Ever considered abandoning your 9 to 5 slave life for one filled with adventure and excitement? Hell, I certainly have…. and may just secretly aspire to, what may seem as, getting lost.
Bout some 2 years ago… I met a real-life, modern-day nomad. Found myself absolutely fascinated with him and his lifestyle of nowhereness seeming more like somewhereness than nothingness. Chad was from America originally and in his late teens decided to take off … let’s just say to find himself. It appeared though that Chad found the world instead. No 9 to 5… no assets that needed administering … no cars to be serviced… no deadlines … no stress about tomorrows… just life and a journey of never-ending exploration. Damn I could live like that!
Chad travelled from country to country, with no particular mission in mind, but just to explore the different faces and places he came across. Living on almost nothing- he carried with him a few items of clothing and well that was pretty much it… no phone…no laptop …no special travelling gear… no Facebook even at the time…just himself with the world to get lost in. To fund his continuous travels he’d do some contract work …. wherever and whatever… and use that money for flights, accommodation and food… all he ever needed to survive. Prior to coming to SA, he at some point packed fish in Alaska for about 6 months before continuing his travels. “I cannot complain of hassles along my journeys and you’d be surprised how helpful people can be” he mentioned. Upon my enquiry about where to next of course… he replied “not sure yet…. thinking India or Afghanistan”. Since we managed to convince him to at least open a Facebook account …. it turned out to be India first and Afghanistan some time later.
To me it seemed Chad exuded this amazing sense of peace to match his simplistic, yet ever rich, lifestyle. This I like….. no… I love! I highly commend people like Chad bold enough to trade comfort and security for a life of adventure and exploration.
Why is it that we consume stuff…. we hoard stuff… work to attain all sorts of career goals and yet people are still unhappy. Even with all the stuff in the world that you or the Joneses could possibly attain- will this guarantee happiness…peace?
I often think a measure of one’s success is not the race to attain and consume but the amount of people whose lives we manage to touch in some way or another. That could be through work or just about anything you do as they mostly involve dealing with people. And if this is the philosophy of nomads like Chad, think we cannot judge or assume that seeming wanderers are lost.
Maybe its more about what being found might mean to you?
(Picture by me:-)
This was totally awesome, I really enjoyed this..
ReplyDeleteI read in the YOU magazine a couple of weeks ago also about a guy who was an IT technician/manager who dropped his R 58000K a month job to live alone off the land. He moved into a caravan, become vegetarian and lived off the land. In the process he sold everything. A posh flat, a stunning car and gave his money away..No fuss no stress. Then He picked up a lottery ticket.. Just for curiousity he went to check..He won millions.. But he does not wanna leave his life..NOW HE HAS STress...what to do with the money ...lokl.....Amazing..