I know too many people who sell themselves short in life. They settle for being comfortable, but are never quite happy enough and always complain about the things in life the wish they had. I've been extremely lucky in life to have parents who helped me out paying with school and everything, and I realize there are many people who are far less fortunate in this world. However, it's no excuse not to pursue your dreams. Those are your dreams, no one else in the world has the same goals brewing inside their brain as you do. I find myself second guessing myself all the time. "I can't do this, this is a stupid idea, what if I get stuck out there and get fired from my job." All kinds of negative thoughts enter my mind all the time. If you are a human, you most likely have these same negative thoughts and doubts. It's not easy pushing these ideas away and venturing into unknown territory, but it is a necessity for fulfilling our dreams. I want to encourage people with similar dreams that it is possible to carry out any goal, no matter how high you set the bar. If you have different goals, read anyway and try to apply it to your dream!
The Big two...
Reasons we "can't"
#1: Fear
The biggest factor keeping us from following our dreams. Fear is not always a bad thing, it is there to protect us sometimes. You should be afraid when a grizzly bear intrudes on your camp. Not the time to go back to your childhood and give Mr. Bear a Macho Man elbow drop from the tree branch. Nope, it's time to crap your pants and stay in that tree. There is nothing wrong with admitting you are afraid of something, we all have fears whether we realize it or not. However, the story you heard about the guy who got eaten by the bear should not deter you from going camping in bear country. It would be wise to read up about the area and what to do in the event of a bear encounter, but just remember the only reason you heard about the bear attack is because it is extremely rare. The news would be boring if they only told stories about common events. Would you rather hear about the 100,000 people who die a day from being overweight, or a freak accident about an American traveler in <insert third world country here>. Everyone becomes terrified of that country and talks about the dangers and crazy people there while they eat their tub of fat from KFC for dinner.
One goal I think everyone should have is to face as many of their fears as possible. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Always do what you are afraid to do". Traveling is a great way to do that. There is nothing like the feeling of conquering one of your fears. Not only will it give you confidence to face that situation again, but it will give you confidence in your battle to conquer the next fear.
#2: Money, I hear it all the time:
"Man if I only had the money to do this."
"Your so lucky you get to travel, I would do it too if I had the money."
"I can't risk quitting my job (I hate) to follow my dreams, I have a family."
"I wish I had a job that paid me better, and I would do what you do."
Nonsense! I made under minimum wage in 2011 after taking my COLA's(Company Offered Leave of Absence). See proof below! This was after a $1000 Christmas bonus from out new amazing company! Go Silver! www.gosilver.com
2011 was the most amazing year of my life. Proof that money cannot buy happiness.
The biggest factor keeping us from following our dreams. Fear is not always a bad thing, it is there to protect us sometimes. You should be afraid when a grizzly bear intrudes on your camp. Not the time to go back to your childhood and give Mr. Bear a Macho Man elbow drop from the tree branch. Nope, it's time to crap your pants and stay in that tree. There is nothing wrong with admitting you are afraid of something, we all have fears whether we realize it or not. However, the story you heard about the guy who got eaten by the bear should not deter you from going camping in bear country. It would be wise to read up about the area and what to do in the event of a bear encounter, but just remember the only reason you heard about the bear attack is because it is extremely rare. The news would be boring if they only told stories about common events. Would you rather hear about the 100,000 people who die a day from being overweight, or a freak accident about an American traveler in <insert third world country here>. Everyone becomes terrified of that country and talks about the dangers and crazy people there while they eat their tub of fat from KFC for dinner.
One goal I think everyone should have is to face as many of their fears as possible. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Always do what you are afraid to do". Traveling is a great way to do that. There is nothing like the feeling of conquering one of your fears. Not only will it give you confidence to face that situation again, but it will give you confidence in your battle to conquer the next fear.
#2: Money, I hear it all the time:
"Man if I only had the money to do this."
"Your so lucky you get to travel, I would do it too if I had the money."
"I can't risk quitting my job (I hate) to follow my dreams, I have a family."
"I wish I had a job that paid me better, and I would do what you do."
Nonsense! I made under minimum wage in 2011 after taking my COLA's(Company Offered Leave of Absence). See proof below! This was after a $1000 Christmas bonus from out new amazing company! Go Silver! www.gosilver.com
2011 was the most amazing year of my life. Proof that money cannot buy happiness.
Myth: You do not need mass amounts of money to travel!
Obviously there are a million factors involved in each person's life, but let's take a look at a worse case scenario for a single person with no kids. (See end of story for other examples; i.e. married/kids/etc.)
John works a minimum wage job in Florida and makes $7.50 an hour. John manages to work 40 hours a week but is unable to get any overtime. He earns $1200 a month before taxes, so to make it easy we will say he makes $1000 a month. He lives in Miami and the cheapest place he can find is $400 a month with everything included. After paying rent, phone bill, school loan and his car insurance (we'll assume his car is paid off), he is left with a little over $200. Not much money left to do anything with except survive. This guy is definitely living off Ramen noodles.
One of John's friends, Jane, just got back from a trip to India and will not stop talking about all her adventures and the great time she had. John is intrigued by his friends stories and is surprised at how little money she spent. Jane recommends reading "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts and it changes John's life forever. He realizes he can travel if he would make some small sacrifices which he hopes will pay off in the end.
John decides to move in with his parents and sell his car. Luckily his parents are thrilled with the idea of their son moving back home and decide to only charge him $200 a month for rent and bills. Obviously John didn't drive anything fancy and only received $500 for his car. Now John is left with $550 every month to do what he wishes with. Since he gets free meals and doesn't have to pay for gas he starts putting $400 in savings on top of the $500 from his car. Two months later John has $1300 and is realizing his dream is about to come reality much sooner than he would have ever imagined.
He's so motivated he gets rid of his phone, adding another $50 to savings every month. He takes a part-time minimum wage job and pulls in another $400 every month. By the third month John already has $2150 in savings. Going off of Jane's advice, John is planning on having a budget of $1000 a month while traveling in India. Obviously Jane didn't spend that much every month, but it is always a good idea to plan on the safe side. After 6 months John has $4700!
John was a rookie and didn't take the time to research the best way to find cheap flights (there are some great books on this) and had to pay $1700 after taxes for a round-trip ticket into Mumbai. After three amazing months in India he found he still had $1200 left and rescheduled his flight and stayed another month. John came back a new man, with respect for other cultures, hundreds of hilarious stories, and a new outlook on life in general.
I obviously made up John and this stupid story, but I incorporated lots of personal experiences and also took things from other travelers that I have met. This easily could be a true story...your story if you want!
So you are married, have 2 kids, a house, cars, good paying jobs...now what? Easy, same principal. Sell your house, cars, kids (okay, maybe not the kids) and quit your job. That honestly is my best advice but I know most people wouldn't want to do this. There are plenty of options, you just have to be willing to make sacrifices and put in a little amount of work. Be creative! Get a book about ways to save money.
It may be possible to find someone who needs a temporary place to live who could take over your house payments. But you're going to have to pay the house off eventually so why not just make the payments. Most people in the situation I described probably have at least one decent income so even with small kids you should be able to find a way to save money. If you have two (or more) cars, sell one. Most families really don't need two cars.
Another big issue is getting time off. Sometimes people just assume they can't get loads of time off. Talk to your boss, you never know when the company may actually benefit by having an employee take a month or year off.
The key is making sacrifices. At first they seem like sacrifices, but in the end getting rid of things you don't really need only makes your life that much simpler. For example, getting rid of my car was probably the best decision I've ever made. People always try to help me by giving me advice about how I could have my own cheap transportation without riding my bicycle or taking the bus. But they don't understand. I'm happy without a car/motorcycle/scooter! No insurance, maintenance, gas, vehicle payment. I'm free of all this, sometimes I have a bad day on the bus, but getting stuck in traffic was a million times worse.
I hate to say I don't care about saving the environment, because I love nature as much as anyone, but I'm not trying to get you to sell your car to be "green". If you want to go green, blow up your car. If you sell it to someone, they're going to be "destroying" the earth instead of you, no gain for the planet. But I really encourage everyone who lives in a city with decent transportation to sell their car. It is amazing! Also if anyone blows their car up, please send me a video...that would be awesome!!!
John works a minimum wage job in Florida and makes $7.50 an hour. John manages to work 40 hours a week but is unable to get any overtime. He earns $1200 a month before taxes, so to make it easy we will say he makes $1000 a month. He lives in Miami and the cheapest place he can find is $400 a month with everything included. After paying rent, phone bill, school loan and his car insurance (we'll assume his car is paid off), he is left with a little over $200. Not much money left to do anything with except survive. This guy is definitely living off Ramen noodles.
One of John's friends, Jane, just got back from a trip to India and will not stop talking about all her adventures and the great time she had. John is intrigued by his friends stories and is surprised at how little money she spent. Jane recommends reading "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts and it changes John's life forever. He realizes he can travel if he would make some small sacrifices which he hopes will pay off in the end.
John decides to move in with his parents and sell his car. Luckily his parents are thrilled with the idea of their son moving back home and decide to only charge him $200 a month for rent and bills. Obviously John didn't drive anything fancy and only received $500 for his car. Now John is left with $550 every month to do what he wishes with. Since he gets free meals and doesn't have to pay for gas he starts putting $400 in savings on top of the $500 from his car. Two months later John has $1300 and is realizing his dream is about to come reality much sooner than he would have ever imagined.
He's so motivated he gets rid of his phone, adding another $50 to savings every month. He takes a part-time minimum wage job and pulls in another $400 every month. By the third month John already has $2150 in savings. Going off of Jane's advice, John is planning on having a budget of $1000 a month while traveling in India. Obviously Jane didn't spend that much every month, but it is always a good idea to plan on the safe side. After 6 months John has $4700!
John was a rookie and didn't take the time to research the best way to find cheap flights (there are some great books on this) and had to pay $1700 after taxes for a round-trip ticket into Mumbai. After three amazing months in India he found he still had $1200 left and rescheduled his flight and stayed another month. John came back a new man, with respect for other cultures, hundreds of hilarious stories, and a new outlook on life in general.
I obviously made up John and this stupid story, but I incorporated lots of personal experiences and also took things from other travelers that I have met. This easily could be a true story...your story if you want!
So you are married, have 2 kids, a house, cars, good paying jobs...now what? Easy, same principal. Sell your house, cars, kids (okay, maybe not the kids) and quit your job. That honestly is my best advice but I know most people wouldn't want to do this. There are plenty of options, you just have to be willing to make sacrifices and put in a little amount of work. Be creative! Get a book about ways to save money.
It may be possible to find someone who needs a temporary place to live who could take over your house payments. But you're going to have to pay the house off eventually so why not just make the payments. Most people in the situation I described probably have at least one decent income so even with small kids you should be able to find a way to save money. If you have two (or more) cars, sell one. Most families really don't need two cars.
Another big issue is getting time off. Sometimes people just assume they can't get loads of time off. Talk to your boss, you never know when the company may actually benefit by having an employee take a month or year off.
The key is making sacrifices. At first they seem like sacrifices, but in the end getting rid of things you don't really need only makes your life that much simpler. For example, getting rid of my car was probably the best decision I've ever made. People always try to help me by giving me advice about how I could have my own cheap transportation without riding my bicycle or taking the bus. But they don't understand. I'm happy without a car/motorcycle/scooter! No insurance, maintenance, gas, vehicle payment. I'm free of all this, sometimes I have a bad day on the bus, but getting stuck in traffic was a million times worse.
I hate to say I don't care about saving the environment, because I love nature as much as anyone, but I'm not trying to get you to sell your car to be "green". If you want to go green, blow up your car. If you sell it to someone, they're going to be "destroying" the earth instead of you, no gain for the planet. But I really encourage everyone who lives in a city with decent transportation to sell their car. It is amazing! Also if anyone blows their car up, please send me a video...that would be awesome!!!