Over the past 10 year, since graduating from university, I’ve made some… unconventional life choices.
After a few years of living on my own, I chose to move back in with my dad so that I could focus on growing my freelance business without the stress of finding rent. Being home most of the time and having no work commute, I’ve also chosen not to own a car.
I love to travel and I rarely ever live in one place for too long, so I have no plans to buy a home. For this reason (and a multitude of others), I also don’t intend to settle down, get married or have kids.
I wear slight variations of the same outfit each day and have less than 50 items in my closet. In terms of overall possessions, I’ve never counted, but it would be safe to say that number is close to 100. I could literally pack my stuff and be ready to move in a couple of hours.
My daily life also looks a lot different from most. I wake up at 2am for work by choice, I sleep through a big chunk of the day, and I can’t remember the last time I worked for more than 6 hours in a day, much less 8. It’s often closer to 4.
I’m overtly aware of just how strange my life is, because I’m reminded of it every single day through the media and the lives of my friends, but I do it anyway because it’s the perfect life for me.
In fact, I purposefully designed it this way.
Lifestyle Design
Lifestyle design, in my opinion, is the absolute best way for people find true happiness and achieve their goals.
You don’t have wake before dawn like I do, or purge your possessions down to fit in a carry-on, but you do have to take some steps to determine what’s most valuable to you, maximize on that, and figure out how to minimize or eliminate the rest.
You might not have the same privileges or opportunities I have, and it may not be an easy journey, but you can still look around, find ways to make your dreams happen, and put yourself on the path to securing a better future.
Beyond that, never underestimate the power of sharing your mission with others. Not only will you attract like-minds to encourage you on your journey, but you just might be seen by the people who can offer you those opportunities. That has made the biggest impact for me.
If you’re looking for further inspiration on this topic, I highly recommend checking out The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau and Company of One by Paul Jarvis. They inspired me to pursue this life.