Your wildest lifestyle fantasy -- unrestricted by practical, real-world limitations

In My Humble Opinion
1

If you could wake up tomorrow in a different life with no negative consequences of any kind to this one, what life would that be? Don’t limit your fantasy to practical considerations at all-- financial, skill, talent, age, health, gender,or anything else. The only restriction I request is no time travel. You can be a younger age, but no waking up in a different era. You want to be a Center for Golden State but you’re 5’4" and a woman-- no problem. You’re a technogeek but your fantasy is to sail around the world on your own sailboat and write poetry-- go for it. You want to be Speaker of the House? Pope? Run your own TV network or social media company? Or own just as many kittens and puppies as you want to and no one can prevent it!

I don’t know about y’all, but I have a very hard time turning my imagination loose. Right away I think of practical things, reasons why this is a bad idea, and of course, realizing that if I tell anyone they’ll rain all over my parade WHILE they’re laughing at me.

And by all means post more than once if you think of other stuff.

Oh, and why do this? For the fun of it!

I’ll go first.

One of my fantasies is to move to Argentina and adopt the tango lifestyle, like this woman did, dancing in milongas every night:

After a series of life-changing and terrible losses, Cherie moves to steamy Buenos Aires, where the romantic attention of the local men reignites her youth and sexuality. But women like her, who stay to create a life and dance the best tango in the world…

Yeah, there are absolutely downsides in real life, but there are no downsides in my fantasy or in this thread! Wet blankets, downers, naysayers keep out.

Or if I were younger and possessed of actual beauty and talent, I’d like to be a Broadway musical performer. Not necessarily a star, being one of the chorines would be fine. Like those trying out at the beginning of All That Jazz.

Anyone else?
Don’t leave me here, twisting in the wind…

2

When I was in college in the late '70s I thought I wanted to be a TV preacher. Unlimited money, unlimited adoring women who believe their god commands them to please me, and no theft involved, just raw charisma and chutzpah in the service of pure avarice. Some flavors of rubes just deserve to be fleeced.

Had I been an actual psychopath I might have been awesome at it. Alas, I had / have a conscience and integrity. Unlike Robert Shuller, Jerry Falwell, Jim Bakker, et al.

3

Movie director. Keep making blockbuster films that are always a smash at the box office and seen by the whole world. I already have several script ideas ready to go. And recreationally fly into space once a year.

Also have enough billions of dollars to make sure every social cause I care about is funded to the gills, such as refugees or prison ministry. And be the owner of multiple sports teams.

4

Running hospitality suites for conventions. With a decent budget I could fine tune each suite to match the convention, basically making people happy and relaxed.

5

Don’t miss this fascinating Fresh Air interview (there’s a transcript if you don’t want to take the time to listen):

These are great, y’all. :slightly_smiling_face:

6

I would be single and have no kids.

I would live in rural Alaska or the Yukon on a lake with a panoramic view of tall mountains. A log cabin with a living room / dining room / kitchen at the front, picture windows of course, and a bedroom and bathroom at the back. A big wrap around screened-in front porch to compliment the view. It would have running water and a large propane tank and distribution system for forced air heat and hot water/cookstove/fridge. No electricity needed, gas lighting would be fine. I would have a cache / lean-to at the back for provisions. A pole barn behind the cabin would store split firewood sufficient for a few seasons.

I would hunt and fish for most of my sustenance. Since money is no consideration I would not have to worry about bringing in income. I would have a dependable 4x4 customized for snow to make a monthly run in to the nearest grocery store for whatever I couldn’t harvest from the wilderness: condiments, rifle ammunition, the occasional bottle of wine, tea, powdered milk, canning supplies. Not being a total luddite I would have something – a Bobcat maybe? – for plowing the driveway in the winter, complete with a large gravity-fed ~100 gallon gas tank that would be filled whenever the weather permits. I would have the tools and the knowledge to fix and repair any issues that arose with the vehicle or the cabin.

My cabin walls would be lined with bookshelves filled with hardbacks and I would have little roll-top desk under a window. I would spend my summer evenings and the long dark winter midnight reading voraciously, writing random fiction on an antique Royal typewriter, and feeding an occasional log onto the fire in the stone fireplace. I would play Checkers against myself when Kierkegaard and Balzac became boring. I would take up some hobby that required a significant time commitment and attention to minute detail – automatic watch repair, maybe? – as a way to stave off cabin fever come January.

Whatever mundane thing I did each day, the next day I would do the same thing.

I would be in good physical shape and not require a handful of expensive daily prescriptions to keep me vertical. Any educational attainment I may have or not have would have no bearing on my lifestyle. Nobody would be dependent on me. I would have to answer to nobody but myself. I would not be letting anyone down or putting myself in a place where people’s lifetime success depended on my competence.

I would not care about politics or following the nightly news. I would not have internet or a phone, but probably would have a battery powered radio sufficient to reach emergency services if needed. I might have a small FM radio for when the silence got to be a bit overwhelming.

Nobody would care about me and I would care about nobody. I would be a hermit, as removed from the modern world as possible while still living in some semblance of comfort and relative safety.

I would spend my life alone and die alone and both those things would be very good things.

7

I’m awed by your level of detail. You’ve given this a lot of thought. I felt relaxed and serene as I read your description. Thank you.

8

I want to get lost in the wilderness with a hot guy.

Preferably we get the chance to be action heroes.

(See: Every novel I’ve ever written. The joy of being a writer is you get to do anything you want with no consequence.)

In that vein, it would be cool to have JK Rowling levels of name recognition, and in this fantasy world I would love doing publicity and market myself like a pro. And people would be enthralled by my charisma. My books would inspire social progress, and nobody would ever cancel me despite the provocative nature of my work.

I think a Koi pond would be cool too.

9

“Hot Guy In A Cool Koi Pond”-sounds like a short story.

10

Or a song by The Go-Go’s.

11

I’d like to just be able to have a house near the center of the city I live in. A soundproof house, that allows pets. And not have to buy too many appliances. Or deal with landlords.

If you know how hard it is to even find not-too-expensive housing in my city, you’d realize why this is a fantasy.

Oh, also, having good health would be a nice thing.

12

I would love to be able to live in various places around the globe. Not visit - live in them, get to know them, their people, quirks, foods, drinks, pastimes and activities. Just, live there for a while, until I decide to go somewhere else and do the same, maybe just by throwing a dart at a map of the world, or more deliberately targeting a specific city or country. No time limit, no financial concerns, no language barriers. Total, complete, freedom to explore and experience the world.

I always thought it would be cool to be able to live in some of the great cities of the world for a full year to experience all the seasons and festivities each one had to offer, along with the more mundane daily living. My bigger idea is to not restrict it to cities alone, or require a set timeframe to live there.

13

Hell, I’m already enthralled. :star_struck:

14

This. I’d love to do that. I’d need to be single to do it though and that’s not part of my current deal.

15

Mine would be similar to the OP’s except with more variety, I’d travel around the world, learning and experiencing styles of music and dance.

Alas, I’d have to be more fit, more wealthy, and more single than I am now to do this.

16

I’m not exactly wealthy, but I have a comfortable little stipend from a nice inheritance I got from my maiden aunt, which also included her slightly crumbling vineyard in Tuscany, which I spend the summer restoring and occasionally popping off to attend art classes at the Florence Accademia. I have started to dabble in fresco renovation and often volunteer on projects.

When the weather turns, I retreat back to my warehouse apartment in East London, which happens to be just round the corner from the little row of artisan cheese shop, fishmonger and seafood eatery I set up in some victorian railway arches a few years ago, and which are now run with minimal input from myself by an excellent manager and chef. My favourite table is always available and I sometimes enjoy taking my turn at the till in the shop. I’m always there to partake in tastings when the wine merchant visits, and I’m currently planning some light interior design alterations.

17

Similar to @Lancia I would like to be a pioneer. More precisely I would love to have the strength and skills to start with nothing in the wilderness and make and build everything I needed. I’d love to have MacGyver/ Professor from Gilligan’s Island levels of handiness.

18

I’d like to wake up in my 25 yo body but with the knowledge and experience I have now. I’d like to be financially independent as well. Not stupid-rich, but with enough cash to keep me in a nice house on a lot of acreage, with all my animals around me. I’d need to manage that money, but not eye every penny spent.

If I DID wake up with billions, I would set up a care/foster facility and/or network for the animals of people who need to get OUT fast. I’m thinking mainly of women who stay in abusive situations because they can’t take their animals with them, but it could also expand to those with storms bearing down on them.

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I think I might want to be a professional musician. And not for the glamour, but so that I would I have the time and resources to play the music I have in mind well.I play decently as an amateur and I really feel I have something to say, but having a day job means I never have the time to give it the attention it would need to do the music justice. I would learn to sing well, sing harmony and play various instruments. I know the musician’s lifestyle is not easy, so I’m not sure if I really actually want this, but it would be interesting to try at least.

P.s. OP I’ve danced a lot of tango in my life and, though it can be transcendentally good, let’s say not all dancers are great or hot, let alone both at once. :person_shrugging: