currently take three or four mini-retirements per year and know dozens who do the same. Sometimes these sojourns take me around the world; oftentimes they take me around the cormer— Yosemite, Tahoe, Carmel—but to a different world psychologically, where meetings, e-mail, and phone calls don’t exist for a set period of time.
Purging the Demons: Emotional Freedom
This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own im perfection. — SAINT AUGUSTINE (354 A.D-430 A.D.)
Tne freedom is much more than having enough income and time to do what you want. It is quite
possible—actually the rule rather than the exception—to have financial and time freedom but still be caught in the throes of the rat race. One cannot be free from the stresses of a speed- and size-obsessed culture until you are free from the materialistic addictions, time-famine mind-set, and comparative impulses that created it in the first place.
This takes time. The effect is not cumulative, and no number of two-week (also called “too wea yall
sightseeing trips can replace one good walkabout.4
In the experience of those I’ve interviewed, it takes two to three months just to unplug from obsolete routines and become aware of just how much we distract ourselves with constant motion. Can you have a two-hour dinner with Spanish friends without getting anxious? Can you get accustomed to a small town
where all businesses take a siesta for two hours in the afternoon and then close at 4:00 P.M.? If not, you need to ask, Why?
Learn to slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself and those around you. Chances are that it’s been a while. Take at least two months to disincorporate old habits and rediscover yourself without the reminder of a looming return flight.
The Fimancial Realities: It Just Gets Better
Tre economic argument for mini-retirements is the icing on the cake. Four days in a decent hotel or a
week for two at a nice hostel costs the same as a month in a nice posh apartment. If you relocate, the
expenses abroad also begin to replace—often at much lower cost—bills you can then cancel stateside. Here are some actual monthly figures from recent travels.
Highlights from both South America and Europe are shown side by side to prove that luxury is limited by your creativity and familiarity with the locale, not gross currency devaluation in third-world countries. It will be obvious that I did not survive on bread and begging—I lived like a rock star—and both experiences could be done for less than 50% of what I spent. My goal was enjoyment and not austere survival.
Airfare
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013958