T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 58
Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #58!
Here are some things I really like and that you might too.
Financial Independence/Retirement Articles
Comfort Zones Are Where Dreams Go To Die (1500 Days) – “Figure out where your potential is and go after it.”
How we misanalyze indulgences (Financial Chain Breakers) – “There’s no such thing as “just” a cup of coffee or “just” a Peloton subscription.”
Video
This video from Freehub Magazine is a gem. To quote the featured subject, “I stumbled into a job at Boeing and I worked that job for 22 years. And during that time I realized that having time but little money was more important than having money but little time. So the wheels started going in my mind – what would I like to do? And I just reached a point that I wanted to do this before my body gave out”.
As the header says, you can buy just about anything in this world but time.
Who’s Inspired Me
Quinn Brett.
Quinn Brett was a professional rock climber, a total badass. She lived a life in the vertical world, setting speed records around the world on iconic rock climbs and big walls. In 2017 while attempting a speed record on a route on Yosemite’s famous El Capitan, she took a 120 foot fall and struck a ledge. Her life was changed forever.
Paralyzed from the waist down, she had to reimagine her life of adventure. For someone with a passion for outdoor adventure, her fate seemed a prison sentence. But she’s forged a new path as an adaptive athlete who still moves in the the outdoors. In 2020 she did something utterly incredible – she rode the most famous off road long distance mountain bike trail in the world, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) on a 3-wheeled e-trike. It’s 2,696 miles of wilderness, mountains, and pain. If you want to get inspired and watch a tough-as-nails human do something amazing, watch this short film about her adventure. This piece on Brett from Patagonia is also a great look at her life and her new passions.
What I’m Grateful For
A new independent grocery store that’s opened near my house. They have a policy of not selling anything processed or with added sugar, and they sell mostly single-ingredient whole foods at decent prices.
Lyrically Speaking
I don’t wanna feel like I don’t have a future
I don’t wanna feel like it’s an end of a summer
Let’s not fall back to sleep like we used to
I don’t wanna wake up knowing I don’t have a future
From “Impossible” by Shout Out Louds
Shout Out Louds are a Swedish band who formed over 20 years ago and immediately made a mark with their hooky, melodic brand of rock/pop. They’re one of my favorite bands who are distinctly not in the roots or Americana genre and who feature synths and electronics in their music. Their focus on melody and real instrumentation anchors their songs in a more traditional rock ethos and allows the electronics to paint beautiful highlights instead of making them sound computerized, auto-tuned, and inhuman like so many other bands.
As for the lines above, I’m so glad I lived smartly and achieved financial independence so I won’t have to suffer in a job I don’t like until I’m 65. That would be like knowing I don’t have a future.
Miscellaneous
Does Exercise Affect Lifespan? – “How knowing the answer in advance can undermine science.”
Reweaving The Wild – “Human roads have utterly fragmented the world of wild animals but the engineering to reconnect the pieces is in our grasp.”
COVID-19 Mortality Risk Correlates Inversely with Vitamin D3 Status, and a Mortality Rate Close to Zero Could Theoretically Be Achieved at 50 ng/mL 25(OH)D3 – “The datasets provide strong evidence that low D3 is a predictor rather than just a side effect of the infection.”
good stuff as always, dave. i watched the mountain bike guy and he seemed pretty cool. mrs. smidlap has always discouraged me buying a sprinter van because she knows i would probably end up wanting to live in it….probably down by the river.
I started singing Neil Young’s “Down by the river” and picturing you and your dog, chilling out to that long epic guitar solo. get that van!
That is a stellar video, it was what I was going to do for a bit but a certain pandemic put a twist in things. Prior to that I tried to hit every National Park west of the Continental Divide to hike in 3 weeks. Did that and wanted to return to do it via bike in those same regions. That is why I left work, to find the time to do these things. Great roundup this week.
You are a ‘beard brother’ with that guy! And man that goal you set sounds epic, the pics you’d get would be amazing.
A thought provoking video Dave!
Obviously he is living the life he desires and making the most of it. That is something to be admired and everyone should think about what is meaningful and fulfilling to them.
Having observed that, it raises the concern of what he’ll do when his body starts giving out. Doesn’t sound like he has much of a plan for his later years of retirement. Appreciate the video as it is thought provoking!
That part of his story is a mystery, to your point I’m not sure if he’s got that figured out. But he sure looks like he’s enjoying the here and now
Thanks for the shout out! Also, that’s fascinating about vitamin D3. Not being a science person, I’m going to have to read that pretty slowly. Hmmm, maybe making people stay indoors and shutting down playgrounds and camp grounds just made the problem worse by ensuring people got zero sunlight (and exercise)? Imagine that.
The list of things that are making the problem worse is too long to make. It’s too much of a politically charged issue so as a regular reader you know I won’t dive in, but let’s just say I’m left shaking my head everyday.