Monday 7 January 2013

Top 4 ways to freedom


People always seem to be envious of the life I live. They use the words "Jealous" or the phrase "You're so lucky". I, however don't see it as luck, I just choose to avoid the following: 

1. Buy a house

Paying off a mortgage for 20 years doesn't exactly sound like fun to me. Your grandparents did this and your parent most likely did this also, but it doesn't make it right. People save to buy houses because they want stability, but stability directly affects your freedom. Buying a house will limit you to be in one part of the world for at least 90% of the year and with repayments you can hardly afford, there is nothing left to have fun with. 

The only logical reason I would ever buy a house would be to sell it five years later for a profit. I would use these profits for travel, but this means I would be home for a high percentage of the those 5 years paying the mortgage, thus the reason I am yet to buy an investment property.

I haven't met many homeowners that do anything more than work in a job they dislike to pay off a house they don't necessarily need.

2. Start your career early

You potentially have 40 years of full time employment ahead of you, why would you bother rushing into that? 

Why make the decision of what you want to do for the rest of your life in your 20's?

Coming straight out of high school I had no idea what I wanted to do and was amazed at the fact that people were enrolling in courses they may not even want to do at the end of their 3-4 year course. You change a lot in those first years out of high school so I decided I wouldn't go to university because I had to, it would be because I wanted to. I'm still yet to go to university and I seem to be having a lot more fun than most of the people I know.

Your career can wait, your youth cannot.

3. Girlfriends

I don't see myself settling down until i'm in my 30's so I see no reason to tie myself down with a girlfriend. 

You will rarely find a 'taken man' that enjoys the same freedom as a bachelor. Having a girlfriend makes it twice as hard to find the freedom that anyone can have. Not only is traveling with a girlfriend one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life, it also made me resent her. I saw how much fun all the single backpackers were having and I felt as though I was missing out on something special. Then again, you will always have the 1 in 10 couple that have just as much fun so I mean this in a general sense.

4. Listen to what other people think you should do

Having to listen to what other people think you should do is something people deal with day in day out. I reserve taking advice from people who are doing or have already done something I really want to do. Not from people who think that just because they can't do it, you can't do it either.

If someone says you can't do something, it's probably because they don't have the energy, guts or drive to do it themselves.

Don't be a victim of the 'School-Work-Marriage-House-Baby-Work-Work-Work-DIE' attitude that a lot of people still have. Do whatever the fuck you want!

- Gavin Madden



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