Fait Accompli
A parody
It was our usual happy Friday night chill weekend, and we were in our favorite shisha bar in JBR, Dubai, with my friends Pam and Joey. This has been our regular weekend-night relaxation: lounging on a sofa near the beach with a glass of wine and a variety of shisha flavors. Typically, I'd choose the gum flavor for shisha, Pam would choose the watermelon flavor, and Joey would just go with whatever the ladies chose. For drinks, my usual is red wine, while Joey and Pam would go for San Miguel Light.
"I'm resigning next month," I finally said out loud. I had been ruminating about it for months, and this was the first time I’d spoken verbally about it. "Have you found another job?" Joey and Pam asked, almost in unison. "No, I'm going home—back to the Philippines," was my response as I stuttered.
I saw the confusion on their faces. There was that moment of silence as if they were asking, "And what are you going to do for the rest of your life?" Pam and Joey both took their shishas, played with the smoke, and took a sip of their beers. And...
Finally, Joey broke the deafening silence: "Are you retiring? Are you sure about that? You're just in your late 30s; what are you going to do?"
"Good questions, Joey," I almost murmured.
The truth is, I wasn't sure what I was doing, except that I knew deep down that the child within me was dying. There was a quiet desperation that had permeated my soul. I was losing a part of myself that needed to be saved—the inescapable truth that I could no longer ignore.
I’m not going to lie; the thought of not having a career or a stable paycheck was terrifying. How could someone at her peak let go of what seemed to be a dream life? Travels, shopping, and monthly recreational tournaments with the sports that I enjoy with the friends that I love.
But that zeal was limited to Saturday and Sunday. From Monday to Friday, I was merely existing on autopilot, mechanically performing the tasks expected of me. I needed joy out of the everydayness of life. I knew it was time for intellectual humility.
This is not the kind of life I signed up for, I reasoned.
I needed a change.
And change I did.
That was six years ago.
领英推荐
The other side of risk is reward. The other side of failure is achievement. The other side of your fear is everything you want.
Technically, I was an early retiree then, spending my first two years running marathons and reconnecting with friends. But I wonder if I was truly running for fitness, or if I was simply trying to outrun the looming reality of having no career in my late thirties.
Anyways, fast forward to now, here’s what I have observed and been through which I dare to share in case you can resonate or learn from it.
The ugly truth: There is no price for owning yourself (aka financial freedom).
If your schedule, your behavior, and your vacation days are dictated by someone else, you're trading your freedom and wealth for a wage. You may be rich, but you are not wealthy. Nothing beats the all-encompassing ability to say NO and f*ck it and that more often (which you can only do if you are not on anyone’s payroll).
Being an employee means you are an asset to someone else while having wealth means you are an asset for yourself.
Hence, while everyone chases for money, you can go the other way and focus on curiosity.
Escape the Matrix. Zig when others Zag. Here's? why:
Salary-based (low-leverage operator | 95% of the society)
Asset-based (high-leverage operator | 5% of the society)
Hey, I have a piece of good news for you: You can figuratively and factually break the rules as long as you are not breaking any law, got it?
Make sure the game you are playing is worth winning ??!