Loaded question. There are so many factors that are out of your control that dictate your life and how you live.
Unfaithful spouse Car accident Family Health problems Geographic location Natural disasters Victim of crime
Plus many more shape our lives and govern its' freedom (to a bit).
Now if you're playing the hypothetical, optimistic side then the sky is the limit. What's the old saying? If you won the lottery and needed for nothing the remainder of your life but wanted to be productive and keep busy, what would you do? That answer should also be what you should pursue as a career anyway. Yet why don't most of us?
No chance of failure? That's the key to the debate. Fear of failure is what keeps anyone from taking that chance. You simply have to travel the safer road being a responsible adult, spouse and parent. People depend on you and in the real world your bank doesn't accept you losing your job due to outsourcing as a reason to skip several house payments. The same would hold true if you wanted to pour your life savings into a new business, which statistically has an 80% chance of failure.
But you wanna play the what if game. I can dig it. I'm hip. I want my very own cabinet shop with all the toys. Small furniture business employing maybe 10 people? Not mass produced warehouse junk but quality hand crafted furniture. That stamp on the bottom of that cherry coffee table means a lot if it stands for hard work, quality and made in America. I'd be a generous boss too. I'd buy everyone ice cream on Fridays lol.
On the weekends? Believe it or not I'd like to be that eventual "old guy" at the baseball park cutting the grass on the fields. Stringing the lines and laying the chalk, raking the infield between games and maybe even calling a few games. Helping run the concession stand or scoreboard. Whatever needed done. In a few years my kids will be teenagers so even though I'll be done with taking them to practices and games doesn't mean I have to leave it for good.
A good steak on the grill, horse shoes, burning a fire and relaxing by it, looking up at night and actually seeing stars instead of smog, loved ones by you, talking about old times and thinking about new ones.
Paul, I totally agree that life throws things our way that are out of our control sometimes. Big things. Devastating things. Life altering things.
I also believe that the vast, VAST majority of people make excuses, put things off, think of reasons why they can't or shouldn't do things, and are just generally held back by fear of failure, regret, embarrassment etc. Myself included. In fact it's the examination of my own life and how I live it that has got me thinking about this lately.
I just greatly admire people who live life to the fullest, follow their dreams, and don't let anything hold them back. If you want something, it's yours to go get, regardless of the hurdles life puts in front of you. No matter what your goal, and no matter what the obstacles, someone has probably achieved and overcome greater.
Paul, have you taken any steps to work towards starting your dream business? I ask that only out of curiosity. I don't know you personally enough to say whether you could/couldn't or should/shouldn't. And I'm not trying to sound like a motivational speaker or anything, I'm not qualified. Like I said it's being critical of myself that brought this up.
Sure I've thought about. It IS my dream lol. Seriously though life throws all kinds of distractions as you get older. Stabilizing a decent paying job, getting married and having kids, then getting divorced and having to raise them yourself. There were the days of getting myself and my two toddler kids up at 6 am, showered, dressed, breakfast and off to the babysitter. After a full days work it was in reverse. Every day.
I had to sell my cycle because not only did I not have any time alone to ride but raising a family by yourself requires sacrifices. One of which was not taking the chance of going down or getting sideswiped. I could be out of work for weeks or months (or worse). Who pays my bills then? I could lose my home or worse yet get sued on TOP of losing my home. Think Oprah worries about chit like that?
Then there's the capitol needed. You need insurance, licenses, adequate facilities, equipment, investment in raw materials, ect. That # could be $100,000+. With only a few years equity in my home and being the sole income, even 5 years ago banks laugh at that scenario as a loan app. Sadly for most of us the dream will stay a dream.
Now my goal is to move south to where the possibilities are much brighter. Cost of living, real estate, ect, make it possible to own a home outright in just a few years. THAT would make life in my early 50's fantastic. Then I could afford to focus on other things while I'm still young enough to experience them.
I admire those ppl too. It's just not in the cards for some. You see many good people try HARD at their dream and it goes up in smoke anyway. At least they swung at the plate. Then you see the guy who had his home given to him, living off his dad's $$ and bouncing from one vaca to the next. Recession? Not for some. It just means he has to rent one of his shore homes for the summer. Big sacrifice huh? Or the million $ celebrity/sport star who is facing foreclosure/bankruptcy. Caught shoplifting???? Are you kidding me?
Well worth the read good thoughts by both of you. In a different sense im stepping up to the plate with my body losing the weight getting cut and fit like Ive always wanted to. it will take me another 6 months to get there but the point is even with my health issues I realized I could do better and this body is as much a part of the journey as these dreams and aspirations your speaking of. I mean your body is with you 100% of the time theres no escaping it. What you do now with your body can also make a big difference what your quality of life is like in later years as well. All right im done for now.