It's getting close enough to announce it officially here.

[Harrison]

I really don't see how going after something not many people can ever dream to accomplish is accepting failure lmfao

I have my old age to sink into a drone lifestyle of working just for the sake of paying off bills that I didn't need.

How many of you could, if you even wanted to, do what I'm trying to do? I'd say almost none. You couldn't take months away from your kids, etc. for that long.

I don't have those anchors. I can do whatever the fuck I want with my life, because as of right now, it's still mine.

I'll "settle down" when I want to. There is nothing stopping me from doing it but my own free will. I'm not settling for a lesser life or whatever you want to think it is. I'm going after the things I want to, as I see fit. Not many people do that.

[Harrison]

I go to work, work my ass off, pay my bills, go to the gym, do the things I want to, and rinse/repeat.

The only thing I'm lacking I suppose is an apartment with roommates or of my own(or a house I can't afford adding to the country's problem), 10-15 years worth of debt in student loans, a car I can't afford(just sold mine), kids, and a debilitating addiction to something that will likely end up destroying my life. I'm so far behind everyone else my age.

[Jay]

I really don't see how going after something not many people can ever dream to accomplish is accepting failure lmfao

I have my old age to sink into a drone lifestyle of working just for the sake of paying off bills that I didn't need.

How many of you could, if you even wanted to, do what I'm trying to do? I'd say almost none. You couldn't take months away from your kids, etc. for that long.

I don't have those anchors. I can do whatever the fuck I want with my life, because as of right now, it's still mine.

I'll "settle down" when I want to. There is nothing stopping me from doing it but my own free will. I'm not settling for a lesser life or whatever you want to think it is. I'm going after the things I want to, as I see fit. Not many people do that.

I agree BUT you aren't even doing what you "want to do". I'm not trying to put you down Harri, but so many of your grandiose plans fail. Bike ride, hiking, military, independence: fail, fail, fail and fail. I don't believe you to be a failure of a person because honestly I read your posts and think as much of an asshole as you come off as on here that you're capable, intelligent BUT you are upstanding to a fault ie pushover.

I go to work, work my ass off, pay my bills, go to the gym, do the things I want to, and rinse/repeat.

The only thing I'm lacking I suppose is an apartment with roommates or of my own(or a house I can't afford adding to the country's problem), 10-15 years worth of debt in student loans, a car I can't afford(just sold mine), kids, and a debilitating addiction to something that will likely end up destroying my life. I'm so far behind everyone else my age.

Independence means being able to chase after your dreams without someone else's plans interfering with them. Amassing a debt to create opportunities for yourself isn't something to be ashamed of or frowned upon. If I had to accumulate 10-15 years of debt to do what I loved I'd do it in a heartbeat. Aside from being a pushover, I think your fatal flaw is that you measure yourself against the people beneath you. Yeah, lots of your friends are drug addicted losers and you're not and that's great considering you're all from the same environment, but think about how many people your age came from a similar situation and are so far ahead that they could just get up and go on this hike whenever they felt like it without anyone stopping them. Those are the people you need to compare yourself to.

There's nothing wrong with your dreams. Wanting to be in the military, cross country bike riding, this crazy long hike...all that stuff is great if that's your thing. Your problem is your plans are all held together by a thread. There's no strong foundation for you to accomplish anything unless every little detail of your plans come together, which statistically is probably impossible. I own my own house. Super. Was that my life dream? No, but if I decided to set aside months of my life to go climb Mount Everest I wouldn't have to find a place to live by the time I was done. I have enough resources to handle most setbacks as they were to occur and I could comfortably catch back up after I'd set aside my responsibilities for so long. That's how you chase a dream. Not by pawning everything you own.

[Lyion]

I really don't see how going after something not many people can ever dream to accomplish is accepting failure lmfao

Again, I respect doing something that appeals to you. However life is about balance. What job did you last hold? What next one will you hold?

Everyone has their own goals. Those goals are reached from smart planning.

Professionally, do you have any aspirations whatsoever.

I have my old age to sink into a drone lifestyle of working just for the sake of paying off bills that I didn't need.

You work a hell of a lot harder than most people here do and probably for peanuts. The trick here is most of us exerted the effort to get into a position to do anything we want, and to be our own person, and have a nice job with vacation. Despite your fears those are good things.

How many of you could, if you even wanted to, do what I'm trying to do? I'd say almost none. You couldn't take months away from your kids, etc. for that long.

It is not a competition. I did what I wanted to do at your age, but at the same time kept my eye on the career prize. I'd bet almost everyone here did far more than you, since it's much easier to have fun if you aren't a dependent. I'll be glad to list where I was at your age if you really want a comparison.

I don't have those anchors. I can do whatever the fuck I want with my life, because as of right now, it's still mine.

I'll "settle down" when I want to. There is nothing stopping me from doing it but my own free will. I'm not settling for a lesser life or whatever you want to think it is. I'm going after the things I want to, as I see fit. Not many people do that.

You can always do what you want. Life is about choices. What we are discussing is having enough planning to do fun things today, but not have to live like a refugee tomorrow. You never have to be married or have kids. I have plenty of friends who do not.

You keep getting defensive, and that's a good thing. Your sister is essentially your Mom right now and you are stuck in teenager land acting like a kid. You keep discussing indepedence and responsibility as if those things are curses. Guess what? That's being an adult. It sounds like nobody expects you to grow up, which is a shame.

If you were a worthless fucking stoner chud, that'd be one thing, but you aren't. What Jay and I think is you could set yourself up, not have to kill yourself with crappy jobs, and be in good shape for your future without having to depend on 'Mom' or 'Dad' to take care of you with just a little planning.

...or at 30 you could still be making shit money living the high life, not worrying about anything and chasing the dream, in your somewhat misguided eyes....

Essentially, we have a higher opinion of you than you <or Leah> do.

I wish you nothing but luck man. I just think you should stop and look at the big picture.

[Tikker]

I'll "settle down" when I want to. There is nothing stopping me from doing it but my own free will. I'm not settling for a lesser life or whatever you want to think it is. I'm going after the things I want to, as I see fit. Not many people do that.

I don't think you understand that "settling down" is NOT settling

Creating a family, while cliched, is one of the greater accomplishments possible

Most of us here are way more independent than ever have been

You're like the old hippy in the back who keeps yellin about sticking it to the man, and living the way you want to live

[Gypsiyee]

My general agreement with everyone else notwithstanding, I do hope you're able to complete your dream, Harrison.

I've always been someone who wanted to be settled and comfortable. Debt aside (as is required with large purchases such as an education and a home), I'd say I'm pretty darn settled. But looking back, of course there are several things I haven't done yet. I don't look at closing in on 30 as the death of my ability to do the things on my bucket list, though.. quite the opposite. I'm okay with being settled and boring in my 20s because I know it'll pay dividends in the future. All depends on perspective, really.

One of Jonathan's best friends from back home recently did something not dissimilar. Saved up some cash, left NZ with no idea what he was going to do next, and traveled the world for a year and a half or so picking up odd jobs here and there to sustain him for the next location. He visited a few different places on 3 different continents, and I can't say I'm not envious of his ability to just pick up and abandon everything without looking back having no idea what he'd do later. While I would've loved to be able to do something so carefree, the practical side of me is much more satisfied with my boring and settled life. Personally, I'm not okay with instability. I'm terribly future focused and anything I do has to have a master plan to it. Sure, I've taken steps and made moves that people could've (and some have) regarded as careless, reckless, or even foolish, but in my master plan they all made sense and played a part in the grand scheme of what I was going for as the end result. So far, things are falling into place brilliantly, albeit slowly.

At the end of the day, it's foolish to have a debate over whose way is more intelligent. Those of us who settle early will inevitably look back with what ifs once in a while, and those of us who stay wild a little longer than expected face some hard challenges down the road. As long as you're okay with knowing that eventually you're going to reach a point where chasing latest and greatest adventure isn't really going to be feasible for life sustainability, then that's fine for you. No one is going to have the same life plan.

I tend to echo the others when saying that your previous visions of grandeur haven't always worked out in your favor, and at some point it just seems akin to having that crazy uncle with all the get rich quick schemes that never work out.

I certainly hope, though, that you do get to accomplish your goals and get to a point where you've really been able to do what you needed to fulfill yourself. Your way isn't necessarily better than mine, or vice versa. We all follow different paths.. I think that for the most part, people aren't attacking you here, though. It's more just concern for you and that your path isn't quite a path yet as much as it is a maze. No matter where you end up, how long it takes you, or what path ends develops, though, you'll find your way eventually to whichever way you're supposed to be going. No amount of dispute or advice on a message board is going to shape that. Like most people, you're just going to have to find out what it is that's going to work for you.