Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some life experience
I've been working in a career I love for five years after graduating with my Bachelor's. While I like my career and my industry (software engineering), my work experience hasn't been on-par of what I strive for in life (greatness). I decided to join a Master's program, and full time work + school has been rough, but quite rewarding. I'll be graduating in May and I'm ready for a new challenge, a.k.a, the Appalachian Trail. This idea came up in the bar, after class, as another student was telling me about his experience with the trail. I went home, did some research, and became committed to the idea.
The Appalachian Trail has a few purposes for me:
- Physical challenge - I'm in good shape, but 2080 miles of good shape? I suppose I'll find out.
- Mental challenge - As a young adult, I always had the idea of living in my grandpa's dome, in the woods, away from everyone else... all alone. I think going SOBO will give me plenty of alone time also, as I've grown older, I've become more extroverted, so I no longer want to live alone, but I still would like to see how much alone time I can handle.
- EXIT the Rat Race - Go to school, get a job, get a car, get a house, get a girl (still work on this one , etc. I never really had a plan, other than to always move forward and aim high. I've become consumed by money and material things. Funny thing is, it kills me, because independence and autonomy are what make me happy. Instead I'm being drowned by the need for advancing my career, status, bank account, etc. So, yeah, the AT may be a quick exit.
But how should I handle this? I have an idea called "the purge". This involves:
- Quitting my job - Done: done, I took a 3-month contract job to fill the void to June/July
- End my lease - Done: the landlord is ready to amend the contract end date to June 30th
- Pay off credit card debt - Done: I just paid it all off today
- Selling my car - I made a good downpayment on a 2012 Subaru Legacy in 2011. If I sold the car today, I would be able to pay off the remainder and have about $2k extra.
- Furniture - Yeah, I've accumulated a bunch of ****... 50" TV, couch, recliner, king size bed, bookcase, large computer desk, etc. Sell it all. Except maybe the king size bed, when I start life again, I think I would like to start with a king size bed
- Cancel services - Cable, cell phone, Netflix, Hulu, gym membership, etc.
What does this leave me with? On the positive side, I still have my Roth and small investment account, five years of experience and a Master's in a booming industry. On the downside, I'm pretty much have no assets, $200/month in health insurance, and a $40k student loan i need to start paying off when I get done.
I laid it out. Any life experience would be appreciated here. I'm getting a little nervous about selling the car. I actually want to start using the bus for a 45 days, and once I got that down, sell the car. I have no problem biking once the weather gets better. Once I sell the car, I need to sell the TV and cancel the cabel/internet :/ But the trail... it's going to be awesome. I hope
Thanks,
Andrew