Use it before you lose it

You’re gonna lose it, there’s no stopping it. Lose your money, your body, your looks, your hair. Once you hit a certain age all these things tend to decline. Except money. You can stack paper for as long as you live, but after that, its all lost to you. The other day, Audrey and I had coffee/drinks/kebab at a Cretan café/bar/restaurant. We sat by a pair of old couples (4 people) who were speaking English. 2 brits, 2 Netherlanders. Audrey was using her computer’s web cam, I believe as a mirror, and this sparked a convo with the couples. We had a fun talk for a while and eventually learned that all 4 of them were out here on vacation from work, not yet retired, though they seemed of nearly the right age. When they learned of our travels and our age, the brits especially, seemed to assume we were out here on our parents dime. Kinda insulting, but I do understand and it got me thinking. We are both making sacrifices to be out here, monetary and otherwise. Yes I landed a sweet deal thru Google, but traveling like this doesn’t require that, or parents’ money. It just takes a bit of planning and resolution to your goal. Living abroad can definitely be cheaper than paying rent at home. And living meagerly can do wonders to your savings account. Anyway, the major requirement of traveling like this is being fine with coming back with nothing. The mentality of being ready to start all over when you return. It’s harder than it sounds, but once you realize how fleeting everything is, money, jobs, your health, it becomes easier. You wont be healthy or strong enough to travel forever. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. So take the money you got or save a bit more, then throw it all away on some dream you want to accomplish before you die…or get old and decrepit. You may end up broke as a joke, as I likely will, but at least you did something you had to do. Too many people end up forgoing life dreams just for the sake of sticking to the program: Eat. Sleep. Work. Save Money. Retire. Why would you want to be rich when you’re too old to really enjoy it?? Well, that’s a topic for a diff post as im sure many disagree…especially one redhead in San Fran. Anyway, in regards to leaving the working world, I’ll end with a quote from a chef a few weeks before departing Google:

“I came here lookin for a job and I’ll leave lookin for one if I have to, same as I came in. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”