There's a lot of us who feel the way you do. Fifty years in the corporate rat race, in a gilded cage, comfortable but no real freedom, no adventures, certainly doesn't appeal to everyone. I can't stand that kind of life either.

There's so many ways to live a life. You don't have to be stuck in a corporate cage. There's so many other ways to make a living.

One of my big influences when I was in high school, in the early 1980s, was a book by Peter Jenkins, "A Walk Across America", about a young college graduate, disillusioned with the corporate straitjacket he was expected to put on, instead decided to go on a long walk, coast to coast, from the coast of New York, down to New Orleans, to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. Took him nearly six years to do it, one of the happiest times of his life.

I've done similar, if nothing so ambitious, and my time of wandering too, was one of the happiest of my life. I saw things few people ever get to see.

There's also folks travelling around the entire globe, on very little money. Amazon has lots of books on travelling around the world, if you want. People with less wealth than you have done it via everything from walking across the continents, to motorcycling, to sailing their own boat.

This is the 21st century. There's the internet now, and laptops, and you have those computer skills already. If you don't mind that kind of work, you can do that anywhere. One book that talks about how is "Laptop Millionaire". If you have a laptop and wifi, you can make money anywhere there's wifi access. Or even get satellite internet, which will let you get online from the remotest corners of the planet.

I too was severely depressed, trapped in the city of Denver, badly wanting out. One summer day, with $150 in my pocket and no job, I got on my $10 thrift shop bicycle, with a backpack on, and just started bicycling west. A month-long tour of the Colorado Rockies, done on all of $150. Climbed two 14,000-foot mountains pushed my bike up 11 mountain passes, coasted down the other side--and I'm able to coast for more than 50 miles at a stretch.

That was the happiest month of my entire life. And I did it on less money than most people make in 2 days working a job they hate. I'm so glad I chose to do it then, when I was still young and capable of that kind of exertion.

Read a book, Dove, about a teen boy who sailed around the world, alone, on his own saiboat--and he did it in the days before the internet and GPS.

Not saying that kind of stuff is what you should do. Just saying, life is full of possibilities. And if you want out of the corporate cage, it's possible. If you want more freedom and adventure, it's there. All you need is a little courage, some planning, and a willingness to buck the naysayers who prefer their little gilded cages.

Adventures are so much better when you're still young. You'll learn things you never would've imagined. And you'll build memories you'll treasure for a lifetime.

Nothing wrong with taking a few years off, then returning to the corporate world if that's what you want to do then. Many have done it.

u/appgrad22 · 2 points r/GetMotivated

He wrote a book about it called "Dove". Really easy read, and I would recommend it.

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