Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Start making relationships.

I would try to satisfy my needs alongside the Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
I would try to develop in regards to Jane Loevinger's, Robert Kegan's and other ego-development-models.
I would choose the best surroundings in order to learn and grow personally.
I would try to let go of the ego and stop thinking about me and trying to think about others as well. Therefore I would try to help others grow and develop as well.
I guess, I would also try out some of the ideas, I had when I dreamt of FI (e.g. traveling long-term), in order to find out, if reality meets my expectation.
I would live life in such a way, that I won't regret later when I look back.

Pretty much what I'm intending to do anyway, I'd just be able to do it on a more full-time basis than what I anticipate.

World domination, benovently.

@ chenda, world domination is always done benevolently, if you read the pamphlets.

@ bigato, I understand the appeal of the independent life, and worked towards that goal for quite a while.

However, we are decended from murderous monkeys, and many of our brain's most important reward mechanisms are geared towards relationship with others in the tribe.

So I would focus on selecting tribal members. Since there aren't any currently, I would focus on attracting my own. I have read your journal, you shouldn't have a problem attracting tribal members, when you decide to stop repelling them.

I hope that helps.

Hi Bigato.
Do you want some inspiration?

Become a member of a rowing club and start rowing. And join the maintenance group of the club as volunteer to maintain the boats and to repair the damaged ones.
Join a local (small) sailing club, use the boats of the association. After that use your knowledge as volunteer to train people how to sail.

Cycle every other day to nature, sit, eat your home-made lunch and look for birds with an excellent pair of binoculars.

Maintain your own house inside and outside, and your cloth. Make the interior of your house as beautiful as you like.

Buy a secondhand kayak and go paddling so now and then, look for special plants and small animals

Move in winter to a village in the snow and start free style cross country skiing, everyday

Learn to work with simple electronics, how to use solar energy, make your own devices.

Search for a philosoph who inspires you, and try to grasp all his/her ideas

Every now and then try something daring, something you are not (complete) familiar too, I know you do already, but it is not necessary to do it on such a grand scale.

Does it work for you?

For me it does. Bi.

I would say it's going to differ a lot from person to person.

Part of mine would just be leading a slower paced life. Be able to take it easy and walk to the store, cook and more without being in a rush. More often enjoy a relaxing cup of tea without any pressure to get it over with and be doing something productive since I have very little time outside of work.

Part of it would be spending more time with friends and family.

Finally I would want to be able to invest more time in my hobbies/interests.

That's how I live now. I have to think a little about answering your question, though.

I would either play video games all the time or become somekind of warlord.

Jean wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 01, 2019 4:21 pm

I would either play video games all the time or become somekind of warlord.

That's not mutually exclusive, you know.

Beat off......

Finally, someone says it for me.

Expand the depth and breadth of understanding my environment and what it means to be human.

Making mistakes as I go.

My life has changed significantly every few years up to this point and I don't expect that the rate of change would slow. So, I wouldn't treat it like the question "What would you do with your life" would imply. I would likely use shorter time frames centered around individual goals and projects.

I have a few things in mind. I would like to spend a few months in Europe. 23 and me shows most of my dna matches 2 specific areas, the Rhineland in Germany and county Galway in Ireland, which fits with family lore. So I'd like to visit there. I also was a huge nerd and really got into greek mythology in the 5th & 6th grades and have had a continual interest in greek and roman history and culture ever since. So, I want to visit Greece and Italy. Next I would like to hike the Appalachian trail. I like hiking and camping. What more is there to say? By then I'll have found more things to do.

I think you don't have many answers here because the question is hard. (... And all the retirees with an answer go off and do it? I dunno.)

This has been weighing on me too for a while. An old job called and talked me into working yet another year (and then cancelled half the work reserved six month prior, but that is another rant.) So that has added some structure.

When you can live near anywhere and do nearly anything, it is hard to choose. There is a study out there showing consumers make a choice and purchase when there is two or three options, but walk away when there are much things to choose from. It's probably the same brain overload when deciding what to do with one's own short life.

Personally, I'm:
- working on my book series (drafting book three right now). It has been an interesting challenge, from learning the business to all the reading I must do (research!). It is fantastic to have something to talk about since small talk makes me feel faint. My social life revolves around my writing groups.
- Killing time in the midwest so I am in the same locality as my family for our upcoming consulate appointment to get our Italian citizenships. Trying to not get sucked into buying a condo or townhome.
- Considering getting a TEFL or similar certificate for teaching english abroad. There are fun programs all over the world for that and as an FI person with two passports, I could accept jobs that don't pay as well just to experience the places. The downside of course is having to get up and show up somewhere on someone else's schedule. It might be fun. It might be hell. I think I would like helping kids though.There is always the option of going to places I wouldn't need a visa for and just working at a school part time.
- I'd love to find someone to go on all these adventures with - or even adventures in the USA (more the super slow travel kind) but that is hard. Dating is tricky enough, but finding someone similarly introverted (I would not make, nor be happy with a super extrovert), FI and wanting (some) new experiences is a pretty specific target set of behaviors. Truthfully, I haven't been trying, but that would be the ideal partner.

To briefly answer your question, I've devoted much more physical and mental energy to lowering my denominator than to raising my numerator (ie, getting a job). Getting a job is like dating, it relies on seeking approval from someone else, whereas living more cheaply depends entirely on me and has immediate, quantifiable results.

The next big step in that regard would be buying a place to live, which I've discussed elsewhere.

Buy the one-time Hare Krishna membership that'd let me stay in the temples' residential arrangements across cities at discounted rates. Then relocate to Russia. Practice and get good at cold approaches and pick-up.

Take the Trans-Siberian railway. Go flaghoisting across the cities on it. Stay and explore every city in the world where Russian is understood and there's a temple.
The usual suspects- from Arkhangelsk to Omsk (North-South) and Voronezh to Vladivostok (East-West), Kiev and Kharkov, the 2 largest cities in Ukraine, also some Moldova and Belarus.

My insistence on big cities is unfounded though. I am used to high population densities. I always want someone to be there in eyeshot if I do a 360 degree turn. I reckon it was Robbie Williams who said loneliness is being in a room full of people and feeling alone. Not if you are willing to do cold approaches and stomach rejections. Read Dostoyevsky in the downtime.

I think I get the question now. Like others, I'd probably live abroad somewhere. South America or India, maybe spend some time in an ashram.

I'd also like to get involved with a major land improvement scheme somewhere. Afforestation or irrigation, preserve some threatened historic buildings or archaeological sites.

@fiby41 - are you involved with Hare Krishna ?

fiby41 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 1:40 pm

Buy the one-time Hare Krishna membership that'd let me stay in the temples' residential arrangements across cities at discounted rates.

chenda wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 03, 2019 5:11 pm

maybe spend some time in an ashram.

I feel like these are not things one needs a whole lot of money to do.

I would buy a small apartment in a trendy touristy expensive small town that I love-energy great there all year round.

I would use this as a base when I needed a break from constantly travelling the world with small (fit under seat of airplane) bag.

None of this will ever happen in this life for me...