Why You Feel TIRED After A Holiday (And How To Fix It) - Wonderlab Podcast

Rachel: Tourists, they travel to escape life, but a real traveller travels to experience and embrace life. And what that means is, when we come back with a whole new identity, we are becoming a better, a more evolved version of ourselves. Welcome to WonderVoice. Our channel is where we co-create a 7 Wonder Wellness Experience. And today I feel so lucky. I've got a special guest with me and he is Freeman Fung, and Freeman is one of the speakers. Um actually, I'm really looking forward, and the reason why is because we both are coming from Hong Kong. Hello, 你好. We actually speak the same mother language, the mother tongue, which is Cantonese. Who is Freeman? Freeman is not only a global citizen, he's also an inspirational speaker at TEDx talk as well as Mindvalley University. Apart from that, he's also a bestselling author and the founder of Travel to Transform. And now we are going to deep dive about his ways to travel to transform, instead of travel to escape. I met Freeman, say, two years ago at one of the Conscious Mind community, which is, Freeman is the community founder. And since then, actually I kind of fell in love with his journey because his journey is definitely very interesting, lots of adventure and also very inspiring too, especially after I read his book Travel to Transform, I just couldn't stop which, as you can see, I still have bookmarks in some of the chapters. When I spoke with many leaders and business owners, funny is that we all just returned from holidays because Christmas holidays, New Year's holiday, and during the conversation, absolutely, we shared a lot of funny holiday moments. But in the end we all feel oh, so tiring, exhausting after the holiday. And I wonder, why, are we supposed to be travelling to regain your energy, but how come we all actually feeling very tired after the holiday? So, Freeman, if I can get your two cents.

Freeman: Yeah, thanks for having me today, Rachel. Uh, this is a very timely conversation, right? Especially a lot of leaders and entrepreneurs and business owners listening to the podcast, right? We might just come back from our New Year's trip. Uh, and funny enough, like you said, you know, I experienced so many times the same as well. It's like, wow, I just finished my holiday and I need another holiday for my holiday, right? No matter you're travelling with your kids, with your family, or whether it's a solo journey or with your partner, you know, we want to feel optimised, feel our best when we come back, right? That's the whole idea of why we want to take this pause or reset, you know, to go out there, you know, to explore the world, you know, to have this amazing journey. But modern tourism turned it the other way around, right? We become this exhausted tourism. We come back feeling tired, exhausted, overwhelmed, right? And it's a very common phenomenon in the modern day, both in the scientific statistic, perception, or even in our own personal journey, right? So before I go deep into sharing why, or why is it relevant, you know, to the audience, and you know, how at the end we want to be able to feel even better after our trip. I do want to share a little bit about my journey as well, um, because a lot of people, they look at me, it's like ah, this young Asian guy who's travelling the world, people call him Mister Global Citizen, and he has been to many, many countries. I'm getting my third passport here in Australia, you know, it, it, yeah, it's magnificient life on the outside but what most people don't realise is, as you were saying, you know, I actually grew up in Hong Kong, uh, similar to you, and I grew up in this hustle culture, this 24/7 non-stop, financially driven, commercially oriented city. And I was clinically depressed actually when I was growing up because I never found meaning in my life and I was always chasing the next thing. And everyone told me to climb the ladder, alright, that get a job, get a house, get a spouse, get a car, get a better job, but is there more meaning behind it, right? So one thing that really changed the whole trajectory of my life is that when I was 19 years old, I got to travel solo in Europe. And I went to travel, which sounds very random, and a lot of people thought I was crazy back in the days, is that I travelled all the way to Romania. Ha ha, Eastern Europe. And honestly, I thought I was crazy as well, travelling 5,000 miles from home, from Hong Kong, but it turns out to be the best summer of my life because what happened is I got to live and find myself living with 40 other internationals from 16 different countries. And suddenly I realised, all my life I've been trying to copy others, to live in other people's expectations. And I realised in that aha moment, that when I was abroad, when I was travelling with more intention, that I have this conscious awareness, finally, that if I don't do something radically different, that I will just jump out from that 36-floor building. So it was that, that the global citizen mindset, this new identity, awakened in me. And that has been, at 19 years old, which is over 13, 14 years now, the beginning of my travel to transform journey. Now that we can use travel to be our personal transformation tool, right? That in the health and wellness aspect, we deserve to actually go on every trip and become more resilient, become more energised, to feel even better when we come back to our origin or to our home country, or if you are a full-time nomad, the next destination. So that has been really why I'm so passionate about it, because travel changed my life after all these years and led me to a completely whole different trajectory. Uh, like you shared, that I became an international speaker, that I became this renowned mindset coach, getting to coach more global citizens who are doing great things and positive things to humanity as well, that I got to travel to all these different places and build communities, and that's how we met in Sydney here...

Rachel: I really love what you just mentioned about making the travel as your personal transformational tool, because when you consciously make travel become one of your transformational tools, that could completely change you. Sometimes you don't have to go to Romania or any of this exotic country. You know, like, you don't have to go into this, some crazy places or destination. Because at the end it's actually about the identity you got to shift inside you rather than the external destination or the location itself. And in fact, right, since we are talking about identity, I think that's a really good segue to also answer this question, why people actually feel more tired, right, than originally before they travel.

Freeman: And one key point about mindset, especially this identity, is actually people created this separation between this 'travel life' versus my 'real life', quote unquote. Now what happened with that is this is how we are taught or conditioned to travel when we are a tourist. So there's a whole difference, and you know, in my Travel to Transform work, we have like a whole map of consciousness as well to map out what level of conscious awareness, for the audience, that you can see what kind of traveller you are at, right, what kind of travel level. So we all started out as tourist, right, because that's how we went on a trip, we book a holiday, but there's so much more than travelling like just a tourist. And that's why, even in the map of consciousness, uh, what I call after being a tourist is actually going into this evolution of being an explorer, right? Because this is where a lot of solo travellers or people, they start to explore about the world and they start to explore about themselves. And that's the place where they realise, wow, there is so much more than this societal matrix that has over me. And that's why they went on a journey to really explore what suits them. And the next level, after going from explorer, is being an adventurer. So adventurers, they start crafting their own unique journey, right? Similar to one of the trips, I believe, you went back to Hong Kong for business reason, right? That's not like a tourist experience or just visiting your friends and family. There's a specific goal and intention behind, to craft out how this journey and time you're gonna spend while you're in Hong Kong, right? Now the last identity, where in this growth journey of this traveller identity, is, as you said at the beginning, to become, drum roll, become a global citizen. And what that really means, right, because for the audience, sometimes this global citizenship may sound too far away and too idealistic, that is not immediately compatible to my day to day, and I assure you, that's not the case, because being a global citizen simply means you are a global-minded individual who chooses to demonstrate self-leadership, right? Because if you get to see, when you are on a trip, you are not just inside your bubble as a tourist to have your own internal experience, but actually you are interacting and impacting the space and the destination and the local people and other travellers you get to meet. You start to realise you are operating from what we call an egocentric point of mind, which is how we are all trained in society because we all have to go through the survival first. It's you, from this egocentric mind, to become a world-centric mind, which means we get to see our life and our travel experience from a global, macro level as well, that is compatible and practical to our own day to day and our whole identity. And that's why, for the listener, I encourage you, next time when you're travelling, if you truly want to feel better, feeling you are coming back from the trip a better person, the first thing you really want to do is to shift this internal mindset, that you are not travelling as a tourist anymore, but you start adapting that, I am a traveller. There's no more separation between your travel life and your quote unquote real life, because when you have these two lives combined together, when you bring unity back into this separation, you will realise travel is actually part of who you are as a lifestyle. If not, if you separate them, it would just be a medium for us to escape from our problems, from our day to day, and that's why every time when we are on that flight back, we have this thing called post-trip blues which, by the way, in my work in Travel to Transform, with my community, we call it the BS rule, literally the brules. Because when you go back on that flight, when you are going back home, if you journal, if you really go through your camera roll and look at the experience you got to receive and realise the lesson behind from that trip, not just the tourist checklist, not just the landmarks you got to visit, but who you have become as a different person, now you are bringing that experience from that trip back to where you are, and you will show up differently, back in your workspace, back to your team, back to your family, back to your friends, as a changed person.

Rachel: If you are travelling as a traveller with the mindset, putting the head, you try to be studying and learning about the culture, the community, what do you want to take, or maybe, what do you want to be, being there is to do your own transformation. One time when I was travelling with my girlfriends and then um I actually carried a hand carry, just 7-kilo um luggage, which is good enough for me to do the travelling to another place. However, my girlfriend actually brought at least four pairs of shoes, and in the end she had a 30-kilo weight of luggage.

Freeman: When we pack that suitcase, when we open up that suitcase, everything says about us as a person, the organisation of it, the intention behind every item that we think we need to bring or we don't think about it and that's why we bring it. That we all have this experience, going to a hot summer country and we just brought this thick jacket and then just never wore it, or we go on this journey to this ski resort and realise, oh, I just need more jackets, I didn't bring enough, right? And the reason for those to happen is not because the destination screwed us, but because we are not mindful enough to recognise how powerful this suitcase actually is saying about the unconscious mind behind how we actually operate day to day. And that's why, again, travel is one of the best ways to wake us up from this autopilot.

Rachel: Yeah, I love it. Especially, I just learned, um, if you are one of the travellers struggling to pack your clothing and pack your travel gear, I just learned from um Freeman about, you can use your phone, taking a picture from your wardrobe, and then ask ChatGPT, if I only have a 7-kilo weight luggage what do I need to pack from this wardrobe? I mean, that's really helpful, and then you really prove that how people can utilise the AI tools to help them with the daily struggles as well.

Freeman: I truly believe we are living in the most exciting time of human history, right? Because it's never been an easier path for you to claim your own path as a global citizen. What that means is we now live in this technologically advanced stage. You know, we have this AI, not just Google now, you know, like, when I first started backpacking back in the days, like, we don't even have Google Maps, like, we have to download an offline map, we have to actually pay to get the app so that we can save that app. Alright, and if you have a different language that's not in an English-speaking country, you have to pay more, you know. And back in the day it was like this, and now, like, we have everything in our pocket, as far as we have Wi-Fi. ChatGPT or Claude, you know, all these AI tools are plugged in. You can be as creative as you can to really craft this itinerary, you know, like, using technology to help you craft something that is not even, you know, in the Lonely Planet or any tourist guide book. So in our community, and also my signature course as well, the Travel Mastery Blueprint, we have this whole framework called travelling with E.A.S.E. 'EASE'. E-A-S-E is an acronym. So E stands for Effective Planning, and A stands for Adaptive Packing, and then S stands for Smart Journeying. And the last one, E stands for Enhanced Tracking, alright. And in Effective Planning, what that means is, in corporate management, right, we have this 6P, proper prior planning prevents poor performance, right? And this 6P you can also incorporate into your planning for your trip as well, no matter if it's a vacation or a workcation, right? Any trip, you can be very effective on how I am installing systems so that I don't just leave things at the back. So then moving into the Adaptive Packing, and this is what we spoke about, you know, being very mindful on your packing journey, not just stuffing things into the suitcase, but you can install systems, even using like military rolls and using different packing cubes as a system to help you use a repeatable system to help you pack more efficiently. And then moving into the Smart Journeying, is that you get to experience your trip smarter, not harder. Like we said, the AI tools and using different aggregator sites, right, or using different tracking systems to actually help you put in place on your journey to make it even smoother, right? And the last one is Enhanced Tracking, which, there are so many free tools. My favourite is called Notion, and it's free. Uh, and you can literally track all your journals, track all your travel logs. You can track all your logistics and travels, and you know, with free templates they offer as well, that you can put everything in one place. And you know, it's accessible on your phone as well and your desktop, and they all sync to the cloud.

Rachel: I really love, I think one of the biggest, learnings today is, definitely is to travel with EASE. And this is going to be the framework for my future travels. Then I'm going to be starting with effective planning. And thank you, Freeman. What I really love, I hope you all actually are having the same feeling as me about Freeman's work, is not about travel more, is to travel better. Then you definitely wonder how to connect with Freeman and to learn more about the Travel to Transform knowledge. So, Freeman, how can the listeners connect with you?

Freeman: Yeah, and thank you again for having me today, Rachel. I think this is such an important conversation in this world, that we can shift paradigms of how we really experience our travel journey differently. And I think this is what's really missing in our day-to-day modern, fast-paced, and also why, you know, I love equally your Wonderlab work here, because we are creating this amazing, holistic space to bring into this wellness into integration, right? Because if not, it's just a separation and a teaching, you know, it's just lecturing, but what people need is actually awakening. Alright. So thank you for staying with us until the end here. I really, really appreciate your time and hope everything we have shared, uh, resonates with you and also adds value, you know, into your next journey as well. So I'm very active on Instagram, uh, you can find me on @freemanfung.global and feel free to send me and Rachel a message as well about what you have learned, in this episode particularly, and also how would you actually see yourself differently for your next trip. And for those of you, if you want to go into the framework we spoke about, I have a lot of free resources, including another two hours full-on masterclass as well on how to travel the world purposefully. So that's where you can really travel better because you're right, it's not about travelling more, more and more. Yes, we can, if that's the quality of life we want to create, but most often, instead of using that as an escape for people to chase this endless sunset for more and more and more, it's actually about how we can become a better version of ourselves.

Rachel: Thank you, Freeman. So before the next trip, that will be the question for you to ask yourself, am I going to travel to escape or to transform? Thank you for listening. Bye bye.