The title of this post says it all! Let’s jam!
If I think back to the Dark Fall of 2018, I was in a bad place mentally at work. I was not happy with my old job role, the company was taking me forgranted, and I was fed up and wanted out. That dissatisfaction with the status quo forced me to confront and truly think about exit plans. A new job was top on that list, but the fear I had was that I’m still just a cog in the giant wheel that is corporate American life. I wanted off that treadmill, and so I began to read more blogs about FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early) and FILYP (Financial Independence and Live Your Passion).
Thanks in large part to routetoretire for inspiration. Being in the same industry myself, IT, and seeing real transparent Financial numbers in the same ballpark as myself helped me tremendously to crystalize in my mind that: YES, my dream of doing FIRE is a realistic possibility for my financial situation.
Fast forward five years from 2018 to today in early 2024, and my job is going phenomenally well. It’s one of those jobs where I can envision myself sticking around and doing the work forever because it’s that rewarding. But my drive for FIRE is still burning within, it’s simply that my WHY reason has changed. That new drive: family!
I mentioned in a recent story that I’m engaged! The past year I went from living a bachelor life to engaged and seriously considering kids in the near future. It’s incredible the things we do for Love. While I still want to FIRE, my entire world has turned 180 degrees. No longer am I just thinking about how to support myself through early retirement, I now have other people who depend on me.
And so I continue to grind, not for myself, but for my future family. And I grind away joyfully knowing that I am preparing a solid foundation for all of us to start a new family together.
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