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Notes -
You’re going to die.
Go on vacation.
I was single and after getting my BS and Masters I was ready to eat my slice of the American pie. Instead I still work retail and am now in debt. I said fuck this system about a year after I graduated and now owe student loans and credit debt. I defaulted on the cards. And I’m going to be paying my student loans probably for literally ever.
Now I just got engaged (grammas ring!) and all of a sudden care again. She makes as much as me. We’ll both eventually make more (my American dream isn’t dead - just angrily smoldering).
We still went on vacation this year. A once in a lifetime for both of us (ahem? once we make more maybe this trip will seem quaint) trip on the Washington north near Olympic National Park and on the Oregan coast, right on the beach, where I proposed.
I could’ve taken that 8k and done something else with it. We could’ve saved more (currently we’re saving about 10k a year … we have about 115k in in total savings between my 401k and her divorce) or put it towards a debt.
But we’re paying that debt - and what if she dies tomorrow? Or me? Or one of her kids (which will ruin her for years)?
Go on vacation man.
Go to the Oregan coast and walk out at midnight and feel it.
Not if I can help it.
At least, I don't plan to die on the standard schedule, barring absolutely unavoidable risks.
So you may not know the lore that I've occasionally mentioned in here.
The last time I went on an extended vacation, 5 years ago, it was with my Girlfriend at the time. I proposed to her on that trip. And ultimately she broke up with me, cheated on me, and left two weeks before the wedding.
And after dealing with all the fallout from that, I've kinda been focused on getting myself stabilized and rendering myself safe from most financial shocks (like having the person you were splitting the bills with up and leave... after you bought a house together).
I'm happy to take a vacation, if I find someone else worth sharing it with. But I've got a healthy, sustainable routine, a good group of friends, and activities I enjoy (like motteposting) so she'd have to be WORTH all that.
Well that fucking sucks - solo Negroni themed vacation it is!!
I’ll be alive long enough to miss the immortality loop by a day.
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Damn. Sorry for what happened to you.
A while ago my YouTube feed pointed me something interesting. It struck me because I’ve had the same feeling when I look around at others. Most of us are conscripted into a system that grinds down on us by thinking if don’t submit ourselves to that economic cog in the machine, we’re going to be miserable because of it.
I could quit by job right now and drive about two hours to go back home and work in the agriculture business my extended family has a large footprint in, and be very comfortable making a solid 5 figures every month; insulted from all the bs people deal with working for others. I don’t because I’ve got other plans and life goals I want to pursue that I find more fulfilling and meaningful. Maybe I’m just a dumb ass but I think that’s the better overall approach to take with life.
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