There is a serene sense of liberty that comes with casting off our anchors. Trimming the fat and clutter of life not only frees up capital and time to follow our dreams, but it also lets us evaluate the things we have and buy, and whether or not they were all that important in the first place. I am in the process of doing such things these days in preparation for an experiment in vagabond living and I must say it is getting more addictive by the minute! I've sold both of my cars, one officially and the other will be sold right before I leave. I've rented my home to a family member which will ensure that it is well taken care of and also provide me with some added income while I travel about. I'm consolidating bills, canceling all the home based bills, and budgeting my finances as we speak. All essential bills (cell phone and satellite card for laptop, credit cards, insurance...etc.) will be moved to online payment plans and will cost me less than $400 a month. This will help me to communicate with the world and operate my business while I romp about in the tropics! I've arranged a few great living situations that will cost me nothing but a few hours of work a day and the more research I do, the more options for free or really cheap living pop up. I have done most of this in the past week, with much time to spare and relax. This assumption smashing exercise alone has been worth its weight in gold!
The added mental space of getting rid of things has been the biggest surprise to me. I was totally freaking out last week when I decided to uproot myself from my home and really go for it and my mind was flooded with a ton of "oh shit" scenarios. ie: Oh shit, what about....(insert any task, expense, danger etc.)! I was starting to doubt myself. I was almost talking myself out of it... then I re read the timeless advice of Dale Carnegie who advised more that 60 or 70 years ago to: "Ask yourself, what is the worst thing that could happen. Mentally accept the worst case scenario and work out possible solutions that would better that situation." After much soul searching, I found it really wasn't a hard decision to make, the worst wasn't really all that bad. As a matter of fact, I can count two or three times in my life that were far worst than this "worst case" scenario, plus I still had a ton of friends, family, a house, and other places to go if need be. Ahhhh.... suddenly, relief came in the form of a weird sense of calm. Then, after the calm, came the solutions to my problems. The floodgates opened! So much so that I have resorted to carrying a notebook around so that I can write down whatever good idea comes to my brain. I'm far from finished, but I have an excellent starting point and most of what is left is fairly simple and straight forward. Now I am looking forward to my travels and feeling excited about life! My good friend Don offered this advice when I was having one of my doubting moments, he said, "Jeremy. I contemplated my divorce for two years before I went through with it. It was two years too long." He's never been happier since. So I urge you to purge some of the excess from your lives and sit down with a pen and paper and ask yourself, "what's the worst thing that could happen if I follow my dreams?". I bet the answers to your problems are easier than you think. Until next time.... much love and peace, Jeremy.
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