How Moving to Vietnam Changed My Perspective

How Moving to Vietnam Changed My Life – A Journey into Slow Living

Burned out and overwhelmed, I moved back to Vietnam. What I found wasn’t just peace—but a whole new way of seeing time, work, and myself.

🌪 I Didn’t Move for Adventure. I Moved for Silence.

People think moving abroad always starts with excitement.
Mine started with a quiet breakdown.

I had been chasing deadlines, metrics, and someone else’s version of success for too long.
Even weekends became performance. Even vacations felt rushed.
One morning, I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the woman staring back.

So I packed a small suitcase, bought a one-way ticket, and came home — to Vietnam.

But it wasn’t just a return to a country.
It was a return to myself.

🛵 Saigon: Where Life Doesn’t Wait, But Also Doesn’t Force

Ho Chi Minh City can feel overwhelming to new eyes — motorbikes, heat, noise.
But when you’ve lived in chaos before, this version feels strangely kind.

The coffee comes slowly.
People talk softly in side alleys.
You can disappear in a crowd, and still feel like you belong.

There’s a slowness within the speed — like a rhythm only you can hear once your heartbeat calms.

I started working from a tiny apartment in District 4, writing in the mornings, taking walks along the river in the evenings. I no longer needed to post every win. I stopped proving. I started noticing.

And in the noticing, I healed.

📍 Related read: Living in Vietnam – Digital Nomad in Saigon: My Quiet Work Life as a Local

🌿  In Vietnam, Time Doesn’t Chase You

In the West, I measured life in calendar blocks, project deadlines, weekend getaways.

In Vietnam, I learned to measure life by:

the scent of lotus tea in the late afternoon
the rhythm of rain on metal roofs in Hội An
the sound of a noodle vendor’s voice echoing down an alley
the softness of sunlight touching a tiled floor at 3PM
I used to be obsessed with productivity hacks.
Now, I wake up asking “How do I want to feel today?” — not “What do I need to finish?”

Vietnam didn’t make me lazy.
It made me present.

📍 Related read: Best Time to Visit Vietnam – A Local’s Guide for Slow Travelers

 
🌾 In the Small, I Found Everything

I found beauty in chopsticks drying by a window.
In a grandma’s laugh at the market.
In street cats curled on motorbike seats.

Life here doesn’t try to impress you.
It just invites you to be still long enough to notice.

One weekend, we went to Đà Lạt.
We stayed in a wooden homestay with creaky stairs and no Wi-Fi.
I wrote by candlelight. My husband made instant noodles.
We sat in silence while it rained, listening to pine trees breathe.

I’ve had luxury. I’ve had high-rise views and business class seats.
But nothing has ever felt as rich as that moment in the rain.

📍 Related read: Da Lat – Where the Mist Knows Your Name

 
💭 What Changed Wasn’t Just My Address

What changed… was my definition of enough.

I no longer need to constantly grow, earn, impress, or upgrade.

Now, success looks like:

a slow morning
meaningful work
quiet evenings with my husband
space to feel what I feel
the freedom to stop
Vietnam didn’t just give me a new home.
It gave me a new lens.

One that sees peace not as an escape,
but as a way of being.

 
✍️ From the Author – Kim Ngân
I was born in the Mekong Delta, where slowness is a way of life. After years chasing noise, I returned to Vietnam not to find something new — but to come back to what I never truly left.

Through this blog, I hope to show you that sometimes, the most powerful journeys… are the quiet ones.

 
📚 Keep Reading
👉 Want to know how Vietnam feels by season?
Read: Best Time to Visit Vietnam – A Local’s Seasonal Guide

👉 Curious about my slow days in the city?
Explore: Slow Travel in Saigon – A Local’s Quiet Day in the City