339 Days
A note I wrote to the author of Dirtbag Rich and the Dirtbag Rich podcast:
Blake,
I hope you're enjoying your bike tour! I would like to express my
profound gratitude for the art you've created and Dirtbag Rich
community you're sharing. I devour every podcast episode and just
finished reading "Dirtbag Rich" in a day. Your interview style
reflects the likely thousands of conversations you've had getting to
know people on a deeper level. I've deeply connected to each story on
your podcast in multiple ways because you ask the questions I'm most
curious about and you draw out the universal dirtbag experience from
your guests. Consider this a whopping entree of validation for the
dedicated work you share with the world!!
I also want to share a bit about my life; the parts that explain why I
connect to your message so deeply.
I am in the Arnold Palmer phase of my dirtbag life (half corporate and
half wild woman). Three years ago, I picked up a hitchhiker on the CDT
in Glacier National Park. On our first day together, he told me he was
going to ruin my life and that my job was the least interesting thing
about me. Perhaps most people would run for the hills, but after hours
of discussing adventure books, life philosophy, death and
unconventional dreams (all of which are easy to cover when surrounded
by nature), I was smitten.
The tectonic plates of identity had been shifting underneath me for
several years before meeting him. I couldn't shake the feeling that I
was meant to live a more connected life; with the world and cultures,
with myself and with other humans in wild environments. I was, and am
still, in corporate banking. I am 30 years old and have been planning
my corporate escape for the last five years---the planning part was a
vision exercise I did at 25 in which I confessed my desire to travel
the world on two feet or two wheels, read, write and spread love. The
abridged version of the last several years is a winding path.
Detours included:
- trying to figure out how to build a long-distance relationship from
San Francisco (where I was living at the time) and my partner (who was
hiking all over the US and seldom in cell-range)
- feeling like I needed to stay for 401k vesting and based on the
January bonus cycle; generally financial anxiety.
- an entire re-orientation of my life around river-bathing in the
outdoors and the pursuit of creativity instead of architecting a bomb
proof career and financial plan to withstand the harshest critic
(myself)
- other various cycles of life and death
My partner and I went from hitch > hitched last year. We've resolved
to begin our worldwide bike tour next year. I'll walk away from an
impressive title, a "promising career," and more money than I can
shake a trekking pole at. I'm trapped in a lease we said we'd never
sign due to overwhelm in trying to live in a dirtbag
low-cost/frequently moving house-sitting arrangement, an ill-timed
concussion and burnout from attempting FIRE for the last few years.
But there's hope! Each time I explore a new and interesting avenue or
corporate work, my body completely rejects it. I am well beyond the
stage of "mulling things over and making logical choices." My body
will simply throw a huge fit when I veer off the path of worldwide
travel. I am grateful I've developed this intuition. Your podcast is
fighting the good fight in my identity war; and it does truly feel as
if I am living a double life at times.
I am writing to you with gratitude, and to hold myself accountable to
my own dreams. I also feel compelled to share that due to diligent
savings and avoidance of traditional purchases (our elopement was $650
total, low rent, camping vacations, one car we bought to access the
mountains), my partner will likely cross the a huge financial
milestone mark in the next year; arguably a "set for life" one. The
financial resources we've amassed are all earmarked for a decade of
travel and supporting creative pursuits. Yet, we are well past
diminishing returns for every dollar earned. I share this because I
hope there is a place for defecting corporate bankers in the
congregation of dirtbag converts.
In my year of waiting, I'm starting a Spanish language course (free
through my work) and am chronicling the countdown with an anonymous
blog. I hope to write to you in a year with news of the grand
departure.
Happy trails!
- (trall name pending)
