Intentional Living
07 May 2018
In the last last couple of years, I’ve realized a few things.
First, this may be obvious, but we humans don’t live forever (yet). I’m 34, and looking back from here, life has a been a blur. A twisty, turny, crazy, blur. As it turns out, nothing I expected when I graduated from high school, college, or graduate school really materialized the way I expected. That said - what DID I expect? I’m not really sure that I know. Honestly, that isn’t that surprising to me now, but I think that high school senior eating fajitas on graduation day probably wouldn’t believe me. The reason that this all got stirred up is that in the last couple years I felt myself settling into auto pilot. I had a secure job, a house, and a daily routine that left me thinking “Is this it? Do I spend the rest of my days like this?” That wasn’t the state of mind I wanted to have.
Second, we all have bucket lists and it seems the number of items on the list only gets larger. If we want it shorter, we have to really make an effort to check off the items, or cross them out as we give up on them. As I looked at my own list, I realized I’d have to start crossing things out if I didn’t get a move on.
Third, most of the things on my bucket list take time. When I talk about visiting somewhere, I really want to spend some time there; try the local cuisine, see the local spots, relax a bit. Maybe even pretend that I live there. I know I’d have a hard time with something like a cruise where you only get a few hours to wander around a destination. This desire to loiter is directly in conflict with the amount of vacation time we are typically alotted in the working world. At my last job, it was 3 weeks per year - including sick days. Throw in some family time, maybe a wedding or a funeral, a couple of three day weekend trips, and the holidays, and that vanishes pretty quickly. Its even worse if you have kids.
It seems like the most normal thing to do is just to save up that bucket list, and save up the retirement account, and then put the two together someday. I really am not a fan of this plan - there are zero guarantees that I will make it that far, and if I do, I may not be healthy enough to do much besides sit around and watch TV. There are plenty of people who never make it to retirement, and still more who are too worn out once they get there to really enjoy it.
So, after the last four years of my life evaporated away in an unproductive blur with little progress on my bucket list, I decided that it was time for a change. I needed to live more intentionally - cut out things that don’t matter and clear space for that which does. Not only that, but I’m changing the way I make my living, both to facilitate my desire to travel and to support my sanity.
The first item on that bucket list is Alaska. Now I have the time, the savings, and a perfectly good motorcycle. Time to put this new life strategy to the test.