With desires of a life filled with travel, adventure, love and wonder, Bruce keeps plugging away – hoping for the day.
I just came up with this tag line a few minutes ago, it seems fitting with where I am right now. This site will start to slant towards a free, mobile, unattached life. When I say that I mean in a professional sense not a personal one. I’ll start following a few guys like Tim Ferriss and Cody McKibben (the creater of the Thrilling Heroics theme). These guys lead what Cody calls A Life free from the Template lifestyle. I already made a few attempts in my life of breaking free of the standard mold. I shunned formal education, owned part of a bar, went to live on a beach in Australia, quit a nice corporate-type job to open a used bookstore and other non-standard attempts at a free lifestyle.
Beautiful Hallstatt, Austria
I’d be continuing my trip down this path right now if it weren’t for two things: Baharak and Kasm, my wife and child. Now please don’t get me wrong – I never feel stuck anywhere because of them, quite the opposite. They give me so much joy that it makes working 9-5 bareable. I would not trade what I have with them for anything and having this incredible family requires a stable income. No more goofing around. I can’t just pack my bags and take off for a month for a drive like I did with Barney back in 93.
That being said, I still have aspirations of leaving the corporate world again. And of living my life the way I want it lived. Both Baharak and I love to travel and would love to be bouncing around from place to place, exploring all the wondrous nooks and crannies of the world. But Kasm needs stability. He will need a good school, develop friendships, things that need a good foundation. So I know that a life of nothing but travel and adventure will have to wait sixteen years or so. In the meantime I can try and strive for some compromises though. Like working from home, building my websites and online life, taking exotic trips even if they are only for a few weeks at a time. I can still strive to break free of the mold without leaving my home and family behind. Let’s call it a hybrid life. Part travel/exploration, part family-man/foundation builder.
So there it is – to be free yet stable. Not have a 9-5 job but still have steady income for my family. A dream life (for me). Can it be done? Why not?
Step one – find some role models. I don’t think Tim or Cody count as I beleive they have no family that depends on them and on a salary to maintain security and sanity. Hopefully not all husbands.fathers have given up on this idea!
ps. you may notice that I will often associate images of Hallstatt, Austria when speaking of freedoms. My wife and I went there a few years back. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have experienced and it represents where I want to go in life.
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Hi Bruce, thanks for the mention, funny I never came across this until now. Glad you’ve found some inspiration in what I’m doing/sharing, but you’re absolutely right—you’re on a different path when you add family to the mix. I’d highly recommend checking out Adam Baker (interview I did with him here) and Carmen from NuNomad for good models of traveling free spirits who also have family in tow…
Thanks a lot for that Cody – I’ll check it out this afternoon.