Not cheesy at all. I wish I could enjoy the same thing, but when it comes to showing kindness to others I often end up feeling used.

I’m sorry to hear that, it’s a really hard mindset to grasp and we all falter here and there.

I can’t speak for anyone else (I don’t know your particular situation and do not want to assume anything) but I found that doing something for the sake of doing it was one of they key things that helped me overcome a feeling of being used/unappreciated.

In my personal experience and with a lot of introspection I found that the reason I had that feeling was that I personally had painted a picture of what gratitude should look and feel like when, in reality, we all express gratitude in different ways.

By painting that picture I had essentially built up an expectation as to what the outcome of my actions would be, and when that expectation failed to materialise the negative feelings ensued.

Something which I found massively helped with limiting my expectation was to have a mantra which I could repeat in my mind as a sort of short circuit to break the chain of negative thoughts.

The mantra can be anything, I went with ‘thank you’ as it is hard to feel anything other than gratitude when you are thanking someone/something

Hi, thanks for posting.

A mantra I use that some might find useful is:

"To the work you are entitled, but not to the fruits thereof."

Good luck on your journey!

I wouldn't consider living abroad for 7 years travelling (unless you change location often?), although I absolutely agree that actually living in some different country for years might deeply change you as a person.

However, I agree with OP that most travel stories (staying a few days to a month in the same place) sound very superficial and I also struggle to figure out why I should be travelling more often.

I moved around quite a bit. Depends on where you draw the line between traveling and living abroad, I suppose.

I think that having to make that choice in the first place is exactly what most iOS users want to avoid.

The issue is that there is only a limited set of things to do while waiting for someone. I can't get down to work to solve any problem of the day because I may be interrupted at any moment by the person arriving. Then I have to sacrifice my time (and perhaps my other plans) after the meeting to get my work finished, perhaps at a time when I figured the meeting would already be over and my remaining work already done.

I really think it's very disrespectful.

It's only disrespectful when it clashes with a Western perspective. If both parties don't see being "late" as a problem, it's not.

1. It is indeed disrespectful to consciously "taking up other people’s time" (the Chinese way) without their consent.

2. The real world works asynchronously. Either if you are a jerk having no regard for other people's time, or you are a very punctual person getting out of your way to be on time for others (by coming earlier), there is wasted time to be expected. One can prepare for that and act like a functioning piece in a loosely coupled system, or to just blame others.