I’m at a point in life where I don’t know what I want, but I know it’s not what I have. My big house, my car, my high-paying but soul-sucking job. None of those things are making me happy. I’m currently in the best city for me in the US, but I’m still dissatisfied with where I live.
But the good news is that I have enough saved up that I could probably retire early in a LCOL place. I don’t want to retire early though. I want to do some self-discovery and learning before I decide where to go in life.
So a part of me wants to:
- Throw a dart at a world map
- Sell my house and possessions
- Move wherever the dart landed in step 1
- Learn the language and customs of that place
- Live off of my savings for a while
- Evaluate where I want to go from there after a year or two
I’m not going to do step 1. I think I can at least make an educated guess as to where I go. I know I have to consider visas and COL. But regardless, I’m still willing to take a risk about where I want to go.
If I go somewhere for a year or two and hate it, but walk away knowing a new language and customs, I’d consider that a win. The only way I’d look at it as having been a bad idea is if I go there and don’t learn anything.
Any advice?
It’s a valid point and one that I’ve considered. The thing is that if I do decide to come back, I probably won’t want to stay in my current house. If I kept everything in storage, it would likely end up being just one more thing I have to get rid of.
Plus, there’s something freeing about not having a lot of stuff.