D’oh! But it is a good idea to never listen to that guy in Thailand offering a sweet deal…
The OP said that he is waking up in cold sweats thinking about a “normal life.”
Unless his use of the term “literally” was hyperbole, I took it at face value.
elbows - I would agree that as long as you are self sufficient and you aren’t hurting anyone, you should live whatever lifestyle you choose. Everything comes with choices though. A nomadic lifestyle might provide a great deal of freedom, but you may be sacrificing some of the benefits that come with having strong roots. Some people like the security of a 9-5 job (such as it is) and a suburban house while others would find that stifling.
Personally I would go crazy living in the suburbs. I enjoy the convenience of urban living. I also like some of the benefits of having a high paying, flexible job like being able to go to nice restaurants whever I feel like or take like 5 mini vacations with my girlfriend (3 in foreign countries) this year.
Interesting thread. The responses are very telling of the poster’s backgrounds.
I admire the world’s vagabonds as I’m just not built that way. I would constantly worry about a lack of savings for a ‘rainy day’. My dad was a very successful entrepeneur and he would support any entrepreneurial activities of my own, but I just don’t have that risk-taking mindset.
I enjoy the trappings of my modest, conservative choices, but those things that you can buy can be the very definition of ‘trappings’. It’s very true that as you make more money, you spend more money, so you stay on a path of never getting far ahead.
I would encourage you to find a way to make enough money so that you don’t have to worry about ‘rainy days’, but if you’re wired to move from place to place and job to job, I say embrace it. Spread your life across the world and enjoy your freedom. Just try to keep an eye on the road ahead and try to make sure that road leads to more money so you can be prepared for any bumps in that road (to overextend a metaphor).
“…I have examined what really makes me happy. It’s not things I really want, it’s freedom. I don’t want to be rich, I want to be free. Truly free. Free from debt, free from employers, free to wake up when I want to. Free to take off for a year and explore this awesome world. Free to hang out at the library or museum or seaside to discover the treasures within. Freedom to spend large amounts of time just reading. The strange thing is, freedom is what I always wanted, from my youngest years. I have never aspired to collect material things, but without thinking, I went down that path anyway, away from what I really wanted, and toward what I didn’t want at all. Material things are anchors, anchors that hold you where you are, anchors that need to be dragged along if you move. Anchors that should be cut loose.”
Posting in this thread, brought to mind this quotation which is always on my bulletin board, it never gets removed. I thought I’d share it. {Sorry, don’t know where I got it from.:o}
Just calling back into the thread to say that this thread has been really useful to me in trying to organise my thoughts.
Preliminary conclusions are that I agree that if I want to stay “free” I probably do need to make some kind of plan. I do enjoy freedom, but not the feeling of “not getting anywhere and not building anything”. I’ve met some very cool people who are still living adventurous lives beyond their twenties, but the ones I most envied have usually carved themselves a niche beyond McLanguage jobs.
I’m tentatively, but not yet completely, re-thinking the idea of getting a teaching qualification in The Netherlands. The main reason is that the kind of qualification I wanted to gain is not easily transferable to other countries and education systems, so I feel that perhaps I’d be tying myself down a bit too much which is partly what gave me the heeby jeebies in the first place. Real life and board friends have been making the point that there are ways to combine a career with freedom, and I want to look into that some more before I make a decision. At the moment I’m not sure what exactly this would be, but I’m thinking perhaps in the direction of translations. What I won’t do is run away from the fact that I need have a career and continue to always take the easy option, jobwise. I think that won’t work out well for me in the long run.
Finally, after all this moaning and soul-searching I do want to echo elbows in saying that living abroad is a fantastic thing to do and if you are considering it, go! I may not have a glittering career, but I’ve gained survival skills, international friends, independence, various languages to various degrees, confidence and any number of tasty recipes. It’s been great and I hope to be able to solve the practicalities so that it may continue.
You know, they have anchors on boats for a reason.
I find this line of reasoning facinating. How exactly does one explore the world and hang out all day with no money? Ride the rails like a hobo? Board a tramp steamer?
What do you do with this freedom? Wander around doing nothing? Pass the time reading about stuff other people imagine people doing? Admire the works of other people? How much jack shit can you do every day before you get bored out of your mind?
What people do you meet while enjoying your freedom? Retirees, college students on break and aimless drifters? Most people are at work during the day.
How close can your friendships be with people whose lives you drift in and out of?
Look, I get not liking to work and not wanting to be financially tied down with debt and mortgages and other obligations. But to a certain extent, putting up with that is also called being a “grown up”.
it’s my bolding, but your words…and you just answered your OP.
May I ask who your roommate is?
One day you’re gonna be 40. And then 45, and then 55, etc. Who do you think your roommate will be at each of those stages?
Flat sharing is easy in your 20’s, not too bad at 30…There are plenty of options, and interesting people to meet. And it’s the same with jobs–plenty of options, and interesting things to try.
But do you want to be placing adverts to share your rent with 50 yr olds? You’ll have fewer options. And jobs will be scarcer when you’re competing against younger people.
At 20, physical stuff is just stuff, and you can do without it. It’s all replaceable.
And even the non-physical stuff can be replaced. New friends, new jobs are pretty easy.
At 32, it’s a bit harder.
At 40 it’s a lot harder
And at 50 it may be impossible.
Make your decision carefully.
I’m curious about this as well.
I would go nuts without some kind of structure. When my husband and I travel, we’re always looking to get to “home base” - a place to put our stuff, take a shower and use the toilet.
I’m no cubicle drone - as a matter of fact, next Friday I go from “employed” to “self-employed” - but as much as I truly love to travel, I’m just wired that way. It just seems too “Live in the NOW!” for me.
Also, I just want to point out that “being a grown-up” is not worse than being a vagabond. Actually, the stability it provides paradoxically makes you more free, IMO.
****Incidentally, I’m 33, and came to my Big Decision re: my business when I was 32. It seems to be some kind of age where our generation starts realizes we’re not just going to “make it” someday, and have gained the confidence to believe in our goals.
[PHP=msmith537]I find this line of reasoning facinating.
That's okay because I find your questions equally fascinating,:D. But it's cool to try and see something from a different angle, even if I don't get it.
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How exactly does one explore the world and hang out all day with no money?
Did you miss where I mentioned working extremely hard to save $12,000, to take those holidays? I’m not afraid of hard work or undisciplined. If I’m going to enjoy roaming around Asia for ten months I’m going to have to know how to manage that money well, also.
What do you do with this freedom? Wander around doing nothing?
Um, no, I go to museums, temples, ruins, festivals, beaches, night markets, ceremonies, waterfalls, national parks, volcanoes, mountain tops. My days and nights are packed full, I assure you.
Pass the time reading about stuff other people imagine people doing?
I read an enormous amount while traveling, at the beach I can read a book a day! And I do read about other people and sometimes get ideas and then plan a trip to go and see or do something really awesome. I don’t see this as a negative, since I get to pursue the things I read about, I guess.
How much jack shit can you do every day before you get bored out of your mind?
Since I’m not doing jack shit every day, I don’t think I need respond here. But maybe the difference, between us is, I can’t do the same job again and again, day after month, after year for decades, without being bored out of my mind. I recognize that I am not in the majority, but I’d put a gun to my head, if I had to live that life.
What people do you meet while enjoying your freedom? Retirees, college students on break and aimless drifters? Most people are at work during the day.
This can depend on what time of the year you go, but I’ve met airline pilots, teachers, professors, scientists, artists, an inordinate number of medicos; nurses, young doctors, premed students, EMT’s, PT’s, plus soldiers, tech gurus, engineers etc. Likely because of the aid being sent to the third world, which is where I’ve done a lot of my travels. The point is, there is no lack of extremely interesting travel mates to meet, I promise. I could go on all day, professional polos players, models, stone masons, it’s just like at home, a wide variety of interesting people.
How close can your friendships be with people whose lives you drift in and out of?
I can only tell you that my friendships are as close as any, same with family. I’m gone for maybe a year max, and then I’m back. On my return I am generally wined and dined and warmly greeted by a group of close, warm, family and friends. Perhaps your relationships could not withstand such separations, but mine seem to thrive, so maybe not everyone is the same, is all.
IMO figuring out what you want from life and then finding the best way to get what you want is very grown-up.
However, not having a career or a real job because it just seemed to much “hassle” and you couldn’t be bothered is quite immature.
There’s a difference between the two, though.
I guess this is the thing. If you have to work extremely hard ANYWAY, why not work extremely hard and smart and earn much more money working at something you enjoy instead of just bullshit jobs to earn enough for your next trip?
What you consider hard and smart, differs between us. I need a job I can walk away from, to holiday, and walk back into, on return. It helps that I always enjoyed service, and did well at it. I have no complaints, it took me around the world and back, a few times.
It really does come down to different strokes for different folks. I simply chose a different path, is all.
Do you have any qualifications other than the teaching one? Remember that you have the whole EU (including EU jobs, many of which involve travelling and not all of which are lifer, although their idea of “short term” is measured in years and not weeks) to settle in, not just the Netherlands. And depending on which qualifications you have/get, there’s many jobs which involve both travel and some time teaching.
I’m a Chemical Engineer, ended up becoming a computer consultant through the minority road, and now my Mom is happy whenever I happen to be in the same continent. Having me in Spain itself (even if it’s 897km away) makes her ecstatic. Being a consultant involves figuring out what do my clients do, figuring out how to set up The Monster Program in the way that will fit the clients’ needs best, writing courses and teaching the clients how to use The Monster. My brothers kid me that I did end up becoming a teacher like Mom wanted, after all…
To get a EU job in translations you need a college degree in any field and to be able to translate from two languages to a third one and be one of the winners of a “contest”. There’s one for translators into English announced by… nowabouts…
That’s great info, Nava, I’ll look into that. I have the degree, but might need to work on polishing up the third language so it would be a of more long-term goal, but something like that would be very interesting.
Then why are we having this discussion?
Because you were implying that living this way this is “not grown up”, whereas we say it just means having different priorities.
Yeah, I thought it might be a good fit. Something I found interesting is that “EU translator” is the kind of job that most people (including Translation teachers) describe as “sitting in an office in Brussels 9-5”, while the actual EU Translators and Interpreters who came to give us presentations were from field offices; one of them had helped set up two new field offices, not only was he more of a manager than a translator for that whole period but the languages he now works from are neither of the ones he started with. I’ve spent the last year working on an MSc in Translation, with the goal of having a “second job” I can make a living of if I’m ever disabled or too burnt out from Consulting.
“And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they all were put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers and business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same”
The OP mixes up fear of ageing, fear of poverty, and fear of mundanity. Yet at first glance they seem to be living a wonderful life that they’ve chosen for themselves repeatedly.
Pookah, you might also want to think about this in terms of what you want from your personal relationships. Are you happy with the level of friendship you make in your current life? Would you miss constantly meeting new people, or could you find a “steady” job in the Netherlands that would still offer those opportunities? Alternatively, do you feel like you are missing out on aspects of long-term friendship by being on the move?
Do you see yourself getting married or into a long-term relationship eventually, and could you make that work with your current life? Alternatively, would you never be attracted to a mate who wanted a settled life in one spot? What about having children?
These are very personal questions, and I don’t mean for you to actually answer them on the board. I’m suggesting that this is another perspective for you to consider.