What living in a conscious community in Bali for a whole year has taught me

A reflection of living in a constellation of Burners, crypto maniacs, self-development junkies, and spiritual hippies in paradise.

Wild. Free. Dreamy. Juicy. Alive. These are the words that capture 2021 for me. I started off the year by overhauling my life. I left my cushy job at Google, moved out of Singapore, my home for the last 10 years, and began my digital nomad's life in Bali to go all-in on my startup, Warmspace. I didn’t know anybody. It was scary and also the best decision I’ve made in my life. The instinct to follow my heart has led me to meet my soul-tribe, experience some wildest dreams money can’t buy, have my breath taken away every day by glorious nature, discover many gems about myself, and heal lots of inner wounds. It felt like 5 years worth of peak experiences condensed into one.

It’s always in hindsight that the dots connected. The beginning of the year came with lots of emotional turmoil. Having no big paycheck coming my way and the pressure to grow my startup quickly kept me pretty anxious in the beginning. Being surrounded by many accomplished, type-A personalities can be inspiring but also triggering at the same time. I often identified myself as a self-development junkie, a spiritual and alternative hipster in my circle. But in Bali, everyone is all of that and much…