What is my plan to free myself from the rat race?

20 05 2012

I think that question must be on a lot of your minds. How am I going to free myself from the 9-5 chains that have bound us all? How am I going to move on, move up and move forward? How will I break free and travel for the rest of my life?

The real answer is that I do not have an answer. 

Hilarious, right? I know that sounds iffy and a little bit crazy. My plan really is just to do it. Like Nike says all the time, I am not going to think about it, I am not going to analyze it, I am not going to dissect it. I am just going to pick a date, and I am just going to do it.

I am going to leave. I am going to save up enough money to travel for a year and I am going to ensure I have enough money to pay off my student loan interest while I am gone. I am going to sell the car. I am going find a good renter for my condo, and I am going. I am off to the winds, to the heavens and to the light.

I am going to walk around like a bum for a year, wearing clothes that are dirty, that are dusty, that have tears in them. I am going to carry all my belongings on my shoulders, in a little backpack, that will sustain me for a year. I will eat at little street-side stalls. I am going to spend at least 20 of the 24 hours in a day outdoors, under the clouds and the sun. I am going to spend maybe 1-3 hours a week on a computer and that is all, nothing compared to the 50 hours a week that I spend right now. I am going to meet random people and become instant friends with them, sharing all my dreams, and aspirations with them. I am going to see different cultures and see how people from other countries live, work, and interact with each other, learning from them and giving back to them. I am going to support the local economies of all of these places little by little, by giving a dollar here and a dollar there.

Finally, I am going to be living life the way human beings are meant to live, moving from place to place, not stuck at a desk, and just dancing my life away with good food in my belly and good company in my stead.

The plan. Ah, yes, the plan. The plan shall come. Once you make the decision, a strong decision. A decision that is so deep inside of you, that it is you, the plan shall come to you. It shall come to you in the form of friends and strangers helping you out, money that just appears to drop into your lap, and opportunities that just appear out of nowhere.

The universe will help you along. Whatever God you believe in, will help you out. Once you decide, every force in the universe will conspire to help you out.

You do not need to worry. I do not need to worry. The plan is coming, in fact, I already see it peeking through the curtains at me.

Let me know what you think of my ramblings below. :)

 


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Categories : Life, random, Travel, Universe, work

My ideal life

30 04 2011

I have been thinking a lot over the past year, since I have been back from my travels on what my ideal life would be. I mean, everyone dreams about retirement, but I want to live my ideal life, the one that people want to start living at retirement right now. Why the delay of twenty-five or thirty years? Why not try and integrate some aspects of ideality into your life right now?

I know some aspects of what my ideal life would consist of and I suddenly had a eureka. I am living my ideal life right now. I am going to repeat that, because I still do not believe that statement. I AM LIVING MY IDEAL LIFE RIGHT NOW.

Crazy, right? I mean, what a statement to make. It is pretty out there. I am not waiting for some point in the future to live my ideal life. I am living it right now. I am living the life that I would want to live when I am retired, or when I win a million dollars, or when I get an inheritance from a crazy aunt who lives in Pikipsie.

I work 25 to 30 hours a week, so basically part-time. I work at a job where I move around a lot, not a desk job. It is a physical job, and it has instant gratification and recognition through tips. I earn enough money from that job to support myself, I have enough money to pay off my loans, pay for my yoga classes, pay for TTC, and pay for occasional drinking binges. I live with my parents which makes it easier. But I believe due to my frugality, I would be able to live on my own as well on the amount that I earn right now, once my loans are paid off.

The rest of my life is ideal in that it is simple. Minimalism is the key. I do not advocate to consumerism so I do not have a lot of stuff I have to take care of. I could leave in an instant to go traveling and there would be nothing precious left behind that would take up my mind space in worries. I have a great social life, going out with friends, meeting new people, going on dates with new guys every week, spending time with family. I eat well and I have enough time to spend 3-4 times a week going to two hour yoga classes, which is great for my body. I am in my ideal shape ever, I feel great, I look great. I have time to go volunteer for causes that I care about.

I cannot think of anything else that would my life even more ideal. I am saving up to go traveling in September 2012. That is the target date. I am happy, and I am content.

People say you cannot live like this forever. They say I am living in limbo. No secure, full-time job. No secure relationship with a man. No secure home, traveling all the time. I like it like that. And I do not understand who made up the rule that a 35 year old cannot live the way I am living right now at 27? What kind of a rule is that? Why is that rule in place? It doesn’t make any sense, and therefore, I shan’t conform to it.


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Categories : Life

Relationships are so confusing

9 04 2011

I have never been the girl who knows what to do in any situation. You know those women who will be able to stand up and tend to the injured in a tsunami if need be. They could stand up in a crowd of people and comfort a crying stranger. I am the kind of person who stands around awkwardly wondering what to do. Even men are better at those situations than I am. I am nervous, chatty, and useless.

This guy asked me out at work. We have been flirting for a while, a long while, maybe a month, he comes in every Thursday with his peeps, and I would melt every time he would smile. He is gorgeous, and built like an oak tree, broad, solid, huge. Just my kind of guy. I would serve him his food, joke around with him, but think, he is way out of my league, he would never ask me out. He is in construction and he would come in with his paint-splattered pants and orange construction vest, and I would have a mini-orgasm. He looks soo good! His long legs sprawled about in front of him, while he sat, joking around with his crew, making them laugh constantly. He’s amazing! Okay, enough with the superlatives. Finally, I am walking around serving the other tables, it was the other server’s turn to serve his table. I wasn’t able to chat with him as much as I wanted to. He asked me for my phone number….I was ecstatic, I couldn’t stop smiling for the next few hours, and I got giggly every time I thought about it with butterflies playing havoc with my appetite. What is it about a relationship that makes you forget about food, and just want to work constantly so you don’t have to think about that special someone?

I do not know where this thing is going, I mean, it just might be a casual thing for him, and I might be putting too much stock into it, but for now, while it lasts I am happy.


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A warm day

4 04 2011

I had a really good day today, really great. I woke up in the morning, and I realized I had slept for more than twelve hours, which is alright because I am recovering from a major bout of flu that completely took me out of commission for a whole week. I realized that the high today is going to be 15 degrees, so I decided to go for the first run of spring, of many more to come hopefully. I went around my neighborhood and I found a creek! It was beautiful gushing water, from the rain that had been pouring all night. It was amazing, the birds were chirping, the earthworms were out sunning themselves, the trees were slowly sprouting little red fruits or something, the world was finally coming alive again after a long winter. I cannot, cannot wait until we have leaves on the tress again.

I sat down next to the creek, the water soothing my nerves, and sat there recollecting my thoughts. I realized that I want to do a few things differently this summer – I would like to go on a few day-long hikes in the nature reserves that we have in Ontario, I would like to bike to work as much as possible, I would like to do a community barbeque, I would like to do a few cleanups with my siblings, I would like to start my own organic vegetable garden.

I don’t think any of the above are especially difficult. They are all doable and they are better than sitting around at home, waiting for something to happen, getting bored or something. It made me excited to think of the things to come. I am happy sitting here right now, reading my books and thinking about the warm sun shining on my face, and my feet without my big winter boots on them, it just makes me tingle to think of it.


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Categories : Gardening, Life

What face do I show

11 03 2011

I was coming out from a yoga class last night at ten p.m. I had had a good, but long day at work. My feet had been dying, they were hurting bad from the pointy shoes that I wear to look good and get more tips. But after the yoga class, it is as if I am transformed after every class. Seriously, it is as if I turn back the clock by going to do some yoga. My whole body feels rejuvenated. My skin feels great. My limbs feel limber. My body feels stronger. I don’t know what I would do without yoga. I also do not know what I did without yoga before. How did I survive? How did I get through the stresses on my mind and body?

I am glad though that I started doing yoga at such an early age. It means to me, that all of the toxic ravages of life and environment haven’t had that much time to accumulate in my body and that’s why I have less to turn back, less to return, less to remove. Little by little, I am moving my body back to the way it was when I was an infant, when I could touch my toes to my face without any effort, and lick my elbows without a problem. I am extremely content and happy every time I come out from a yoga class. It is hard to get there, after I have been sitting on a couch for a few minutes. Getting up from that comfortable, warm couch is hard. But as soon as I get to the mat, I feel like I have come home. My body instantly relaxes. All the tight muscles fade. My face relaxes, my mind calms down, my thoughts slow down, my pleasure centers fire up.

I came out of class yesterday and I do not remember what I was thinking of, but the owner of the studio pulled me aside, and asked me, Is everything alright? You look like something is bothering you.

I was stumped. Is that the face that I present to the world? Is that what the world sees when they see me, grumpy and occupied with thoughts? Even when I am happy as a bug? I replied in the negative and left with a smile, to reassure the guy, but in my car and on the drive home, I was wondering what people saw when they saw me.

Do they see a happy-go-lucky, optimistic person who’s looking to make a mark on this planet by her writing? I have to ensure that I keep myself in check when I am walking around, because even though on the inside I might be smiling, I might look forbidding to the people around me. That is not something that I wish to do.


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Categories : Fitness, Life, work, Yoga

Alternative lifestyles (not sexual :))

10 03 2011

I was thinking to myself a few days ago, I need to find some other people who want to live an alternative lifestyle like I do. It seems like in spite of all the crazy happenings in the world, in spite of all the signs to the opposite, people are still living the same way. Our environment is dying. Our spending is out of control and putting us into debt and working jobs we hate. We have no freedom. But still, we live the same way. We are not changing the way we live. We are not going to change the world. One person cannot change the world. But a legion of us surely can. It has to be a monumental effort. Together, we can make a difference. But it has to be more than a few thousand people in the world.

All of us have to realize that we have a choice. We can choose to live differently and we do not need to be afraid that we will be rebuked  for it. I have been feeling down the last few days, because I was feeling that I am being rebuked for taking the year off to go do my own thing. I haven’t found a job, even though I have been looking for the past year. But I just realized that in spite of having no steady job for the past year, I have been cruising along without dipping into my savings, I have been paying off my student loans every month and I have been going out and having fun along with it. I cannot believe it when I think about it. But I have!

Isn’t that crazy? I mean, this is a good lesson for me. I can live without a full-time, steady job. I know this is hard to hear. I am going to repeat it though. I CAN LIVE WITHOUT A FULL-TIME, STEADY JOB. I myself have a hard time to hear that. Most people do not want to hear that statement. A full-time job is necessary. It is the way people live. Without it, what would we do? We have to work full-time otherwise the world will fall apart, right?

This mystifies me that I haven’t observed this fact before. I mean, I do not have a car, I do not live on my own, and I do not go on shopping surges, but I do live luxuriously at home with frequent outings, and I love the use of the cheap TTC transit in my beautiful city. I think this year is going to change the way I think. I already know that I will not work full-time forever. I know that I am not going to work forever. I know that I am going to travel a lot. I am living a dream life.

I do not want to seem like I am congratulating myself. This is as new to me as it might seem to you. I am as baffled by it as you are. Some days are good, some days are bad. Some days I want to just buy a car and not be jostled and fondled by the TTC users in rush hour traffic. Some days I just want to fuck-it-all and go to Hawaii to visit a friend. Some days I just want to crawl into bed, because I feel so little and useless because I am not a useful cog in the system of the world. I am not a functional member of society. I am just present. I do contribute by eating out, dancing in clubs, and making occasional purchases. But I am not the person, Obama would turn to, to help improve the economy by shopping.

I am still discovering the ins and outs of this way of living. The alternative way of living. Good for the environment, your mental health and relationships. Let me know what you think.


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Categories : Life, Travel, work

A nice day

4 03 2011

I fell asleep yesterday after a long, productive, tiring day thinking that it had been a nice day. A full day. A complete day. Made some money. Made some friends. Met some new people. Had a lot of physical exercise. Exercised the brain a little as well. Spent time with family. Watched a hilarious movie and had some belly-laughs. Fell asleep in a comfortable, warm home after a yummy, warm, filling meal.

It is the little things that matter, isn’t it? We try to complicate things and make it about other things. About world peace. About the end of the world predictions. But if each of us tried in our own little way to be happy from the inside. Not by buying cart-loads of useless items. If each of us were happy in our way, I’m sure the level of happiness in the world would increase immensely. Not only because we would inclined to help others who are less fortunate, which is something only people who are happy in their own right try to do. But also, because, like the author of Eat, Pray, Love says, the world is improved by one more person gaining their happiness. Every person’s happiness matters in the case of the happiness of the world.

Even if one person is unhappy or not doing well in your circle of friends, you will be affected by it. I read somewhere that if you are happy, you would affect your friends and your friend’s friends. But if you are unhappy, it affects your friends twenty deep, that is twenty times the effect. That is amazing to me. That means, that you might be blaming your circumstances, debt, or lack of partner, for your unhappiness. But it might just be due to someone in your circle being unhappy. With so many different things affecting you, from the suns and the moons, the tides and the planets, the friends and the family, the hormones and the food you eat, with everything affecting you, how could you possibly know why you feel the way you feel?

Maybe the best thing to do in every circumstance is just to make a resolution to be happy no matter what happens. You can always find something to be happy about. There’s always something happening in the world to make you unhappy, the unrest in Egypt, the apartheid in Israel, the environmental destruction everywhere. You can always find reason to be unhappy. But why not try the opposite? Why not begin with each day with the resolution to be happy?

I’m going to be happy, I am going to try and remain happy. I am going to find something, a ray of sunshine, a food item I love, or a dress I look gorgeous in, and I am going to use that happy moment to perpetuate my happiness. It might be an effort at first, but I’m sure you can always find ways to remain happy. When you are happy, happy things come to you. When you are grumpy, you can always find grumpy people to be around you.

I am going to try and be happy. Maybe you should try and do the same. Happiness and light to you.


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Changes to the blog

28 07 2009

As you must have noticed, I have made certain changes to the blog. I am so happy that I am learning so many new things about my blog, so I can make changes, and make it as perfect as possible, at least in the way it looks. I have always looked at the various blogs out there and wondered, hmm, how did they do that? A lot of them admittedly were computer programmers, so they were proficient with making any changes that they needed to make, but I am sure someone like me, who isn’t great with software in general, would be able to figure things out as well.

I am waiting impatiently for my library to send me notice, that the book WordPress for Dummies, that I put on hold last week, is available for me to pick up. I can’t wait to just browse through the book, and figure out some new detail that will enable me to create a better blog in general. I just want as many like-minded people as possible in this world, to read my blog and comment on it, and generally just engage with it as much as possible. I have some desires for the blog, like I want to make a custom-header and put me with my backpack in the header, as this is a PF/Travel blog in one. I also want to add my debt counters and RRSP counters to the side bar, again, I can’t wait to read the book and figure out more about that.

I also wanted to add a widget that would have links to similar posts in the blog at the bottom of each post, so people could read similar posts. I really love the stats on the site, that has been added to the side bar, as well as the archives, and the blog roll. It makes me feel like I seem more professional, and that really makes me happppy.

On a completely different note, I wanted to bike to work today and the weather report said, rain and thunderstorms, so I didn’t, and what do I see when I look out the window? Sunny, beautiful clear skies. Makes me wanna kick something.


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Debt hurts my ear :)

10 07 2009

Boo! My ear’s hurting again. And I dont know why. I have been to the doctor a billion times, and he doesn’t know whats wrong with my ear. It usually happens when I am stressed, or in a really cold room, but drinking hot tea usually calms it down, but today, its just not going away.

Am I stressed about something? A lot of times, I’m so clueless about things, I am blindsided by really obvious things. Someone suggested yesterday that you might be getting some acne because of stress and I instantly denied it, saying, I am not stressed, I’m free as a bird. But when I had a few moments to think about it, I realized I dont really know if I am not stressed. I might be stressing about the trip and my student loan situation subconsciously. I think finances are something that everyone worries about, underneath everything else thats’ going on in their life, like an undercurrent that is beneath their every conscious thought. Especially, if you have debt, you have additional thoughts going on in your subconscious about how all the stress related to being in debt, doesn’t matter if its the good or bad kind. My Two Dollars has a really good post about good vs bad debt. You can read it here.

All the debt that I have is good debt. I have a student loan for my masters’ degree and I have a loan for my condo that is being built right now ( Its done in Feb 2010). I have no credit card debt, my interest rate on the student loan is a measly 2.25% because of my good credit and I really shouldn’t worry about things so much. I have a good savings base and I am really frugal, not spending on unncessary items. I really shouldn’t worry, like I said, but I do worry about it. I dont think I will rest easy until I have done paying it off. I just dont want to hold off on my happiness until I pay off my debt. I love this poem, I’ll be happy when by Jeffie Duncan. It expresses my sentiment exactly. I dont want to wait for a certain thing to make me happy. I want to be happy right now, in the present moment. No matter what is going in your life right now, you have to be first of all present in the moment and happy in the present moment. Because this moment will never again appear, and you will have lost the moment and the chance to be happy in that moment forever.

I have to keep on reminding myself that. And thats why I take such great care of my body, exercising everyday and trying to eat as healthy as I can possibly manage. Because I know the only thing I really truly own is my body, and I have to take care of this most important asset, because life is really long, if you think about it.


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