Check this out as well:

http://www.mesmerenterprizes.com/liveaboard.html

The guy we replaced at our current "job" lives full time in an older van conversion, volunteers as a camp host 'bout nine months out of the year. His only overhead is food, vehicle reg/insurance, and a little bit for fuel...

There's another saying that goes like this, "when you realise that what you have is what you need, you are truly rich..."

I've read some posts of yours dweste that spoke about some of these changes, if you care to share, what sort of work were you doing and what are you thinking of doing now? What happened to facilitate the changes?

I think you'll find that changing for yourself is much more rewarding than changing to suit others ever is.

One more saying, "fire your flaky friends..."

When "friends" and others become the obstacle on your path, you sometimes have to fire them for your own good. I went thru this myself just a relatively short time ago when I finally admitted that what was stopping me from achieving some things I thought I wanted to achieve were some of the people I chose to surround myself with.

In as loving a way as possible, I fired some "friends" and made the positive changes I needed to make. It was hard for awhile but so much better in hindsight as to be mind-boggling.

John E

I realized that I needed to "fire" myself. Endless struggle as a manager to motivate and prop up folks that did not seem to learn or care much about the success of the business just stopped making sense.

I did what I had to do but was locked into overhead that I couldn't slow down as fast as the rest of the quick change I was trying. While I was trying to work with that I learned my office manager / bookkeeper had not done some filings, and that triggered some unexpected penalties and interest. Her tears of apology to me did not seem to impress the tax folks.

So, I learned I am not a good enough business manager, financial manager, or personnel manager to have protected myself. All the while I was doing great work and succeeding for my clients.

My bad.

I expect to be out of the house in a few weeks. I am trying to donate to our local hospice all the stuff I have not been able to sell.

I am working to pull together the personal kit I will need to be a sailboat gypsy. I will be working on the fringes of what used to be my profession, while I consider moving on from that, too.

You guys and gals get to be some of my new friends.

I wonder if there is still (or every was, outside of Hollywood) a lifestyle of sailing your boat around some South Pacific islands, hauling people, supplies, just bumming, whatever? Be sure to read "And the Sea Will Tell," by Vincent Bugliosi first though...

Most of my friends and co-workers think it is crazy that I vacation without my family once per year. However I feel it is important for me to 'Adventure' and bond with with friends once a year as well as let whatever steam in the family that has been built up, go away.

For me fishing trips or backpacking trips that last ten days can make a whole year seem fulfilled without the sacrifice of scrapping for money, taking less than great jobs, etc.

A friend of mine though, worked at REI and they were extremely flexible with his Adventuring. He probably spent three months a year on outdoor activities for the company. Maybe you can mate your type of Adventure with a way to get paid for it.

My REI application has been in for some time. I am thinking about applying at the new Bass Pro set to open just south of me in October.

Truly depressing. Isn't it just like the government to take someone who's worked so hard to try and get just a little bit ahead and nonchalantly hang them out to dry? It's like they dont' want regular folks to do any better. I swear, if you want to get ahead in this day and age, you have to be willing to screw as many of your fellow man as possible, legally or otherwise. It is a sad indictment of our society and our leadership.

As for decompressing once a year, I call that elk camp. I haven't done that now since 2004. Maybe this year. Maybe that's also what's ruining my attitude.

When you have only what you need, isn't that a Bhuddist moment?

I have resigned myself to the notion that for the rest of my life it really doesn't matter too much how much harder I work, how many more sacrifices I am willing to make; I will not do any better than I am doing now, and it can only go downhill from here. Most likely my next assignment will mean some sort of pay cut. At least I am set now to do as much as I had planned for my family. I am at the point where I really can't be canned unless I quit on the job, the company can't afford to let me go, but they have no room left for me to expand, and I am unwilling to move up to corporate mgmt due to the law of diminishing returns.

The problem with winning the rat race I guess is the piece of cheese at the end of the maze is never what you expected it would be.

I've always heard that the problem with winning the rat race is that you're still a rat...;^)

No offense intended.

As for the wanting vs needing, yes it is a Buddhist thing. A great way of thinking and of dealing with the ebbs and flows of life in my opinion.

Benjammin, I don't know what you do or where you do it but I wouldn't ever count on being irreplaceable unless you own the business. And even then, things happen. I was forced to close down a very profitable small business due to the actions of another person that I couldn't foresee nor stop if I wanted to.
There are simply too many unknowns in the world.

John E

Ah..elk camp. Now that is exactly what I was trying to allude to.

When people look for changes in their life, there is always the need to 'have a fresh slate' or 'turn a new leaf', those comments don't mean, 'use a cheaper slate' or 'plant a whole new tree', it mean something needs to change to have a reboot in life.

Even small changes can have huge benefits. I go back to my one vacation a year by myself or bonding with a group of men that I have a strong relationship with, like my Godfather and cousin.

New jobs, new hangouts, new hobbies, can all turn a persons life in a completely new direction with fun and inspiration that doesn't often mean moving to a new city/state or giving away all your worldly possessions.

I see dweste's comments far to often amongst employees I work with. Whoever said the 'grass is not aways greener' is so right, but finding the grass is half the battle if you ask me and to stick with the metaphor, the 'grass' doesn't have to be the size of a golf course, it could be a very small plot. Meaning small changes can have huge benefits.

I hope whatever dweste is dealing with passes smoothly and gets exactly what is on the mind.