Breakfast in Sydney and Dinner in Bali

Having the same boring cereals in the office would not be this special without the fact that I will be in Bali tonight. I even didn't mind that full cream milk was run out and only fat free milk which I would never choose was left in the fridge for my breakfast. Nothing could bother my uplifted mood. I am very excited.

This is the first abroad trip since we came back from the last long, 5 month trip. Wow... We have let the 9 months passed unconsciously. Being mindless on time is always painful as our life is finite. We have diligently made short trips with family and friends but it has been a while we fly out to overseas so this trip excites me more than usual.

"Again? How many times you are going away?"
This is most of my colleagues' reaction about our continuous trips. I do admit that my husband and I may have bit of wonderer's blood but I don't think that our trips are extraordinary or extreme. '4 weeks a year', the only time officially given (as an employee) cannot be enough to us. Both of us take our time very seriously. 'Who is not?' However, many people don't seem to care about wasting their only life in the tiny cubicles. I hope my observation is wrong. So, we try to spend time as much possible for traveling which brings a new breeze into our life. Money? is always a big deal, isn't it? We still travel like a student in order to travel as many times as possible.

Travel has become one of the most important parts of our life.The reasons are simple.

Travel offers 'Changes' which make our life fuller. I trust that we all need changes any stages in our life, either bad time or good time, boring time or exciting time, hard time or easy time, etc...Changes can refresh and energise us. Different places, different people, different cultures and lifestyles excite me. New experience opens up my mind. It dilutes prejudice and perceptions on others, and opens up my understanding in differences.Learning and experiencing new things allow me to accept the nature of difference and also grows me up.

One of the best parts of travel is relaxing and recharging my mind and body. Getting away from ordinary daily life offers special relaxation feeling that I needed.

What can beat the excitement of travelling. From the moment, start looking for a destination to go, my life gets brighter. Having something to look for is like unwrapping a Christmas present.

Anywhere I go, actual value of money is different. I feel richer in some countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.. but certainly not in many European countries. in Switzerland, all we could afford was stuff on sales in local supermarkets. Value of money that we earn and have can be easily ignored unless we travel. knowing the real value of money opens opportunities and life options that can be extremely useful for our future decisions.

zźAs we travel more often, size of our luggage gets smaller and lighter. I still remember that our first trip to Europe, our luggage was ridiculously big and heavy. Trip for 2 weeks in bali doesn't require too many stuff any more.Travel teaches me how to live simple life and how good to have less.

Travel with loved ones is simply the best way to get closer to each other. Spending time and experiencing memorable moments together is priceless. Trust me.Travelling is one of the main reasons how we can be still like honeymooners after 13 years of being together.

What I actually wanted to say was my undeniable excitement but as usual I talked more than necessary. All I want to say to you is go travel and enjoy your life. Because it is worthy. It doesn't seem to be real that I will have dinner in Bali when I am sitting in th office in Sydney at the moment but it is just amazing to imagine myself in Bali tonight. How good is that!!!

Stress Can Kill You

Last weekend, my husband and I had a nice catch-up time with a couple who had a long weekend trip together a couple of weeks ago. As we live very close to each other and share similar views on many things, we have been together quite often recently. Having time together with them has been always great pleasure to us. Our friendship has been grown up very naturally as what they
have been through in Australia is very similar to ours (both of them are immigrants from overseas as well). So, when they said that they wanted to come over for a chat, we welcomed them delightfully.

We started with sharing information about properties that we have been looking for and continued our conversation throughout the dinner, and we had noticed that there was something wrong between the couple. Ms was constantly on warrior mood and Mr was trying hard to save his last vane. Ms looked like completely stressed out and Mr looked like totally exhausted by depending himself. The last position we wanted to be on our precious weekend night would be in between family battle zone but it was already unavoidable and all we could do was smoothing the situation. 

The reason of the clash was very simple. Ms was very much stressed, Ms was very anxious and Ms was very irritated. Her un-understandable behaviour became totally understandable at the end of our conversation. Recently, she has
been having a very stressful time at work. New job, new position, deadlines, unachievable target, annoying managers, intolerable pressure, etc…. (Welcome to the normal work life Ms!). Returning to workforce from the long break stresses her too much and she seemed to look for a punch bag (=Mr) in order to release the dreadful stress.     

 

The main point I want to tell you is, ‘Stress can kill you.’ Stress can kill not only you but also your family who loves and supports you the most. Stress can kill your precious life and can poison your happiness. So, don’t let it overrule you and your life.

Below tips are how I could beat my stress that invaded my life for two and half years and made me mentally and also physically sick. I would like to share them with someone who is having a stressful time at the moment (especially, my friend Ms).

 

 

Keep being positive: I know it is hard but you have got to try to be positive. Whenever negative thoughts and worries come to your mind, you need to push them away. Our mind is vulnerable but it is also unbelievably strong and powerful. Allow yourself to switch on your strong mind and let it lead you to get through this hard time. All will be just fine. Reading out positive affirmations (e.g. Life is good. All is well. I am at peace etc…) and being with positive people will definitely help you out. Be positive! 

 

 

 

 

 

Do exercise: Here you go again… I know I cannot stop talking about exercise but it worked to me and I know it will work to you. I still remember the first day I went back to the gym. I was jumping and crying at the same time. I didn’t know that I had energy to overcome the stressful time as I was totally knocked down by the miserable circumstances. However, I found out that I was wrong while I was out of breath and sweating all over the body.  I realized that I certainly had a will and energy to make the situation better. Exercise can help you to stop returning back to negative thoughts again and again. Healthy mind can be only built on healthy body. I believe that doing exercise is a sign of loving yourself and loving yourself will empower you to win the battle.

 

Take a break: Having a break to get a distance from the current situation is very helpful. It wouldn’t make the problems smaller or disappeared but your approaches can be more reasonable and favourable. When you push yourself too hard, you can easily miss the key point and make outcome worsen. You need a break to see the situation properly. Very often, you will be pleasantly surprised that the problems were not that serious as you thought.Plan a holiday with your loved ones. If time doesn’t allow you for a long trip, take a short trip to relax your mind and recharge yourself.

 

 

Do what you like to do: Think about what you like doing the most, what you make yourself happy and, just do it. I like painting pictures, writing blogs, walking along the beaches and having a long run.  These things relax me as they allow me to be close to my inner self. I am a person who cannot sit still, who makes people feel dizzy (according to my husband’s brave description) but I become a totally different person when I paint. I truly enjoy the time of my own. Doing what you like to do will allow you to experience tremendous pleasure and the feeling will ease your stress. 

 

Let it go: I know you do your best to solve the problems and manage the difficult situations. However, there are always things beyond our control. All we have to do it let them go. Do not blame yourself or try to think what you should have done. It wouldn’t help any better but only stresses and depresses you more. What is the point then? As I experienced, it is not easy to erase problems from our mind but it is VERY important to TRY ‘let go’. If you don’t empty your mind, you cannot cheer up yourself. When you let it go, you will realise that your life is still full of goodies.

I hope my tips can help anyone needs to release stress (especially my friend Ms). When I was having a stressful time, I felt extremely lonely even though my lovely husband supported me as much as he could. I thought that I was the only one who suffered the most. Please remember that no one is completely happy always and many people are having a difficult time as you are. You are not alone. Take hands from people around you who are always ready to help and support. However, please remember that who can take the first step to help you is only ‘YOU’.

 

 

 

 

Money on the street?

Do you know you can find money on the street?

 

What would you do if you find a $100 dollar note on the street? I guess most of us would look around first (just in case anyone is looking at us) and quickly pick up the note, and smile. Am I right?

 

How about an old fridge standing on the street that is signed “Free and Working”?

 

When we were heading home from the beach after a regular Sunday walk, my husband saw an old fridge standing on a foot path with a note “Free and working”. As a frugal couple (as you might know already), we decided not to leave the money standing there. We stopped our hatch back car next to the foot path and squeezed the fridge into our car. This was not the first time we have found a treasure on the street so both of us knew what to do and took the action straightaway as followed.

 

·        Working? : We switched on and put some water bottles in the fridge/freezer to find out whether it was actually working or not. Yes, it was working!

·        Saleable? : We cleaned the fridge inside for a prospective customer and took some photos including the label that contains additional information. Ready to sell.

·        Marketing? : My husband uploaded the photos with simple advertisement comments on the local ‘FREE’ online classifieds site.

·        Waiting? : Waiting for a right customer. Many people inquired about the Ad but most of them didn’t take any further actions (ring, ask, and never turn up… very silly but exceptionally normal.).

·        Right price? : We put the price higher at the beginning and gradually reduced as per the responses.

 

Finally, a guy turned up with a sports car and looked at the fridge, and wanted to pay the agreed price. My smart husband offered a delivery (as it was quite close to our place and as obviously his car cannot carry even a single chair) with extra $40. We put the fridge into our hatch back one more time and delivered it to him, and made $170 including delivery. It sounds not bad, doesn’t it?

 

I have spoken like that I had involved a lot in the process but most of them were done by my husband who is very good in selling things. He sells whatever he finds even broken things. Amazing thing I have found from his selling is there will be always a buyer whatever he tries to sell. One of the memorable selling experiences is a TV stand that we found on the street (Council Clean-up) and used for more than 5 years, and sold for $100. My husband sells not only thing found from the street. He regularly cleans up our storage and tries to sell old things that we don’t use any longer. Selling the unwanted things can help us to keep less stuff in the house and also cover our future expenses by the useful cash.

 

I know many people would like the second part of this event (Earning money) and being reluctant to do the first part (Carrying, cleaning, advertising, negotiating and delivering), and decide ‘better not to bother’. However, I hope you remember that there is unchangeable fact that nothing is for free. We are happy to put little bit of efforts to get extra money which could be ignored. Honestly, we are financially very sound. I know some people would (did) ask us why we do this kind of extra (non-necessary) work (efforts) for the little money when we don’t have any problem with money. The answer is simple.

 

Why not? What can be the problem with making money on the stuff which is not useful to someone but can be useful to others? When we voluntarily exchange our precious life to work in order to make money (Money = Life), every single dollar is valuable to me and I think it would be ridiculous to ignore the chance to make money.

 

Our attitude toward money and frugal lifestyle keep us financially independent. I have noticed that many people don’t want to talk about money as if it would make them look down (and down, and down…). Many people think that buying good value stuff on sale, talking about savings, picking up things from outside and reuse, and living on a simple budget do not make them look better. However, what is ‘Better’? Do you really think buying stuff by credit cards (debts) and live pay cheque to pay cheque but having more stuff is better than living frugally and having financial independence? It is all up to you.

 

Don’t I feel embarrassed? I used to be. When I was an international student, I had to get many stuff from the council clean-ups. Buying expensive stuff was simply unaffordable as I had to pay school fees (over $2,000 per subject) on the top of my living cost (living in Sydney is tough). I felt quite uncomfortable to be shown to others that I cannot afford to buy them then. However, funny enough now when I really can afford to buy anything I want, I don’t feel embarrassed to low my living standard. I am proud of our attitude on money and spending habits. Also, being free from others’ perspectives is truly wonderful.

 

I am not saying that you need to look around to find stuff to sell. What I want to say is we need to rethink about value of money and treat the money more thoughtfully. Don’t forget how big part of your life is being spent at work for getting the money. Waste money is same as wasting our lifetime.

 

I am glad to know that the fridge is serving someone and we made a pocket money from the simple extra effort. If there is something ‘Free & Working’, definitely, we will do it again.

 

 

                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jin's 7th Picture in 2014

This is my seventh picture in 2014.

 

As it was very detailed and needed countless colour mixes, it took me a bit of time to finish but I really enjoyed the process. What I learnt from this picture is focusing on only one part rather than whole picture so I could avoid overwhelmed feeling and kept going like our daily life. It was incredible feeling when I could see each part became a whole picture and each colour unified into the parts. My husband gave me a big appreciation re the picture so I was even happier.

 

 

Change Fitness Change Life

I am 42. Actually, I am 42 and 7 months. Geeees, quite old, aren’t I? Frankly, very often I experience a light shock whenever I remind myself how old I am. However, I try to bounce back fast because I know all I can I do is accept and deal with it. Am I right?

 

However, guess what? Can you believe that I am fitter than ever in my life? I was leaner and prettier when I was younger (very long time ago, ha-ha) but I have never been fitter and stronger in my life (EVER!!!!) and I am very proud of my achievement. I don’t look like a super model as I was born to be a normal Asian looking girl (‘short & thick’ as per my husband’s description) but I have finally got bit of muscle on my body and my fitness level has gone up higher than ever. I often work out with 20 years juniors and I found myself keeping up with them without any problem. I feel younger, healthier, fitter and stronger than my aged people and I cannot stop appreciating my constant efforts in keeping healthy lifestyle. Besides keeping healthy body and mind, a very special prize that keeps me going is my husband’s gratitude. Simply, his like my body and fitness changes and I love the attention.

 

 

As a story teller, I feel urged to talk about how I got fitter and stronger when I get older so more and more people can enjoy this fulfilment together. I feel totally awesome so I want you to feel the same. Here are my strategies to share with you.     

 

Exercise is my meal. One of my colleges who go with me to the gym at lunch time Change fitness change life often grumbles that he doesn’t feel like to workout. My answer is simple. “Are you going to have lunch?” I stop considering exercise as a special event of the day. It became a thing I don’t like to miss (I love eating so I can’t miss a meal). Of course, sometimes I feel slack as anyone but I know that I would feel even worse if I don’t work out. Exercise became my daily habit and not many excuses can stop me doing exercise. 

 

Appropriate exercise regime is the key. I have been always active and exercising regularly whole my life. However, I didn’t think about ‘How to’ exercise and didn’t realise the importance of intelligent workout. Since I started different types of group training sessions designed by professional fitness instructors, my fitness level has been changed significantly.  These workouts can help you to build strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility. I normally combine several different types of sessions for getting balanced workout. Body Attack, Body Pump, Pilates, Yoga, Cycle, Body pump, Free style workouts, CX work, etc… There are plenty of options are available so you can mix them systematically. Cardio workouts (Body Attack and Cycle) with Strength workout (Body Pump) or with Flexibility workouts (Yoga and Pilates) could be a great mix. Try them. I am sure that you will find very efficient and effective results in a very shorter time.

 

Be conscious of eating habit. Honestly, this is the hardest part for as I am a great eater. Since I started the University, my battle on diet has never been stopped but one thing has changed is that I am more conscious on ‘what to eat’. I was always focused on ‘how much to eat’ and focused on being skinny rather than being healthy. I still think controlling food intake is very important but also ‘what to eat’ needs to be well-thought-out. Unfortunately, our modern life style (sitting most of the day) doesn’t help us to keep the right weight so we need to put extra efforts to keep it under control. Exercise alone is not good enough. You also monitor and control your eating habit. Choose healthier options and check calories whenever you eat. There is plenty of information on the web to get healthy eating habits.

 

The more you know the better you can manage. Once I became more conscious of health matters, I realised that there are plenty of useful information everywhere. All the fitness magazines, news, blogs, and apps provide valuable strategies to keep a healthy lifestyle. I agree that sometimes you would feel overwhelmed by too much information so avoid listening and applying too many options without proper investigation or common-sense. What I am trying to say is that we need know more about our health and ways to keep it as long as possible. When you are more interested in having a healthy lifestyle, I trust you will do more to achieve it as it has happened to me.     

 

Exercise definitely helped my stress level down. One of the most obvious reasons I feel fitter and healthier is the fact that I don’t get stressed easily nowadays. Certain part of my life, I felt everything around me was stressful. Ironically, nothing has been changed around me but I don’t feel the same any more. My perception blinded me to see the real picture at that time. Now I am learning how to manage my mind and trying to take situations rationally. Many times I realise that the problems were not that bad as I thought and all were solvable anyhow. Anything beyond our control doesn’t need to be worried. Simple change in my mind helped me to see the same situation differently. When I feel bit stressed out, I go for a run or do workout to sweat out all the issues in mind. When you have to think about only how to breathe in and out, how can you think about stress? It really helps so try.

 

I sleep very well and it helps my mood. 8-9 hours of sound sleep is essential for my days. I know some people have a quite serious problem with lack of sleep and that impacts their life a lot. Based on my experience, what I can recommend you to have a sound sleep is regular exercise. When your body gets tired, you will have fewer problems with sleeping. Also try to arrange your sleep at the same time every day so your body knows when to relax. Avoid caffeine intake (Coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc…) in the afternoon. One of Chinese proverb I used to hear from mum is ‘Sleep is the best medicine’ and I cannot agree more.

 

Having a great relationship with my husband keeps me healthy and happy.  Stress-free relationship relaxes me and comforts my life. As I enjoy doing my hobbies and exercises, I respect his hobbies and what he wants to do. It works perfectly and I can see both of us are getting healthier and fitter. We talk about healthy life and take action together to keep fit and healthy. It works perfectly and I am very happy with our relationship. Don’t forget that happy life starts from happy home.

 

What do you think? Not too hard to be fit and healthy even though we all are getting older, is it? Or, still too hard? It is up to you. When you don’t look after your fitness, you never can achieve healthy and happy life. Trust me when you change your fitness you can change your life, too. Don’t start later as the later could never come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are we really getting stupider?

Currently, I am enjoying reading a book called, Early Retirement Extreme written by Jacob Lund Fisker. I have read only 30% of his book so far but I already love his strong (maybe too extreme to someone) views on our consumerism society and importance of financial independence. What Jacob wants to tell us through the book (I think) is how to make ourselves to stop working for money and stop worrying about the next paycheck in just a short number of years by changing our attitudes on lifestyle and managing our spending habits. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more about his views on our current work dominated society and awareness of importance in examining our defaulted life path (as Jacob outlined such as graduating high school, getting a college degree, buying a car, getting married, buying a house, filling it with furniture, clothes, TVs, washing machines, lawn mowers, and electric egg boilers, and then spending the next 40 years working 9-5 to pay it all off), and I cannot wait to finish the book to know more about ‘the strategy’ to get out of this rat race as soon as possible.

 

One of the most interesting his opinions that caught my attention was ‘we are getting stupider’ and I cannot stop thinking more about it. How dare he could say that we are getting more incompetent and imprudent? As a highly educated person, I should question about his tough statement, shouldn’t I?

 

Firstly, according to data from the ACEPT (the Australian Council for Private Education and Training), 40 per cent of 25-34 years olds will have a bachelor degree or above by 2025. That means more and more people are getting higher education, doesn’t it?

 

Secondly, many of my colleagues and friends are continuously taking professional degrees either voluntarily (or forced by work atmosphere) in order to improve their career progression (or not to get fired) and to survive in an increasingly competitive global employment market after their bachelor degree(s) or even master degree(s). That means even smart people try to get smarter, doesn’t it?  Life lasting study cannot help us to get smarter, then what else?

 

As internet access is claimed as a human right (by my fourteen year old niece), people are surrounded by unlimited information. Whatever we want to know, google it and there will be whatever we were looking for. We now can know/see/learn more and faster than ever before. Whenever we move our fingers, there are more than enough of information available and accessible that frequently makes us feel overwhelmed. Doesn’t it mean we are getting smarter?

 

Ironically, I have found that many of human behaviours are less likely to be reasonable or rational nowadays especially, when people are supposed to be smarter than ever. These are the things that don’t make sense to me.

 

How come when people earn more than before but save less? I assume most of us know how to add (+) and subtract (-). Rationally, when people have more pluses, people are supposed to have more money in their savings, aren’t they? However, our saving rate has become close to 0% even though we make money more than ever. It doesn’t really make sense to me. Where all the money has gone? I believe we all learnt that we need to save up money for our future from the very early age but this basic advice doesn’t seem to work nowadays.

 

How many hours do you spend a day? Most of us, ordinary people spend about 10 hours a day (including commuting time and preparation time for work), 5 days a week (50 hours), 48 weeks a year (2,400 hours) and 40 years of your life (96,000 hours) at work, and those hours seem to be getting longer and longer by many reasons such as higher living cost, increased pension age, competitive employment market, etc… We spend more than 60 per cent and the most important stage of our life time at work and, look forward to be finally free when we are ‘OLD’ (ready to look for a nursing home). How does it sound to you? It sounds too awful that I cannot let myself to follow this ordinary life path. When people are smart enough, why they let their life to be like this. It doesn’t make sense to me. 

 

I think some people may like working and spend their life for achieving their passion and career but I know most of people hate to spend most of their life at work as only the reason to work is for funding their living. What I cannot understand is why people would waste their money for buying more and unnecessary things that force them to stay at work longer and longer. When people spend more and more money for obtaining things and have to spend more of their precious life at work to support their spending habits, the things cannot be valuable any longer as people become a slave to the objects. Is it reasonable to exchange your life to buy things? I seriously doubt that.    

 

“I bought a J…!” Every single minute (bit of exaggeration but seems like), TV commercial tells people that they should buy this and that because of they are special, they deserve and the stuff will make people’s life ‘Better’. Astonishingly, J’s sale has significantly increased recently and I can see the advertised car everywhere at the moment. People became great listeners. Whatever they are told, they believe and they buy it without second thoughts. That’s why advertisement has become so powerful. If we are smart enough, wouldn’t we question more about ‘WHY?’ 

 

I have met many, many people who are having financial problems in their life due to their spending habits, lack of money management skills, ignorance on their future, etc… and, I have tried many times to help them to find out the causes of their financial situation. Most of them did agree what the problems are and what they have to change to get better. However, very unfortunately hardly anyone do any action. It is too hard to limit their spending and to change their current lifestyle to them. What about the future when they are too old or sick that they have to stop working and no savings? Isn't it going to be far harder? When people know what the problems are, but refuse to get better, I can’t find any logic in their attitudes. 

 

 

 

This quote has been hanging under my computer screen for a month already since I found one of the early retirement blogs. It encourages me to think about my life path whenever I read out. Do you examine your life? Are you driving your life as you wanted?

 

I thought we all are getting smarter but regrettably I have to admit that I cannot dismiss Jacob’s argument after examining people’s behaviour. I hope my review about people’s current life style and spending habits can give you a chance to think about yourself as Jacob’s book awoke up my thoughts. 

Are we really getting smarter?

 

A Sad News (Wake-up!)

Whenever an email pops up with a subject, ‘Sad News’ at work, seriously I feel my heart gets shrunken as if I witnessed a crime scene before even opening the email, and today was not exceptional. 

 

‘Again?’

 

I quickly checked how old he was (Geeee… not too old). His appearance was confirmed by a colleague who quickly browsed the company website to find who he was (Ukkkkk… I know him). It is never pleasant to hear ‘a sad news about death’ but it gets worsen when you know the person. He was working till the last day of his life and now gone forever. My colleague whose age is closer to the person looked quite shocked as she heard the news but soon faced back to her monitor and continued her day as nothing has happened, but I, as an early retirement seeker couldn’t stop questioning myself about the working life.

 

‘What is the point of life when you spend most of your life at work?’

 

Our pension age will soon go up to 70 (hopefully, still alive…) and also Superannuation access age has been proposed to be 70 along with the pension age. So, should we be ready to work till 70? I am already not young enough to be qualified as an Early Retirement Extreme but I refuse to imagine myself to be at work until 70. Definitely, I am not mentally ready for it. Therefore, I have got to do something NOW.

 

Why I want to be free from workforce as soon as is very simple.

 

Life is finite. Unfortunately, I have got limited life to live so I cannot simply waste it. I have been spending most of my youth at work to make money and career that I thought the most important things in my life. As time goes by which means as I am getting older, my view on money and career is not same as before any longer. I finally realised that they are not worthy enough to exchange with my precious life. There is no rehearsal in life so it is time to play my own role that I have been wishing for a very long time.

 

Do what I want to do and when I can do. Working 9 to 5, 5 days of week and 48 weeks out of 52 weeks a year has been limiting me from what I have been wanting to do. Living with not enough time and energy for my own wishes is not acceptable to me any longer. Getting up in dark and coming home in dark, and not enough time for myself stress and demand me clear answers for working life. I am supposed to work for living but work has been ruling my life. I do not want to limit my wishes that make my life happier and fuller by the reason that I have to work. I want to travel more, spend more time with loved ones, paint more, write more, find new things to do, etc… Mostly, I want to feel free about my life. So, I have got to depart the workforce as soon as possible.

 

Lead my life under my control. I do not want to be told what I need to do, what I should work on, how I can improve my work performance, when I should come and go, when I can travel, what I have to listen, what I have to accomplish by when, etc…  My mum never said what I had to do when I was a kid (as she knew I would not listen any way). I was responsible for my actions and it grew a strong confidence in my life. However, it didn’t work at workplace. I have been told to listen what to do, how to do, when do to, so on. Who am I? I feel totally lost at works without guidelines, policies, plans, strategies, etc…, which don’t mean anything to my personal life. Working life freezes our ability to think and confines us to live under the scripted life (like a clone). I have been living in it without examine my life and I am not happy to continue it any more. It is time to control my life according to my own plan and be my own boss in my life.

 

Utilise life energy for my life. I have been exchanging my life energy to work in order to make money (too honest? but I cannot think nothing else.) since I finished studying. It is time to use my energy for enlightening my life. If I don’t have to go to work, I would (finally) have time for doing what I have been wanting to do. Imagining that I can do whatever I want at any time soon keeps me coming to work nowadays. I have seen many people who postponed their dreams to continue their working life and when they finally got the freedom, they don’t have any energy left (too old or dreams are not viable any longer) to pursue what they wanted to do all their life. I believe timing is very crucial in life and I want to complete my bucket lists as many as I can when I can.

 

“I know, but HOW???”

 

I know many of you would share the same opinion with me but ‘HOW to achieve’ is always a big question mark, isn’t it? We need to work on what we want to achieve as I and my husband have been working on our future diligently. 

 

Financial independence is the first and the most important step to free you. We have been saving as much as we could and our saving rate has been close to 80% of our income. Our savings and passive income have become higher than our expenses so we are financially free at the moment (without jobs). It has not been easy as we both came from overseas and had to study again and also had to start new life in a new country. However, our student like lifestyle helped us to keep our expenses far less than others. Until I hand in ‘the letter’ to my employer to set myself free (hopefully by the set day), we will constantly save up for welcoming ‘the days’.

 

 

Working on ‘Simple living lifestyle’ offers me enormous freedom. I try buy what I need not what I want. When I was younger (and stupid), I felt ‘never enough’ even though I had more than enough. I bought things because I wanted to buy not I needed to buy. New things offered me very short pleasure and emptied my wallet very long time.  Since we started thinking about our future and practicing simple living, I feel free from satisfying myself by having more things. Now when I can buy whatever I want, seriously I don’t feel to buy anything. Having less offers me peaceful mind and makes my wallet fuller. Have things that you only need and live below your means will free you eternally.   

 

 

‘Don’t worry, be happy’. I try not to worry too much as I know ‘What ifs’ will lead me nowhere. Frankly, I am nervous about the new chapter of my life as it is considered as an unusual path and as I don’t know how it will go and end. However, will it be worse than spending all my life at work and chase things which are not meaningful to me? I have got to go and have a look to find how it will be otherwise I will never know if it is good or bad. I believe that we have got ability to solve problems on the way and lead our life to where we wanted to. I respect people who take action to reach their dreams and I want to be one of them. I know we will be just fine.

 

 

Surely, the sad news will be forgotten as fast as it came to us (especially, who are willing to spend all their life at work) but definitely not to me. I am glad that we have started working on our financial freedom long time ago and can see the light from the end of the tunnel called ‘employment’.  As foreigners from non-English background started with $50 in the bank accounts in a new country have made this far so, why can’t you?  Nothing is too hard if there is a will.