Advice/Brainstorming- what would you do with almost complete freedom?

There are many (imho) thoughtful Jedi here, so I thought I would come here to request advice. Not to necessarily take up your advice, but more to get ideas, and get a sense of the feasiblility/rationality of my own ideas. To brainstorm, if you will :laugh:

My issue is this. Basically, this upcoming year I have the opportunity to do (basically) whatever I want. I'm debt free, I have about 3k in the bank, I have nothing (that I can think of) holding me back from travelling.

I want to take advantage of this opportunity, but I don't want to leave May 2013 broke or in an "unsavory" situation (in other words, a situation where I cannot independently survive or get out of.)

So: if you were in my situation, what would you do?

Would you invest the money? Move someplace far away? What kind of job would you try to acquire? Take a vacation? Gain a specific new skill?

Any idea you have, I want to hear, no matter how vague or specific (though it needs to be something that I can see the reason for doing- "go hunt zebras from a helicopter" is something one can do, but why would one do it? If you can give a reason for your idea, that would be extra awesome!)

I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!

Well, find what you REALLY love to do! And get certified in that thing. Then travel to your favorite place where that is done and enjoy!

I would also suggest keeping at least 1K saved up and untouched. As to the rest, the more you give the more you recieve imo. Try to give whatever little you have and share with the less fortunate and I think you will find that you will never struggle in this life for money, nice things, and happiness.

Been living by that philosophy my whole life, and now at 22 I have the world practically, but I share it with EVERYONE :lol:. The Force takes care of it's children when they take care of each other.

I would probably try to combine travelling with doing stints of voluntary work, if you wanted to go travelling to places that lend themselves to that kind of thing anyway. That way you will often get accommodation and other such things provided, plus you get to help people! What could be better?!

I might also take the opportunity to say to myself "where is the one place/thing in the world that I really want to see but otherwise might never manage to visit?", and make a special trip to see it, money permitting. I'm not sure what mine would be, maybe Machu Picchu? I've never actually thought about it that much!

Learning a new skill sounds like a good idea too! There are loads of skills I would love to learn but don't seem to have the time for. Perhaps you could combine that with travelling too? For instance, I have a friend who wanted to study Mandarin at university and wanted to learn Kung Fu. So she spent a year travelling around China staying at different martial arts academies taking courses which are specially designed for people with that purpose.

something that has recently been wandering through my mind has been....simply going walkabout(to use the aussie term)...just walk in any direction i feel myself pulled, helping people along the way...lately i've had many days where i see myself simply walking...sometimes across the country, making stops along the way in various towns and getting to know the people...odd huh...even odder i see myself doing this in my robes...oh well

Hypatia wrote: So: if you were in my situation, what would you do?
Would you invest the money? Move someplace far away? What kind of job would you try to acquire? Take a vacation? Gain a specific new skill?

it has been so long since i was in your situation, i dont even remember what i did. i guess first, i would do what you are doing and brainstorm both on paper and crowdsourcing here. then i would gauge the feasability of that course of action (cost included of course). your last question i found interesting tho. also in light of some of the prior comments. some would like you to give generously. i disagree. invest in you. secure your future, as well as the future of your offspring by doing this, be it furthering your education or opening a small business or so on and so forth. the point is invest. and the example i am thinking of is guys like bill gates and warren buffett. they concentrated 100% on their careers and companies for decades, made it to the top, and in the case of buffett at least, now have literally BILLIONS with which to contemplate philanthropic activities. that they probably would have been able to accrue if they hadnt been investing their time in money in those things as they had.

that sounds callous. and also i dont personally follow it. i DO spend a good chunk of my time and money in volunteer and philanthropic activities. i guess i am saying, all things in moderation. even that. give, but not so much that you are messing yourself up.

cool?

You could come visit your awesome Jedi friends over in the UK for a gathering...

Akkarin wrote: You could come visit your awesome Jedi friends over in the UK for a gathering...

:ohmy: That is a totally awesome idea! Stuff all my sensible ideas, do this instead! :laugh:

Akkarin wrote: You could come visit your awesome Jedi friends over in the UK for a gathering...

is there a gathering every year...and is it all over the place or in one country at a time? im not old enough yet but i would love to meet everyone...

Depending on what was in store for me after the year was up, I would do something like the walkabout. I would go to the Western states and get out of my car. Try and start it when I got back next year so I could go home. I am in need of a long quiet rest in a place far away. A place where I can center myself so I can face the rest of my life. Someplace like a monastery.

There are not too many opportunities for a person to regroup their thoughts, emotions, and understanding of themselves. Being my age, I am closer to the end than the beginning, I would like to focus myself and get a hold of my "being" so that all of the teachings and lessons I have learned, can be put into action.

Follow your bliss?


(yay, first in on that quote)