What does bailing out the rat race actually mean?
It means different things to different people: I think that there is a continuum, with the polar opposites at each end being the crazy “I-have-no-time-to-live-my-life” at one end, and far at the other end, “I-have-all-the-time-in-the-world- life”.
Our “more is better” rather than “better is better” commercial advertising culture keeps most of us firmly towing the rat race line.
Perhaps like a champion horse in a prestigious horse race we have blinkers on, and are ready to race, advertising just keeps us focused firmly on the future, with the prize far in the distance.
For me bailing out of the rate race just means re-adjusting my life and consciously deciding that I would like to move away from the “crazy no time end” and move further towards the “having-more-time end”.
To make it a goal, to make it a mission.
But there are very few people that can just bail out, and live right at the far end in the I have all the time in the world end.
If there are, these are mostly retired folks, or lottery winners.
I fall into neither category.
I just want to move from crazy busy city rat race life to a more tranquil, more intentional, more mindful time filled life.
I still want to participate in life, be engaged in life, touch the rat race now and again.
To have friends firmly in the rat race.
But I would like to try to live on my own terms, at my own pace.
Crazy I know.
Imagine that you could ever decide that perhaps this was even possible for you.
What bailing-out-is NOT:
- Its not anti-capitalist.
- Its not anti-shopping.
- Its not anti-bling.
- Its not anti-wealth.
- Its not telling anybody else how to live their life.
It’s their life. They get to choose.
It IS:
- It is all about creating an intentional life, with more personal time, more free time, and less busy-ness.
- It is about making choices for yourself about how you live your own life.
- It does have to be sustainable, including financially, which is a process, not an event.
This is not a main stream message.
The main stream press seems to offer a couple of choices.
- Win the lottery.
- Inherit a fortune.
- Work like hell, make a lot of money, and retire early.
- Work like hell, save a lot of money, and retire early.
We tried one other approach too.
We worked like hell, saved some money, and took a year and a half off.
Moved to the other side of the world, lived by the beach.
It was wonderful.
It is a glimpse of another life, a time filled life, life on the other side.
But its unsustainable. Its a beautiful gentle planned cash burn.
We don’t regret it for one minute.
We essentially just bought a life, through saving.
Which in itself is a bit odd really. We saved hard and had less life for a while, so that we could have more time for a while in the future.
But this approach has some drawbacks.
Re-entry back into the rat race was somewhat difficult, its a bit like a space rocket returning to earth through the atmosphere, its turbulent, its an uncomfortable ride.
Its a shock, an adjustment, its a huge “there has got to me more to life than this” moment.
So we’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
Its a bit all or nothing.
So what if there is another way ?
What if there has always been another way?
What if we are willing just to gradually move ourselves down the continuum, away from the hectic end towards the more tranquil end.
What if we are each able to decide for our own selves, where that point on the continuum is, what it is that works for our own unique situation as individuals, or works as a family or works as a community.
What if you get to choose for yourself.
What we start by accepting that we do actually have a choice.
This is what bailing out the rate race means to me.
Continue Reading the Series about ‘Escaping the Rat Race’.
