I Left Canada, I'm Now Living On A Remote Island In Indonesia

The pandemic changed my life forever.

One of the most life changing event in my life.

I did it in 2021, a year I will forever remember.

I booked a one-way ticket for Indonesia that year.

Leaving Montreal, Canada.

Leaving friends and family.

It was sad and hard at the same time, but I had to do it, I wanted to explore the world, especially South East Asia.

I did it for many reasons

I was looking for a new place I could call home.

I wanted to get out of that comfort zone I was deeply stuck in.

I was looking for a new environment, one that was in line with my beliefs and values. A place far away from Western civilization, I wanted to see and feel it, I was curious.

I grew up not knowing what I wanted to do in life, I was confused.

In my 20’s, I thought about leaving Canada. But I had no serious plan. How would I make money ? Where would I be living ? So I ditched the idea.

In January 2020, I remember scrolling my Twitter feed and I saw a video from China where authorities were locking people up in their houses and apartments. Why ?Because apparently there was a new virus that was circulating in a town called Wuhan. At that time I thought that video was fake. But it wasn’t.

It then spread across the world, from Wuhan to Montreal, Canada. My home town. At that time I had data analytics business, and all my US clients stopped paying me, that stressed the heck out of me. I had to take my business down, unfortunately. I was also in the process of getting a contract with a firm in the US. But that didn’t work out, obviously.

Mentally it took a toll on me., I ended up with a panic attack at 2 AM in the morning right in the middle of the pandemic. The ambulance took me to the ER, they thought I was having a heart attack. Thank God it wasn’t.

In 2020, throughout the whole pandemic year I was in deep reflection. What should I do with my life ? And that led me to a dark place, suicidal thoughts crept into my mind. So I went to see my GP and she gave me Alprazolam for my anxiety. But this is not what I wanted, I didn’t want to live all my life on medications.

Fast forward to the end of 2020, I managed to get in contact with some locals in Indonesia. I told them I was interested in relocating from Canada to Indonesia. And they’ve accepted in helping me with everything, from paperwork to housing.

I was really excited, I was learning everything about the country. The people, culture, food, language, everything.

It’s something I was ready to do, what’s the worst thing that could happen ?

I worked my ass off, I sold a lot of my belongings, and I made a bunch of money. I bought everything I needed, a bunch of clothes, 2 luggage, a couple pair of shoes. I renewed my Canadian passport and I was good to go.

In November of 2021, I landed in Jakarta, I did a 1-week Covid quarantine at the hotel. I then took 2 planes, first one to Batam then a second one to reach a small remote island called Natuna.

A little paradise located in the Riau province, right in the middle of the South China Sea. Natuna island is part of the Natuna Regency which consists of 154 islands, from which 127 are uninhabited (Crazy! right ?). One of the most remote island in Indonesia, with a population of approximately 89,000 as of 2020.

The island looks small on Google Maps, but it’s still 264,198 km². Which is pretty huge.

I’ve been told by some locals that many Indonesians have no idea the island exists or people live there. That gives you an idea of how remote it is.

I lived there with the people, I ate the same food, breathed the same air. It was one of the best experience in my life, I discovered a new world.

Here I took this breathtaking pic of Mount Ranai, which has a height of around 1,035 meters above sea level. Unfortunately there’s no snow at the peak, but I’ve heard the wind is pretty strong up there. I’ve haven’t hiked it yet, I will soon though. The fog engulfing the peak is one of the most beautiful view you can catch during the morning.

Life on the island is calm and relaxing, far from noisy Montreal, Canada. People smiling at you is a common thing here. Some locals were shocked to see me, and wondered how I came here and where I was from. I got used to people staring at me.

This is not Bali, there’s almost no foreigner living on the island. Almost no one speaks English, the main languages spoken here is Malay and Indonesian. The predominant religion here is Islam.

I even ended up getting married on the island, since then I’ve visited multiple islands. And I’m planning to move to another island sometime this year.

The pandemic changed everyone’s life, it was cataclysmic to mine. I learned to embrace failure in life, being at your lowest is sometimes necessary to reach a higher version of yourself.

The pandemic broke me, which made me rebuild myself the way I wanted.

The Technical Writing Micro Course is finally here!

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This is my second newsletter, I want to introduce myself to everyone. I don’t want to sugar coat anything about me. I want to be raw, another reason why I chose Substack as my newsletter platform.

This newsletters will be focused on the journey of growing an online remote business. I will be sharing everything I’ve learned so far in growing my last SaaS business and my current solopreneur business. I will also be writing about subjects that interest me such as tech, mindset, personal growth, and life in general.