3 Things That Inspire Me To #GOMO (Get Out More Often)

Back to one year ago, when I had this 1-month internship in Penang Island and got to live in the capital city, George Town: there were so many things to see and eat and experience that I would go out and do something pretty much every day!

This year, when my one month of school holidays came (ending today!), I decided to stay in my current town, having no particular plans in mind, no internships. However, it wasn’t an excuse to not do some local exploration and further create memories either with friends or on my own. Although it was mostly a ‘chill & board games’ holiday, I did manage to experience new things in the city, such as shopping at a huge book sale, going to an escape room and even becoming an eskimo in a theme park attraction!

The main point is, especially if you are still at school, to make the most of your holidays outside of your computer screen, and it doesn’t matter whether you are on a budget or lack transportation: there are so many ways to GOMO (get out more often!) and enjoy it… and nope, I’m not talking about Pokemon Go!

Come on, don’t be lazy now. Being an introvert is not an excuse, because I consider myself to be one. And I still go out.

It’s often easier to just stay in and watch your favourite TV show for the whole day, but there are so many opportunities that would then be missed. We often take our town and local communities for granted, something I realised the moment I moved to a different city… country! In fact, one day one of my local friends told me: “You know [the city] much more than I do!”

So open your eyes and look around you; you don’t have to go far to have the time of your life.

With that said, there are 3 things that personally motivate me to get out of bed and check out the outside world, and I’d like to share them with you, in the hopes of further inspiring you to get out too:

1. Food

What I mean by food is that, here in Malaysia, food is a whole lifestyle. Going out for breakfast, lunch or dinner is a way of socialization, making friends and maintaining those relationships. From my experience, the more often you’ve eaten with someone, the closer they are to you.

Indeed, there’s also nothing wrong with going out for food alone. The great thing about restaurants or cafés is that most of them are very creatively designed… including their menu! Most of them are considered hipster… but who cares really? As a lover of art, I’m all for those pie cafés where everything is pie, whether it’s main dishes or desserts. Discovering the food culture around you is definitely a fun activity… and you won’t have to worry about lunch!

2. Beautiful art

This weekend, we were walking in a mall, looking around as we finished our ice cream, and stumbled upon an art exhibition about torture and human rights. Many types of drawings, paintings and even sculptures were displayed and it was heartbreaking and eye-opening. I was glad we had gone out for dinner and decided to hang out in this particularly artistic mall. In fact, there would often be drawings on the walls (especially the toilet walls!) and sculptures near many shops.

It was beautiful. Art doesn’t always have to be an exhibition of paintings. It can also be graffitis, urban wall art and architecture. Back in Penang, I would always go out because Georgetown is known for its murals all around the city so my goal was to find every one of them… while I would also admire the colonial buildings.

Being aware of the various artsy places around your area can be very inspiring and you’ll definitely spend a whole day doing something! Besides, it’s free!

3. The local performing arts community

Finally, I would also always get informed about the artistic events around my area, and mainly theatrical productions. Last weekend, I got to watch a breathtaking interpretation of ‘Antigone’ at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, organized by Theatresauce, a new theatre group in the city.

Performing arts have always inspired me to go out and explore. I am always avid to get to know the theatre groups and happenings here. It’s been one of my biggest passions. Stage performance. Acting.

If my holidays weren’t ending so quickly, I would have gone to another huge performing arts and cultural festival happening in Georgetown called the Georgetown festival and which happens every year. The event is a few days long, filled with various dances, theatre performances, art workshops and more! It is amazing, although I have never been there. But knowing Malaysia and its arts community, I bet it is!

In the end, the ultimate way to GOMO is to find your own passion and follow its community in your area. If you have no idea how to look for such events, I’d strongly suggest Eventbrite: it’s basically a website where you can easily find events of your choice around the world (all the way from US to Malaysia!).

On the other hand, the website is also one of the best tools for event organizers out there, where you get to create your events, plan and manage it pretty easily. During my internship in Penang last year, my boss suggested that we plan the company’s incoming events using Eventbrite, although my stay already ended by the time she actually used it to create events.

Therefore, if you can’t find your local community… it’s still no excuse to not get out of your house! Simply create your own and spread your passion, speak up for your meaningful cause 🙂

An Evil Nymph.