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If you have visited before and read my about page you will know that two of my BIG dreams were to quit my job, becoming financially self-sufficient and to move with my family to Thailand. While the news here is somewhat delayed I am happy to let you know that this post is being written from Bangkok Thailand and that I have been job free since May 2011.

Once You Realize Your Dreams, Then What?

This is a question many of us don’t contemplate during the daily struggle to make our dreams reality. Whether you are looking to have a $1 million net worth, to rid yourself of your reliance on a corporate job, to finally pay off your mortgage or just to finally have a cash cushion saved you should consider what will happen once these goals are reached. Especially in the case of big dreams the fulfillment can lead to a gaping void in your life and if you aren’t prepared for this you could be left aimless and wondering what went wrong.

I’m Living My Dream, So What Went Wrong

Back in May 2011 everything was looking up. Flight tickets were booked, belongings were sold off, notice was given to my employer and as you might imagine I was on top of the world. I was on the cusp of realizing two dreams that had driven me to work literally 7 days a week for the past 5 years and it felt like nothing could stop me…I was a god!
We arrived in Thailand on June 7th, 2011 and almost immediately began looking for a place to live and a job for my wife. We felt no need to sightsee, I had been to Thailand on over a dozen occasions and my wife grew up there plus we would be living here so there would be plenty of time to see the sights.

My wife found a job within a week and we found our apartment the following week. By June 24th we were settled into our new home. Now what?

Well the first couple months were devoted to finding our way around, learning where to buy certain products that weren’t readily available and just generally getting settled in. We were busy and after my long 5 years of 7 day work weeks I was happy to take a break.

By September I was getting antsy though. Culture shock had begun to set in, making me volatile over the smallest things at times. Added to that was the fact that I was for the first time in my life (at the age of 44) a stay at home dad. I loved being with my daughter, but it did begin to wear on me by November. I was beginning to feel as if I had no real purpose and that bothered the heck out of me.

In December I finally caught on to what my real problem was; a lack of meaningful work. I had been so focused on attaining the twin dreams of self employment and the move to Thailand that I had neglected to consider what I would do after. In fact, I was so focused that it took me 6 months to even realize why there was a void in my life. I’ve never claimed to be very bright though.

Dreaming the BIG Dream Again

The very first thing we did once I finally came to grips with my dilemma was to hire a nanny to help with my daughter. I know it may not sound very frugal (I’ve said before I have issues with frugality), but considering the low cost we feel it is very much worth it. The nanny works 6 hours a day, Monday-Friday all for the princely sum of THB7000. At the current exchange rate that works out to be $225/mo.

Once I had some free time again I began to think about what I would like to accomplish.

Much as we love Thailand my wife and I also love travel and currently we are not able to do much of that other than within Thailand. We both have dreams of seeing the world from Mexico to Argentina and from Russia to India. So the new dream revolves around increasing our freedom, mostly by creating additional income streams and most importantly passive income.

Really this is just an expansion of the original dream which was to create a location independent income sufficient to enable us to make the move to Thailand. With that in place I see that I didn’t dream big enough in the first place. Location independence should be exactly that, the ability to move freely to any location in the world.
It feels good to have a concrete purpose again and to be working towards a goal. Being able to dream big dreams and create stepping stone goals along the way is important to us as people. It is through the striving to realize these dreams that we improve not only our own lives, but frequently the lives of those around us as well.

What are your dreams and how close are you to realizing them? Do you dream big enough?