My wife and I are selling the house.
After the sale we intend to hop into the car and travel the USA. Road trip. We have this level of freedom because we routinely make freeing but sometimes uncomfortable decisions.
I personally never choose prolonged comfort these days because I suffered through both depression and periods of little freedom based on this foolish choice, in the past. I used to work jobs mainly to feel the predominant comfort of having enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. But I traded my happiness, peace of mind and freedom in the process.
Choosing prolonged comfort leads to depression and little freedom because comfortable choices are scared choices. Every choice for comfort consists of a fear-driven motive. Doing things because you fear some outcome leads to depression and very little freedom.
How it Worked
At my pier guard job, someone told me to work from 6 AM to 12 AM sometimes in order to get money. I found the job easy but boring. Imagine trading 18 hours of boredom for money? Depressing, right? I traded 18 hours of freedom, like working for myself and circling the globe, for numbers on a screen (money), bondage (needing to follow orders from a boss and work where they told me to work at what time they told me to work) and prolonged comfort (bills covered).
I felt deeply depressed. I also felt imprisoned. Being comfortable for a little bit has its benefits. I did enjoy steady money for I covered all basic needs. But being comfortable for weeks, months then years guarantees a soul-sucking trade-off of freedom and happiness.
Why?
Lasting freedom and prolonged happiness meet you OUTSIDE of your comfort zone.
My Life Now
I make many uncomfortable choices forcing me to face fears. But I work when I want, how I want, wherever I want to work. I am free.
I slept poorly last night. 3 hours. After working-blogging for a few hours I will go back to bed and sleep in until noon if I feel like it. Being free allows me to feel predominantly:
- happy
- calm
- peaceful
- relaxed
- generous
- trusting
- grateful
- liberated
I recall the days of having 1 week of vacation for the year as a security guard. Now I can travel to Fiji at the drop of a hat.
At the risk of this sounding like a cheesy late night infomercial, I digress…..
Engineering your life how you want it to be involves making choices that force you outside of your comfort zone. Guess what awaits you outside of your comfort zone? Fear. Guess what you need to face, FEEL and release, to slowly but steadily free yourself, to live a life of freedom and happiness? Fear.
I soon learned how experiencing a few moments of genuine, scary discomfort is worth a life time of freedom and happiness. I figured out that feeling self-conscious, angry or terrified here and there, for a few moments, is worth circling the globe as a pro blogger.
Freedom has no price tag. Multi-millionaires sometimes envy me because they are bound to:
- time
- set schedules
- specific work locations
- money
when I am bound to very little. I work when I want to, where I want to and prosper almost solely through passive income.
One Important Note
Goodness I love to blog but I put in serious time and effort to be free. I am not bound to time but 15,000 hours of blogging-work have flown by, the past decade of my life.
But if you spend 15,000 hours doing something you largely enjoy, and you decide to make uncomfortable choices along the way, isn't it worth living a life of fun, freedom and happiness?
