Many who know me also know that I don’t believe our generation might ever retire. Retirement was just a concept introduced to phase people from physically excruciating jobs. Most jobs of our generations do not require us to do physical labor. In our later years, I believe we might just work on projects that are less mentally taxing.

Considering that we are also living longer, post-retirement life technically seems boring. And you’ll see a lot more people working well into their 70s and still working.

I, too, don’t see myself completely retiring. I’ll need some sort of hobby or project to keep me occupied unless I’m disabled to do so. In that light, it’s even more important for me define what my goals are when once I’m fully financially independent. As I read through Work Optional by Tanja Hester of Our Next Life blog, I thought it’s important to list down my goals for the life I want. In her book, she talks about an idea of a vision board.

I really liked that idea of having a vision board. It defines what our goals are so that we can be true to ourselves. Of course, I am still in my early 30s so some of those goals might slightly change. Here are mine —

Day to day life

When are you the happiest?

I’m happiest when I’m trying to learn something new. I absolutely love the process of learning. The initial days of struggle and submerging myself into the trying things again and again until one gets it right, is what drives me. The thing with learning something new is it requires a lot of time. It requires a lot of undivided attention. It requires time to mourn the failures. When you’re working for money, you’re disadvantaged as you can’t afford time for these experiences.

What do you want to make time for everyday?

I value my alone time a lot. Born and brought up in a typical Indian middle class family, alone time are way too little. My aim would be make sure I’m able to get at least 2 hours of free time to explore what I want to without being bombarded with responsibilities. It really could be spent training for marathon, deep diving more into coffee.

What are your favourite hobbies?

Over the last few years I’ve grown interest in a variety of things — coffee and farming is something I never would have imagined. In fact, due to COVID if all goes down, I plan to get into farming full time or be involved in the industry in some way. I’ve been dreaming about being self reliant for almost 2 years now. It’s a little tricky but I feel it’s doable.

Farming also involves a lot of physical labour. For the last few years sitting on my ass and not working out much has me appreciate jobs involving at least a little physica

Big picture dreams

What did you dream of doing when you were a kid?

I was never the kind of person who would dream about being something. The one or two times I really liked a profession was when I had some exceptional teachers. However, the engineering course drowned all those dreams. I’m happy being someone who’d not have any goals. And I want to be comfortable in my skin with pressure from the world of rent, utility bills, etc.

What role do you want travel to play in your life?

I have been binging on the Tiny House movement. I love the minimalism that it represents and I love how one can move with your whole freaking house wherever you want. At some point in my life, I would love to explore the alternate way of living traveling mountains and sipping coffee. In fact, this blog was created to live that life.

What else is on your life list or bucket list?

Ocassional farming or living on a farm is another thing I would love to explore. I imagine it would give you a completely different kind of confidence to live a self sustaining life.

Legacy and purpose

After you’re gone, how do you want to be remembered?

What problems in your community or beyond do you wish you could solve?

I am not too much to legacy and purpose. I don’t care if I’m remembered once I’m gone. I want to live a life true to myself.

Self worth

Are you trying to live up to someone else’s expectations?

You can’t deny that one can get influenced by the people around you. I sometimes get influenced too. Finding the courage to being true to yourself takes just a few hours of solace and thankfully I have been able to do that.

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