I learned of the death of a friend last night. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in November. It’s now March and he’s gone.

So I was scrolling through his Facebook page last night, reading all of the memories and thoughts that his friends had left (and there were many because Dave was a wonderfully crazy guy). But there was one post that caught my eye. One that just stopped me in my tracks.

It was the line that read “He was just two years from retirement”.

I have another dear friend who was diagnosed with stage III lung cancer late last year. There’s a decent chance he’ll beat it, but … every conversation I have ever had with him has included his countdown until retirement. And he’s close. Damn close. On both counts.

American culture tells us that these are the risks. And there’s a part of me that just wants to rail against the system right at this moment, but I can’t change the American way of life. I can’t get us all the healthcare that should be our human right. But I can share what Nikki and I talked about last night.

Dave’s death rocked us. He was a tough as nails, really good guy. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved life. And now he’s gone.

There’s one argument that he died happy. He had his wife and daughter. He had all that he had worked for. But I knew Dave. And I know my other friend. They didn’t keep a calendar full of crossed-off “days until retirement” because they hated the idea of pursuing dreams that didn’t involve work. They wanted to experiment and enjoy a different life.

Earlier this year I had to make a decision. I had taken two years off from my own work to “live while I’m still alive”, to quote Jon Bon Jovi. And live we did. But last month the time had come to go back to the 9-5 world of software engineering … and I couldn’t do it.

“How will I survive financially”, I thought. How could I possibly make it to the end of my days if I didn’t work and bring in the big bucks? Pad the ole nest egg?

My answer was to redefine my needs. For me, I choose to live right now. Two months down here in Baja exploring and learning. Being frugal. Living not for what I can purchase, but for what I can experience. And this makes me happy.

I actually hate to use the word retirement, because that implies that “work” is the priority. That you’re supposed to hope and pray that when you can finally stop feeding the country’s economy and all those corporate shareholders, that you still have enough health left to do more than watch Jeopardy from your favorite chair.

Nikki and I both expressed a lot of emotions last night. Fear, sadness, loss. But individually and together we also stated that we had made the right decision back in 2022. Leaving the grind of corporate service and instead going on a journey of finding ourselves. Choosing discovery over performance. The sheer number of people that we have met and interacted with, learned from … it’s been incredible.

And there is no way that we can stop now.

I had initially wanted to make this post a preachy one, where I encouraged everyone to follow suit. But that’s not right either. My idea of a wonderful life probably isn’t yours. But there is commonality. And that’s … don’t wait.

Checking off the days until you can do something? American culture and retirement aren’t the enemy … waiting is. I have so many friends who are just currently waiting for the day when they can blah-blah-blah. Because they don’t have time right now. Won’t it be great when …

What happens if that day doesn’t arrive as expected?

Please. Stop waiting for whatever it is you’re waiting for. Stop making excuses. Push past the fear and indecision and make your life your own.

Are you tired of your normal 9-5 suburban existence? Do you dream of living on the open road, becoming an expat, or just traveling wherever your heart wants to wander? Then have we got a FOUR STEP PROGRAM for you!

https://nomads.academy

Do you have a story that you’d like to tell on our Reflections Podcast? What, you didn’t know we had a podcast?

Reflections is a video podcast, simultaneously broadcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many other outlets. Each episode showcases a storyteller who share tales from their own lives. Successes, failures, lessons learned. Travel, humor, and real life.

And we’d like to feature YOU as a storyteller!

What type of story are we looking for?

Just about anything that personally changed your trajectory or outlook on life. An illness you overcame. A tragic or toxic situation. Something that you tried and failed repeatedly until you finally pushed through.