ten years ago / now

This post is inspired by a post I read over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich.   It’s about a guy who asked himself one day, ‘What do I want my life to be like in five years?’ and did something to make that happen.

I can actually predict fairly easily where I’ll be in five years – still in Perth, still in the same line of work, just with more properties (at the rate we’re going, anyhow).  But when I read the post, I immediately thought back to not five, but ten years ago.

I was 22.  My fiance had broken up with me, so I had moved out of our single-bedroom unit, back in with my parents.  We had bought a place together six weeks before he broke up with me, so I ended up buying his half from him.  I was sellling petrol at a service station on a full time, shift-work basis, four days out of eight, ten hours a shift.  I wasn’t allowed a stool to rest on, in case I served people sitting down (which I would never do – apart from being rude, it would have been too difficult to work the till). 

I had recognised that, like James, I needed to do something to bring about change in my life.  As a result, I had returned to uni.  Full time.  I was working full time, and studying full time.  I was pretty much forced to do it this way – my mortgage needed to be paid (the rent from the tenant didn’t cover the mortgage) and if I studied part time, I would’ve been 28 by the time I finished my degree.  Even I could see that the best way to move things alone and change my life, sucking it up and doing it as quickly as possible was the way to get my life back on track.

Wow, it was tough.  It was really tough.  I was tired all the time; I had to miss lectures if I couldn’t change my work shifts, which were on an eight-day cycle, so changed every week; I didn’t buy any new clothes, or food on campus or at work - I took it from home.  I used to chance my luck and park at uni without buying a parking ticket, because if I was careful, I could park for free.  I rarely went out with my friends for dinner or clubbing, and if I did, I’d eat before I left the house (so I could order an entree) or be the designated driver (so I didn’t have to spend money on alcohol).  I stopped getting my hair cut.

It was so worth it.  Even at the time, I could see that.  I also think that my attitude to life then is reflected by my attitude now.  Life was very tough, but I made the best of it.  I enjoyed uni, I coped with work, I kept in touch with my friends.  I didn’t spend much money, but I still enjoyed life.  This is similar to now.  SO and I spend very little money on consumer goods and ephemeral stuff.  Despite having a high disposable income, we’ve chosen to get heavily involved in property, which has sucked up the majority of it through our costs being greater than our rental income.  It’s the whole ‘deferred gratification’ thesis – you put up with some restrictions now, to set ourselves up for later. 

Definitely, those tough years gave me the ability to look past the present and look to the future, to hang onto the ultimate goal.  We both do it now.  About six months ago, I floated the idea of retiring in ten years’ time to SO.  This idea has grown to almost be a set-in-concrete goal.  Today I found myself saying to a coworker, ‘When we retire in ten years….’  Even the counselling course I’ve enrolled in will fit in beautifully with the plan.  I could see a handful of people a week, and that would give us the same income I earn now working 38 hours a week.  It would fit in perfectly to a retirement where I’m still mentally active, enjoy helping people, and am fascinated by the choices of others.

Anyhow, I suspect this post has been rambling and tangential.  I just felt compelled to work through my reactions.