it stays with you until the car gives up on itself, right? And that's exactly what I was thinking of. And when we come to ourselves, we don't look after ourselves because we don't think of these things. There's nothing wrong with everybody, as well as what's been handed down to us from society. From piers. That's the model, which gets shown to you as a young person. Oh, this is what you need to do. This is the next step, you know, this is it. And, I love that your pivotal moments came through those travels, being a global citizen and connecting with other global citizens, and biohacking and changing your dietary habits would not have occurred. I would say if you hadn't done all of these travels with other global citizens. And this is where I think, you know, you opened up your mind to explore other options to see how you could get better at what you are doing. I think we were losing it behind your back.
Freeman: That's why I think it's always-
Zishan: Yeah, that's that. And I like that for you. Yeah, I can hear you. You know, I can hear you. So, talking about your book because we've got about 10, 20, 30 minutes left here now, so talking about your book, which is an amazing book by the way and it's already the number one seller on Amazon. I think it was there after a few hours of being released. It was such an amazing thing because I was looking, as well as that. Wow, it's getting to the point where I'm sure you'll run out of prints and have to order some more. So it's an amazing, amazing book. I'll recommend that 100 percent of the people who are tuning into this go and check it out, at least on Amazon. There's an e-book version. There's a printed version, whichever you fancy, is there. And I believe they can find the link on your profiles, right? So, if they can go on to it, they'll be directed to it, right?
Freeman: Yeah, definitely. So, my website is also the same as the book title. So www.traveltotransform.com yeah, your baby (?) will find me there. And yeah, thank you so much for the kind words. Absolutely I was over the moon myself as well when I saw it on the first day it hit three best-selling titles on Amazon. And then within the first week, it had seven already. And I just, you know, what makes me happiest is to see all the reader’s reviews as well because I keep receiving messages, especially over Christmas and New Year, that, you know, people are already reading a book and then they resonate with the message so much. And I knew, you know, this is nothing, really nothing really, mind-blowing. It's not something you're going to shift, the whole world in all of a second, nothing like that but writing that message to be able to show up and stand up for what we believe in terms of cultural diversity and also in personal mastery is actually the way to go to make this world a better place. That I think really resonated with people because, if you think about it, technology itself is not going to solve the humanitarian crisis because what's lacking is human consciousness, right? I always say, you know, the world is already globalized but it has human consciousness and human understanding. And, that's why I think this blow strikes a chord with people so much because we never get it taught in school. How important is it? It is right, and we have all the cultural lessons. We have all the cultural tests, and that's what the Book says is true. Well, like in my book, you know, we are not lacking in that academic training; we are lacking in awakening, right?
Zishan: I love that; I love that.
Freeman: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so, so true in guide books they help us be amazing tourists, but not world citizens, and at the same time, there are thousands of self-help books out there, but I never truly believe you can have: how to guide another person and ask them to follow a step-by-step plan and expect your life to turn out the same way the book says, right? I've never believed in that, and that's why I think what I've written, as my transformation story with the book, is how I can combine this transformation story with the self-help element you need, right? You don't need anyone to tell you what to do. And, when we first started this call, when you talked about backpacking, right? Backpacking is only one method of travel. I've chosen cultural exchange, I've chosen to study abroad, and I've chosen to travel with my business. I've chosen to work out a different position that I could relocate to. Okay? But these are only my journeys, and as a global citizen, you have the power to choose your own as well. And that's the beauty of living in this globalized world. Well, because my model of life doesn't necessarily fit you, but my book does show you the framework. And also, it does show you the possibility of how you can fit your own global citizen journey into your own lifestyle, whatever personal circumstances you are in, whatever family or friends or relationship you have to maintain when you're a couple, right? And I think that's the key part. What I also call in the book is a concept called travel aspiration, which is a word that means inspiration to travel. Because when we can find our own chart of aspiration, we can incorporate this travel and transformation into our lifestyle. And let me give you some concrete examples. So, if you're a technology entrepreneur, right? You might be going to Silicon Valley for an internship. Could spark some ideas for your next journey, right? Or, let's say, maybe you want to be the best Italian chef in your local city, right? Then maybe going to Italy for a working holiday for the summer and learning the kitchen could equip you with the skills, right? Or even, let's say, you love to work with children. If you want to teach English, go to Asia or whatever country you want. You are to be teaching English in a local school. Could be your next step, right? And the reason I'm sharing this is that there's no step by step guide but there are transformations and amazing global citizen stories that we can all share with one another, and I've seen it so many times, as you know because I'm a certified life coach as well, as you're in Asia.
Zishan: Yeah.
Freeman: That's one of the business coaches in my valley as well. You know, we are on one of the most conscious and inspiring self-growth platforms in the world, and you know, the work we are doing right now is similar to when I was working with my clients or when I'm working with other Global Citizens. I see the same story happening again and again and again and again, right? And, you know, some people are just maybe volunteering to go in for any course outside the country. Some people could be working on the cruise ship. Somebody would just be mountaineering, you know, doing the most inspiring hike in the world, right? And they are all sorts of traveling and there's no right or wrong. There's only an open-minded person. That's our only global mindset. And that's what's the most important part, because at the end, it’s your journey. And what I'm sharing through this book with you is that I hope you'll be able to see that same possibility outside our box, outside our comfort zone, because that thriving life, that joyful and inspiring life, it actually applies to every single person, no matter where their starting point is, no matter what their financial situation is, and no matter what health condition they have, we are all the same as global citizens.
Zishan: I love that. Exactly. As global citizens we are all the same, and from what I'm hearing, there is also the realization that how the world prefers to go. You know, one glove fits everybody, right? And that's not the case. Yeah, there are books out there, and the thing is just to get you to become a tourist or, you know, everything like that, but you have to have your path and journey. Yeah, as you said, there's no right or wrong way to start, whatever you're trying to start. We have been talking about travel here; it can be anything, right?
Freeman: Exactly.
Zishan: So, think of what is important to you? And you know, you mentioned so many ways out there, you know, being the aching working holiday and also so many other things. But then again, what I'm also hearing is that it's a case of deciding, right? You need to make that decision to step forward and take some actions to then create it. I'm a firm believer that if you're looking for a purpose because a lot of people talk about purpose, I usually don't talk about it much because, for me, I created it, right? So, I was looking around everywhere, and, you know, I always say to everybody, you know, the pandemic came to me as a blessing because that's how I see it. Because it allowed me to expand. And it allowed me that time because I was caught up, just like yourself, I was caught up in that corporate world and everything, you know, routines and everything, and anything self-development and things to be myself. You know, when you get that time, do you like, oh! I should do this, busy! You know, you're in, just use your working life as an excuse, and when people say, oh! Life happens, Yeah, I understand that life happens. But life only happens because you're taking some decisions and steps for it to happen, right? And what you do today is what's creating your future, right? So we won't worry about it because we are driven to worry about the future. Okay? Yeah, that's correct. We need to know what we're going to do and how we're going to live. How are we going to be? Where are we going? See what we're going to do tomorrow. But all that happens today, all that we're going to do tomorrow starts today. So, if you take care of yourself today, you know, it's different for everybody. I'm not going to tell you anything but what you should do, but whatever that is for you, whatever you want to create tomorrow, you need to start today. And that's what it is. I mean, this is how it is. The talks started because I was looking for people who were in similar situations, and I also wanted to speak. So that was, you know, we had these conversations and everything, but there was only one when I started doing my self-development, obviously I was plugging into Mind valley, wishing, and but I was also, you know, like everybody else, going onto YouTube to look for YouTube stuff and what's happening on YouTube? They would share some one (formerly; glove) size fits all. And then here's my course. Well, well, no, I don't want your course; I just want to understand what's happening, right? So, I may purchase it if it’s interesting enough. Yes, you know. But I want more, I want you to know, to create inspiration. So, every time I went around, I would listen to what was plugging into these things. All I found were influencers just creating influence, but, oh, look, there's this, be influenced by that, but there's no inspiration for me now. Oh, I would love to create it. So, what I love to do, I'll move forward with that, and hence the Tuesday Talks came around, you know, to create inspiration not influence. So, we are creating inspirational, not influenced content, and I'm a firm believer that you can't find anything and you're still looking for it, it's probably time for you to create it; that's why it's not there, and you're the person who's going to create it because it's in you now. Our bodies are always tuned into our true north, right? So, I will say your compass is always pointing to your true north. Whatever that may be, if there is something in your heart that comes to mind, every time you're doing certain things that you should be doing or why isn't this in the world? And if you are looking for it and you can't find it, it’s you who needs to create it, and that's the purpose and this is the way you can tune into your being here, right? Or purpose, as some people like to look for it, and long.
Freeman: That's why I really love you using the compass. Yeah, I love you using a compass because that's exactly how I feel when I find my journey as well. After all, you know, it's our journey and we are all climbing a mountain, let’s say right. And we all need a map and no one could draw that map for us because it's our destination, and even like, so this is my book, right? And about compass, right? This is what the hardcover has at the back as well. It's exactly like, is that because of how I perceive it, that you can expect people to have the same one-size-fits-all, model, right? But there is awareness that we can bring it forth into our different areas of life, and in the end, we create that global citizen identity and now a thriving life of ourselves, right? Because this is where the transformation comes in. And that's why I resonate with you a lot when you say canvas, because that's exactly my, you know, my principal as well. We know that when I'm doing life coaching, I never tell my coach-ee exactly what to do. You know, I'm not here to solve your problem; I'm here to bring you awareness so you can explore the possibility of finding a new solution for yourself. And I love how you put that into action. You know what? We're not finding a purpose; we're creating it. And I think that's a really beautiful state; everyone can take back because, as you know, we are all teachers. We need to chase the next thing, right? We were exactly to climb the next ladder, and we all thought our purpose was to climb that ladder, to buy that car, to buy that big house, right? And when we have this when we attain it, we'd end up for the next goal, and there's no end to it, right? What are we seeking? What we are seeking is already here, and we are the ones creating our purpose. Yeah, I'm wrestling with you.
Zishan: I love this. I love this. So, we will be wrapping this up. So, as we wrap up this beautiful episode of Tuesday talks will kick off the year as well as 2023. What would you like to leave the audience with who are tuning in now live on Instagram or will listen to this when it's replayed, as a podcast, what we like to leave them with as we wrap this up.
Freeman: Hmmm, beautiful question. I think what comes out at this moment as a wrap-up is that I want to remind everyone that you are special. And you are living in a world where globalization is nothing like before. You know, we have planes for the skies. We have more than just technologies; cell phones. We can order any kind of work in scenes with a few tabs without fingers. We are special. You are special. And we are so special that sometimes we forget that we are unique. That's what we forget. There's power in diversity and what we're trying to do, as we were born into this world; we try to be another person, we try to copy other successful people to copy their successful model to do their course, as you say, and we try to become another person. That's not who we authentically are. So that's why I want to remind you at this last moment that you are very special. You are one of the billions of people on this planet. There's only one of you and if you could remember that, then we can all shift our mindset to remember that we are unique citizens of the world.
Zishan: I love that.
Freeman: This identity is going to make shifts into your life. You don't need to learn new skills, learn a new language, or, you know, take a new course or change your identity. A mindset shift is all we need for any breakthrough in life.
Zishan: I love that and it's so beautifully said, you know, and what resonates with me at the end is that there is only one you, so your uniqueness of you needs to come out and outshine everything that's out there, right? And I love that. Thank you very much, Freeman, for sharing such an amazing journey of yours and some tips as well for everybody who's been tuning in with Attitude to this episode live on Instagram. Thank you very much. And if this episode resonated with you or created that spark in you, now you must share this episode with whomever and whoever you want that popped up in your mind or you think someone should be watching this because we don't need to keep that spark moment or inspiration within us. It's our purpose. Also, to now spread that inspiration with others, share it with others. So, if you had any aha moments, our inspiration is your duty. Now, share this episode with somebody else to tune in, or tap them on to the episode. We don't know who's walking up today or going to bed. Thinking of a better tomorrow or a better day, and if this episode's created some inspiration in you, it might just kick start their journey as well into transformation, so they might travel to transform themselves as well. So, thank you very much, Freeman, for such an amazing journey and episode as this one here. I'll recommend everybody to check out the book; go on and get it. It's an amazing book. I'm half way through it at the moment, because you know, I'm reading it. You need to work on getting in an audible version of Freeman so we can make it available to people who like to listen.
Freeman: Absolutely. That's my next year's project. I also got a lot of requests for that. There you go.
Zishan: So yeah, we look forward to the inaudible version of fans, but that's amazing, and we look forward to meeting you on Tele ( on telly?) as well in a few months.
Freeman: Definitely I'm looking forward to seeing you on telly (formerly; Tele) again. I thank you so much for the space here for the beautiful space and the beautiful voice, and I thank everyone who is listening in because you are a conscious global citizen, and I thank you for just listening and sharing this message because, like, it’s on set. You are the one in billions. You are unique, and I thank you so much.
Zishan: Thank you very much, everybody. Take care. Bye.