It's kinda a discovery about myself.
So it's kinda my own observation about myself and may not apply to everyone.
I was penning a response to a reader who dropped me an email.
And I realized that for the past 2 years or so, I've been really happy with my current situation/place in life.
Now, sometimes, I get moody, like the weather may be cold and I get grumpy when I'm in Paris.
Or that I'm overseas and I miss home.
But, overall, I'm really happy with where I am in life as a whole.
And I was thinking about why. Why did I feel so lost a couple of years back.
Whereas now, I'm pretty much able to live in the moment.
Couple of years back, I had enough savings to last me a long time, but I suspected that the money might run out eventually. So I was still concerned about the future.
However, after learning about freegan lifestyle, and being able to craft out the parts that suited me, this enabled me to realize that many of my expenses are unnecessary.
I was able to cut my expenses to a lower amount. I still spend when I go out, but a lot of things are free.
Also, during these past 2 years, we paid off our housing loan.
So there is one less stress on my mind. Basically, everything we earn via my wife's work or our investments are ours to keep. We only need to care about what we consume.
And since from my past tabulation, my fixed expenses per month is around $700 for the whole house, anything above that is discretionary spending.
Here is my one year expenses and an average over the 12 month period.
So when my wife eventually retires, we should be able to live comfortably on $1,200 per month in 2020 dollars.
If we can match our investments with inflation and along with our CPF Life, we should have no issues for the future.
For me, I never really thought about this until recently.
The thing is... for me now...
The past can't be changed, and I've taken care of my future.
So I can live in the now.
I don't need to keep thinking about the future and worry if there is enough money or if I will run out.
Which was how I was living last time. I kept thinking and worrying about the future, and that prevented me from living in the now.
I liken this to a kid who is usually happy just enjoying the day and playing around.
They don't think about their past, cos they don't have much.
And they also don't think about the future. Cos well, they are kids, and their parents take care of them at this point. So they don't think about much until they start school.
And I find this freedom, very liberating.
This ability to live in the now.
I enjoy myself today, I don't need to think much about anything, just think of how to enjoy myself and be happy, and tomorrow, I just need to repeat it all over again.
I recognize that this isn't easy to attain. And different people will want different things before they are able to come to their own personal balance.
For me, I just needed to accept my past. I may have wanted to do other things in my past, etc. May have some regrets. BUT... I've come to terms with them. It's all in the past and nothing can be done about it anymore.
What's important was my future... or so I thought.
And now, I've also settled my future. I paid up my house, and have some investments. It's not a lot compared to what many people have or hope to accumulate in the FIRE community.
But with a low expense and the ability to obtain many things for free, I'm really comfortable AND I don't even experience a decrease in overall lifestyle.
And so... I now live in the now. Which is really great.
For me, this was a great personal journey and revelation.
And I understand it's not easy to attain.
Many people can't let go of the past. Or they may lie to themselves.
Or many people also can't feel secure, even if they have a lot of money.
Or maybe, this solution is pretty much only suitable for a certain type of people, or maybe it's only unique to me.
Cos different people want different things in life, so each person will have a different "future" that they are concerned about.
Or maybe some of you might already be living in the now, cos you're able to overcome your past and future in other ways, suitable for your own scenarios. Or maybe some people don't even need to overcome anything to live in the now and it comes as second nature to them.
For me, this was a really interesting revelation for myself and how I view my own life.
And I hope that readers will eventually be able to settle all your other issues and live in the now as well.
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