Take the Journey or Stable Retirement?

Lo'

I'm a soon to be 23 year old, single, U.S. Army veteran only back from the sandbox for a couple years. I've got a steady full time job with benefits and a 401k at a telecommunications company and a G.I. Bill that could easily pay for my Bachelors in whatever field I choose that I haven't started collecting on yet.

I come to you the experienced looking for some guidance on a topic I've been contemplating for quite awhile now. To take the journey or to live a comfortable life when I'm in retirement age. Or any variation in between.

My ambitions in life are to be a writer. It is really the only thing I can say I'm somewhat decent at. I had considered sticking around long enough to utilize my G.I. Bill and further my writing abilities. Not to mention the college experience (albeit community college) might be an important notch in my belt. But I do not want to succumb to apathy and be stuck on the nine to fiver because it gets too comfortable.

As it is I've been saving for a camper (most likely a redone 70's VW Westy but keeping pretty open on the decision) bought from out West or down South somewhere (away from the salt and snow... Rust...). The plan is to fly out there and use up my vacation taking a couple weeks to enjoy the road trip back (probably going to hit up every disc golf course along the way too). So I think that will give me a good feel to whether or not I want life on the road.

So my question is to you all; from your point in life now, if you had to look back on your decisions, would you have lived your life as an adventure? Are the stories really worth it? Or are there notable regrets? Would you take any of it back to sit prettier in retirement?

And to you who did pass up the chance of adventure and freedom, how does it feel on top of that stack of cash? Are the worries alleviated by monetary means comfort enough? Or do you look back on your life wishing you would of done more? If so, what would you of done?

I'm only in my mid 20's and am patient on the matter. Though I have a creeping feeling deep in my heart that grows everyday. So any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Chris

 

Man, I don't even know where to start. I have had so many PEAK experiences in my life, but I have so many regrets, too (and I'm sitting here typing with tears in my eyes thinking abou all that).

Is sitting on my "cash" bringing me happiness? Not a fucking bit, if I am to be honest. Oh, sure, I'll not go hungry, or want for a roof over my head, but it's a trade-off. One I'm increasingly unhappy with.

Ima gonna say you gotta follow your bliss, brother. Write. Use the mundane world as a way to allow you to write.

Peace, Chip (my name in the old days)

 

Chip,

Thanks for the reply. As it is I'm sitting here at work turning pages from "On the Road" half in a day dream thinking of my own stories I might have in the years to come.

Hearing how life has affected you really encourages me. I know the lifestyle is for me. I'm going insane here. I swear each day these cubical walls are moving in on me. I want to look back like you are and one day have those tears in my eyes. I just don't want them to be tears of regret which I'm sure they will be if I continue down this road.

Any ups and downs that you folks would be willing to share or any advice would be great.

 

Do you know what you're asking? I haven't come close to digesting all that I've gone through. I don't know that it's possible to do so. We accumulate memories and they get stuffed away under the urgency of NOW! Now we gotta go get some bread for some food and some shelter. NOW! We gotta deal with this or that medical thing. NOW! we gotta do this or that or the other.

And we don't get a chance to integrate our experiences. Well, the more advanced of us do, but I'm not one of them. Freewheelin' Frank, Secretary of the Hells Angels SF chapter, spent the last years of his life as a blessed Buddhist Monk in the hills of Northern California. How do you go from being a hard-assed biker to a Buddhist Monk? Do you see what I say when I say there are those that can just make everything melt into themselves, and they can profit and gain, and there are those like me who come out of the whole 60s-70s thing just totally baffled?
Honestly, brother, I'm still trying to find my way.

Best advice I can give you, don't follow Gurus. Whether they be heads Like Leary or crazy fucks like Limbaugh. Don't follow them. Find your own path.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure I will ever know what I really want. I've read alot from alot of guru's out there. I don't take any of what they say as the 'way'. Too many people think they know what the correct path is. What the right door is... I just want the keys to those doors. I'll pick the one that's right for me.

Thanks again.

 

'These Days' are nothing like what it was like in the 60s/70s when life was easier and ppl were more united. What we went through or experienced can not be duplicated, it was the First and Last of it's kind. Technology has advanced way too far for things to be like they once were, too much violence and deceit. Too many poor ppl and jobless. They 60s were a time of plenty, even with the VN war, .Food Stamps and Welfare were given out like candy to all the hippies and we took eveyone in and got them on food stamps, now there is not that option.

It's not "Free and Easy" like it was.. ppl will kill you for your tennies or rape you jus bc they can. There was a time when I would stick out my thumb and travel hundreds of miles with out worry, I wouldnt stick my thumb out now.

I find in my old age that I should have saved my $ and got that solar unit for our farm, and redug our well when we were younger so we would have it now and be living entirely off the grid instead of paying thousands of $$ in annual fees for untilities and water.

If you fix yourself up now while your young and able, you will have it a lot better when your not so young and able.

It really depends on what your looking of in life, how you see yourself living. The life of a vagabon is a lonely one, you learn a lot and have your ups and down, like everyone does.

Yes, the tears flow as we recall our past, what happened to us, what we saw and learned. what we did and didnt do. Some of us trying to live up to our pasts and some trying to live theirs down.

It depends on your personality and what you resonate with. How you see your self living and being in the future.

I would not want anyone to follow in my footsteps. cuz I missed a lot of steps now n then. I was wide open with the faith of JOB, and yes the trails and tribulation of JOB also. I walked through Hell and back so many times the map is engraved on my face. The miles I traveled trying to find Home.

I hit the road at 16, hitched a ride with a trucker and headed for San Francisco, 500 miles from my home and family. I was on my own seriously, with no money and no idea of what I was headed for.

The only thing I had was my pyschedelic experience and a guitar strapped to my back. I had been tripped with the big dogs for yrs in SoCali at the Be-Ins and Love-ins and concerts in the various parks and pavillions in my local area, but to venture out armmed only with my faith was how I arrived/surrived in The Haight.

The things that we saw, the things we went through, the things that we learned, the knowledge that we gained is so indiscribale that it is something you must experience yoursrlf. For we each have our own paths to follow, what our hearts dictate to us and how we process what we learn.

I lived in The Haight 11 yrs taking time now n then to travel around the country, mostly hitchhiking. In all the traveling , searching for true love and the answers to my questions about life and why I exist. I find myself come full circle, finding it all, right in my own backyard, at Home where I started in Texas where I was born.

We have lived and worked in farming our land for the last 27 yrs. since I left my vagabon ways and settled into a life where love, security, family and a little piece of earth to cultivate is where it is at for me. I would not be obliged to live any other way now. I have found my peace.

I can not say my way is right for you or anyone else, but it's a good and honest way to live. It's clean and fresh, it's close to Mother, it's awe inspiring and brings feelings of belonging, being a part of something so supurb that it takes your breath away.

No regrets, what I have experienced is what shaped me into who I am today,. I am not finished yet, I have more dreams to fulfill, like going green and living off the grid altogether. But to say I wished I had done something different, I can only say, I lived an interesting life. It was the life I was destin to live, as I was made to be who I am and no other.

Bright Blessings on your journey
sh

 

I feel people in my generation can be united. Unfotunately I have to agree with you and say that they won't unite on the same level as you all did. There are too many people my age that let mainstream society do the thinking for them.

I'm sure that happened alot in the 60's and 70's too but at least a noticable amount of you were able to find a common ground and make a statement out of it. In today's day and age it's hard for folks to get on together for any one or set of goals.

The people I've met, smoked, and dosed with at various shows throughout the midwest had shared alot of their expereinces with me. Many of them my age getting along just fine on the road. Of course they had means of generating income (albeit just enough to survive) while on the move. I'm hoping that in time my writing will be able to pay for food and maintenance on my vehicle/home. Would be nice even to stash a bit away for when I'm not as able.

I'm really not sure the vegabond life is something I want to do forever. It is something I want to do while I'm young, at least for a few years. I think I'm still too afraid of uncertain times. What if it doesn't work out and I threw away a good job... Unemployment rate in Michigan right now is 11.6%. And that is only out of people registered for unemployment. But I will over come those concerns. The stories I hear on the forums really help me with that.

I don't want to live the 60's and 70's. That is a time in history that needs to be there in my opinion. Like our life experiences shape and mold us, so does history produce the social issues my generation will experience today. I'm not a hippie in the tie dye and flowers sense, but I'm sure not the poster child for the American dream either. In fact, I cannot stand how mindless and inconsiderate our culture has become. Thus my desire to seperate myself from the workings of society and write about the way I see things looking in on it from the outside.

I hope there is something defining about my generation. It may still be too early to tell, but to me it looks like most of it has already degenerated into materialistic worship and the defining trait of one being their 'coolness'. The 50's had the beats, 60's and 70's hippies, 80's punks -.- and now I'm hoping it's not ghetto thug's amongst others that it could be...

There are some important issues going on right now. But unfortunately it just doesn't seem people care much about it... It isn't affecting them directly after all...

Anyways, sorry about my rambling. Thank you for your advice. This place has been the biggest resource for support in my recent episodes of self discovery.