{"id":806,"date":"2015-01-02T18:32:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T01:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/?p=806"},"modified":"2015-11-28T00:03:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-28T07:03:50","slug":"following-your-passion-and-the-insanity-of-early-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/following-your-passion-and-the-insanity-of-early-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Following your passion and the insanity of early retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Probably<\/a>
(Probably thinking of quitting it all at my high school graduation.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve been wanting to retire ever since I started working, which is odd because I’ve often wondered how I managed to score jobs that pay me to do what I’d probably do for free. The fascination with retirement apparently came at an early age, because my senior high school picture had as one of my goals: “retire at an early age”. Odd indeed!
\n<\/p>\n

I didn’t think much about it an early age, because I was mostly working for $4.25\/hour at the Andrews University Computing Center, all while trying to pay the princely sum of $14,000\/year in private university expenses. \u00c2\u00a0However, sometime in the past 6 years, I got this crazy idea that I could pull it off, and leave the treadmill of the gainfully employed. Those who knew me then, know I got a little carried away (ok, obsessed). I mean, for my 36th birthday, Yanory gave me a goat, apparently because I was too cheap to mow the loan. I’m ashamed to admit it, but that was the best birthday present ever. I didn’t have to mow the lawn again, Anais the goat was a neighborhood celebrity, and all she needed was a pail of water that got refilled by Puerto Rico’s daily tropical rainstorms.<\/p>\n

I drove everyone around me crazy. I admit, and I profusely apologize publicly to everyone involved. \u00c2\u00a0But it wasn’t all that bad…<\/p>\n

I don’t know exactly when, but sometime in the last couple years, it happened. I technically no longer had to work. The whole thing happened without fanfare, or congratulatory cards from anyone around. To be honest, it was rather disappointing. \u00c2\u00a0I expected at least a pat on the back. \u00c2\u00a0Now before everyone thinks that I’ll be having hospital wings or university buildings named after me, let me set one thing straight: it doesn’t take that much. There are two variables in this equation: you either save a lot or live very cheap (or some combination of the above). I mean, one of my personal heroes manages to live on $7,000 a year<\/a>, and retired after only 5 years of work on a researcher’s salary. So it’s not an income thing, and talking about money is definitely\u00c2\u00a0not<\/span> the goal of this post.<\/p>\n

Anyways… no cymbals clashing in the background. \u00c2\u00a0The sun still rose that morning, and I my lactate threshold on the bike was firmly below 300 watts. \u00c2\u00a0So, I still sucked on the bike and little cripple children would still beat me up the steepest of hills.<\/p>\n

However, I decided to make a list of things I could now do now that that 9 to 5 was no longer a limiting factor. \u00c2\u00a0I envisioned quitting and telling off my boss, though I quickly dispelled the idea because he’s actually quite nice, and I’ve been blessed to get paid to work on superbly interesting projects. \u00c2\u00a0Then I thought of travelling. \u00c2\u00a0I made a list of countries I’d like to visit. \u00c2\u00a0And then I realized, I could do all of them while still working (mostly in part to a mobile lifestyle), and I had been slowly checking off my bucket list items over the past few years (if not decades), so it’s not like I was living a boring life.<\/p>\n

What I did realize, was that what I had bought, was the freedom to fail– the freedom to take on a project where I could fall flat on my face, and take it in stride. \u00c2\u00a0I could reinvent myself at a moment’s notice. \u00c2\u00a0I had bought a few decades to find myself, or to become someone else entirely. \u00c2\u00a0So in early 2014, when my boss asked me tackle a high profile project, where I knew close to zero about, I jumped at the opportunity– not because of fame or fortune, but because it sounded fun, and if I failed, I failed. \u00c2\u00a0It would be fun. \u00c2\u00a0I didn’t care if the CEO learned of my inadequacies.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, what happened was something completely unexpected. \u00c2\u00a0I loved it! \u00c2\u00a0I couldn’t get enough of it! \u00c2\u00a0I went back to my childhood days of sitting in my boxers by the light of the monitor for all my waking hours. \u00c2\u00a0I was actually working 16 hours a day, and \u00c2\u00a0having fun at it. *AND*, I didn’t fall flat on my face. \u00c2\u00a0On the contrary, I did quite well, and everyone was so happy, I was asked to pick whatever interesting project I wanted to work on next. \u00c2\u00a0Needless to say, I didn’t quit. \u00c2\u00a0I was having fun!<\/p>\n

Which brings me to my last thoughts. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve been blessed, not in having a great job, but in doing what I love– day in and day out. \u00c2\u00a0I now realize not everyone’s as lucky– either by circumstance or decision. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve wanted to be a computer programmer since the first day I saw a Commodore 64 in Johary Gonzalez’s living room at age 10. \u00c2\u00a0Fascinatingly enough, at age 14, I remember writing\u00c2\u00a0under “future dream job”: \u00c2\u00a0“computer programmer specializing in\u00c2\u00a0compilers” \u00c2\u00a0in my high school freshman year application for the science fair. \u00c2\u00a0It’s been quite a journey! \u00c2\u00a0I would’ve never thought following a passion would lead me full circle, but it has.<\/p>\n

May the new year bring you passion, and love, and a desire to do what you love. \u00c2\u00a0Because if following your passion doesn’t bring you fame and fortune, at least it’ll be one hell of a journey…and a happy one.<\/p>\n

\"(Age<\/a>
(Age 15: No furniture, but already doing what I loved.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I’ve been wanting to retire ever since I started working, which is odd because I’ve often wondered how I managed to score jobs that pay me to do what I’d probably do for free. The fascination with retirement apparently came at an early age, because my senior high school picture had as one of … Continue reading Following your passion and the insanity of early retirement<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}