Since age 15 I’ve been swimming in a sea of time clocks, schedules, commutes, and paychecks, most commonly known as the workforce. Some people would say to me back then, “Just wait a few years to get a job. You will be working the rest of your life. Just go enjoy this time before it’s gone.”
I understood what they were saying, but the thought of having my own money and gaining knowledge and experience from landing myself a job didn’t sound so bad.
To not have to depend on asking my parents for every little thing I wanted sounded so liberating.
But did giving up a good portion of my free time in exchange for affording some chapstick, gum, a few movie tickets, and more minutes for my pre-paid phone make me feel liberated? Eh, not so much.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful for the life lessons, experience, and work ethic I’ve gained. But, over the years I’ve started to appreciate and understand the value in MY OWN time.
The more I’ve spent devoted towards working for someone else doing something that brings me no purpose other than a paycheck is the time I could’ve invested in my own self.
At age 29 I’ve decided to cut my ties and say farewell to the restraints of the corporate world. I realized that passionate people are hard to come by in these settings and that even I too have felt drained of my enthusiasm and drive.
It’s easy to become complacent and give a halfhearted effort in creating your own happiness when you can’t seem to find your “why” in it all.
If you genuinely don’t know why you’re doing something and have no driving force that pushes you onward, nothing you ever do will truly make sense.
So, I sold my car, put that money towards paying off my credit card debt, and quit my job. Tom sold almost every last piece of his beloved recording studio. We gave up the things that provided us comfort and stability for something unfamiliar and unconventional.
We purchased our airline tickets, booked a place to stay for the first 30 days upon our arrival, sold and donated the majority of our belongings, and sealed the deal on our goal to move to a different country all the way across the world.
If you had told us a year ago.. heck, even six months ago, that we’d be living in Thailand come February 2017 I don’t think that we would have fully believed you.
We may have gone back and forth about what else needs to happen in our lives first before that could even be possible. In this short span of time we’ve researched, planned, doubted, believed, saved, sacrificed, and gone through all sorts of emotions in getting to where we are now.
It’s amazing the limitations we set for ourselves as human beings out of fear, judgment, self-doubt, and ignorance.
Go out and try things, push yourself, and let people question your sanity. So what?! Don’t dare be discouraged by your fears or the doubts that others may cast your way.
Remember that breaking from the “norm” tends to make many people uncomfortable or apprehensive. We have this one life to live, and something tells me that it was meant for much more than lackluster routines and could have beens.