Is anyone living the dream right now? Are you going to make changes to live the dream or just keep it as a dream and solider on?

I feel like I had been living half the dream but over the last 3.5 years its been slowly eroding as greater work responsibilities and the over arching need / desire for financial independence for the family later in life take effect. I am not sure this is really fair I have met a lot of people lately who seem to be living the dream but then when you dive deeper into it they still have all the same issues - its just that they present themselves in different ways. My mum has recently retired and it seems she just wants to keep working anyway and so is not really retiring at all. If you are going to live until you are 90 retiring at 65 leaves you a long time without work.

Enough..that's the definition..

When you've had enough of work:
When you've had enough $$ to stop work:
When you've had enough time/health/$$ to travel to the places of your dreams:
When you've had enough Shiraz.....Oh yeah..missus tells me that

The more I think about it, that old saying of work at something you love, makes so much sense...= Enjoyment + $$

Food for thought Ted

I'll tell you who's living the dream,my three adult children, all making good coin all living at home board free,save and travel the world WTF .was that a rant


Ted the thing is most people judge others,we all have different dreams we would like to live.

Ted,

Any changes to my dream at present would be classed as a mid life crisis.

Work to live ,,not live to work

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Is anyone living the dream right now? Are you going to make changes to live the dream or just keep it as a dream and solider on?

I feel like I had been living half the dream but over the last 3.5 years its been slowly eroding as greater work responsibilities and the over arching need / desire for financial independence for the family later in life take effect. I am not sure this is really fair I have met a lot of people lately who seem to be living the dream but then when you dive deeper into it they still have all the same issues - its just that they present themselves in different ways. My mum has recently retired and it seems she just wants to keep working anyway and so is not really retiring at all. If you are going to live until you are 90 retiring at 65 leaves you a long time without work.

I'll let you know in 6-12 months Ted!

Its all just a question of priorities i guess. For me ATM its raising and enjoying my kids. I have enough money to buy what i want and i enjoy my work. Retirement i really don't want to think about just yet..But that could be an issue

I see to many people working like dogs, to give their kids everything, but all they want is some attention

My daughter is throwing a 13th surprise party for a friend from her school this weekend, at our house as in 13years, she has never been aloud to have a party at her home. Her parents have said they can't afford to have one somewhere and don't want their house dirtied. How crazy is that so there daughters first party, will be with her friends, my family and at my home

Oh and for the record before i get bagged, we approached the parents, as we didn't want to step on toes, they said great but didn't really want to attend themselves

Bigger picture Ted, you seem to have it right

Thats disappointing on your daughters friends parents behalf.Come on if you can't handle a little mess from time to time don't have kids,we've always put the parties on at home if thats what they want,from little kids parties to 18th and 21st,I guess knowing most of the kids that attend and there is much respect both sides for the house to be trashed.

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jbshack said..

I see to many people working like dogs, to give their kids everything, but all they want is some attention

My daughter is throwing a 13th surprise party for a friend from her school this weekend, at our house as in 13years, she has never been aloud to have a party at her home.

Oh and for the record before i get bagged, we approached the parents, as we didn't want to step on toes, they said great but didn't really want to attend themselves

JB..you've got the right attitude.....all of a sudden it will occur....

The Last time your kid holds your hand walking across the road.

The Last time they want to sit and play a game......All the little last times that you reflect on...but in no time..gooooone.

The Last time you pick them up from the club @ 3am 'cause there are no cabs around and you said "call me..anytime I wont let you down"..

Love your kids and share in their life as much as you can (or they let you as they get older)

Nice one surfbroker

i am living the dream.

just depends what your dream life is

Live the life you love.

I have no kids, not married, 45yo, was working a corporate job in Perth and 18 months ago quit the job, sold up everything, went to Indo for 12 months and past 6 months have been driving up and down the east coast in my van. I surfed 31 times in August which is better than my average of 26 times. I'm still as stoked on the lifestyle as ever.

I guess I thought with my situation, why not take some risks.

It's not all gold, it can get boring on no surf days, but you learn to enjoy doing nothing.

You've got to chase your dreams

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Cobra said...
i am living the dream.

just depends what your dream life is

I'm with you.
Sure I would love more money,but then I would be sacrificing my happiness. Funny thing is all I used to do was chase coin for happiness
Circumstances changed all that.

I surf with a old salty who we call king Neptune,he prefers the correct name of poisedon, well his thinking is this. Money can buy you anything in the world,anything you want if you have enough of it....except the most valuable thing in our lives cannot ever be bought,and that is TIME.once it's gone it's not coming back. Oh he then started banging on about how time does not exist and i switched off

I love life these days,it's a good feeling being in a good place

Jb,great post. The thing I have noticed is that it's great to have stuff or be in a position to help your kids,but young ones especially don't know about money,they just want your time

Green from me stanos

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chrispy said..

Cobra said...
i am living the dream.

just depends what your dream life is

I'm with you.
Sure I would love more money,but then I would be sacrificing my happiness. Funny thing is all I used to do was chase coin for happiness
Circumstances changed all that.

I surf with a old salty who we call king Neptune,he prefers the correct name of poisedon, well his thinking is this. Money can buy you anything in the world,anything you want if you have enough of it....except the most valuable thing in our lives cannot ever be bought,and that is TIME.once it's gone it's not coming back. Oh he then started banging on about how time does not exist and i switched off

I love life these days,it's a good feeling being in a good place

Jb,great post. The thing I have noticed is that it's great to have stuff or be in a position to help your kids,but young ones especially don't know about money,they just want your time

Green from me stanos

good post chrispy.

my theory is... we are in heaven ……and if you don't like heaven, you are going to hate hell.. I'm loving it and living it yeeeeeeew

these guys are loving it and living it

#t=362

Deffinately as close as can be, if I could afford to retire I'd be there.

I was in a pretty bad place about 5yrs ago so I took of solo through Vietnam and its a cliche but I kinda found myself after my ex had, in Kurt's words "beat me outta me". And whilst these things don't happen immediately you put the wheels in motion... So, I moved to a beach shack renovator, instead of the ritzy inner city apartment, and started surfing again, became a pescotarian, found my inner activist started travelling every year, and through this journey met my amazing wife, had my beautiful daughter etc...

I guess I'd say i'm living the dream whilst still working towards the ultimate dream and ensuring I love every moment of the journey, peace

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Stanos said..

You've got to chase your dreams

Yes indeed - I totally agree with sentiment. I am definitely chasing mine and have been making gradual changes over time to ensure they can be chased. I know we all have differing degrees of responsibilities and at diff life stages but I think its healthy to chase them. There are some great points made above from many of you - Scotty I think you hit the nail on the head for many of my mates. I know lots of people presently undergoing massive changes - from death to divorce through to redundancy - certainly gives you a lot to think about and act on.

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Ted the Kiwi said..

Stanos said..

You've got to chase your dreams

Scotty I think you hit the nail on the head for many of my mates. I know lots of people presently undergoing massive changes - from death to divorce through to redundancy - certainly gives you a lot to think about and act on.

Ted, my point is I am living the dream.
I'm happily married (17 years) with 3 kids.
My Mrs enjoys a beer and she loves watching NRL.
I've been self employed since I finished my trade 20 years ago.
I love running my own hours and my job takes me to all over Sydney.
As it's warming up, I will doing the odd job over north side where I can throw the 666 on the roof and have a paddle around middle harbour,Manly,etc.

However, if I go out and by a Harley tomorrow it would be classed as a midlife crisis #fineline.

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NewScotty said..
Ted, my point is I am living the dream.

Thats great Scotty. Stoked for ya. I have a few mates who would like to make some changes but the mid-life crisis card would be called for sure !!!!!

pretty close to getting started on the next phase Ted .... I have nothing here anymore after the family loss of the past year or so

Really don't need much and would rather keep my froff anyway & I got a ****eload of it .... I slobber & drool plenty of it by the hour

Run amok over in God's Eastern backyard is my caper .....

Lock yer doors , batten yer shutters & hide yer Russian girls here I come

Good on you Pup sounds like you a have the plan.

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Cobra said..
Work to live ,,not live to work

+1

i need a few more clients to live the dream , my work allows me certain time flex , but still need to put in the miles and need 20 new clients ... so how about it fellas :) www.therankshop.com.au blatant pimp but all in the heart of helping a brother live the dream

I am pretty sure I am living my dream the last 12 years with my beautiful wife and two daughters. We moved from Sydney to the far nth coast, I changed profession at age 40 and became a registered nurse after twenty years on the tools. This profession puts me in the front line of peoples lives at their finest and also darkest moments I wake up everyday and just say thanks for being alive and healthy. We have a nice old queenslander, one traffic light in town, do a bit of travel, eat good food drink cheap wine and both only work four days a week.
cheers Boof


ps I only commute three minutes to work on foot come home for lunch and dinner stoked

Isn't One mans dream is another mans nightmare?

If youre happy, youre living the dream..

If you're not, change something..
as real surf says... Stay happy and you'll be perfectly fine..

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jasdeking said..
i need a few more clients to live the dream

Jas - I once asked a knowledgeable mate about SEO for something I was working on and he came back with this

"SEO is the black art of the internet. It's an industry full of crooks and villains and snake oil salesmen - but the 'high priests of SEO' are the devil you sometimes have to deal with"

Say it isn't true and restore my faith in human nature After looking at yr site its clear that you offer full website provision - design, implementation, marketing etc. so I am guessing you are not as evil as you could be

Boof - nice to see that dream is now the reality ! Nothing better than doing the hard yards and being rewarded. Long live the dream I say!

Pup - looking forward to seeing that bus one day soon

i had nothing as a young fella, had no handouts in life played hard worked hard as a concreter.i have one son that i love and talk to most days, he now lives his own life.
happily married to a beautiful and very sexy lady for 14 years,she works 4 days a week in a no stress job.we live 200m from the high tide mark at a very quiet beach on the QLD coast.have boat, cars, house, boys-toys, every power tool known to man, land, a dog and i don't owe a bank a 1 red cent.. we holiday every year + i don't work. all those possessions mean nothing if you don't have your health...god has given me a 2nd chance at life and I'm taking it.

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Ted the Kiwi said..

jasdeking said..
i need a few more clients to live the dream

Jas - I once asked a knowledgeable mate about SEO for something I was working on and he came back with this

"SEO is the black art of the internet. It's an industry full of crooks and villains and snake oil salesmen - but the 'high priests of SEO' are the devil you sometimes have to deal with"

Say it isn't true and restore my faith in human nature After looking at yr site its clear that you offer full website provision - design, implementation, marketing etc. so I am guessing you are not as evil as you could be

Boof - nice to see that dream is now the reality ! Nothing better than doing the hard yards and being rewarded. Long live the dream I say!

Pup - looking forward to seeing that bus one day soon

if i was as evil as the rest i would already be living the dream sadly i am honest and poor , but i do own a surfboard

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Is anyone living the dream right now? Are you going to make changes to live the dream or just keep it as a dream and solider on?

I feel like I had been living half the dream but over the last 3.5 years its been slowly eroding as greater work responsibilities and the over arching need / desire for financial independence for the family later in life take effect. I am not sure this is really fair I have met a lot of people lately who seem to be living the dream but then when you dive deeper into it they still have all the same issues - its just that they present themselves in different ways. My mum has recently retired and it seems she just wants to keep working anyway and so is not really retiring at all. If you are going to live until you are 90 retiring at 65 leaves you a long time without work.

Mate I'm pretty stoked with life atm...got a great job that allows me to surf every morning except every 2nd Sat/Sun. New house a few mins drive from my local & a pretty cool missus that puts up with me...Its Saturday for me today & I have a carton in the fridge

My plan for retirement is to sell up & hope we have enough money to last us before we die *fingers crossed*

Darn...seems every one is stoked and living the dream. I was hoping you all were as depressed as I am (just joking)

It's all said above...we all have a different dreams ....life has it's ups and downs ..and if you live for a while you get to experience most of the good..and unfortunatly most of the bad.. to be living or have achieved what we desire.....unlike those "Life Coaches", who people pay a motza to point them in the right direction..We have sight of our Dreams.

We all have found our passion in surfing/family..whatever....and I'm very thankful for that..

My Missus said to me the other day.."if you didn't have your Surfing + Boards I don't know how you cope"...She's right (as usual )