What Does Life After Reset Look Like?

My Early Reset initiated with several longer trips. I went and did the national parks in Montana and Wyoming for 2 weeks. I went camping in Colorado for several days. I visited finance friends in Seattle and explored Washington and Oregon for a week and a half with no real plans as to when I’d get back to Reno. But I also was in the process of moving so it also involved me selling most of my personal belongings so I could fit nearly all my life in my car. It was figuring out what health insurance I’d need. It was driving across the entire US as I moved my stuff into my parent’s house in Florida. My passion in life has always been traveling. Having a place to store my stuff as I figure out what the nomad life is like is definitely a benefit, but I could have also gotten a storage unit. However, I am lucky to have family support in the form of a place to sleep to figure out what it is I want to do, but I also did several things around the house to help my parents while I was there. I had a nice relaxing time at home for the holidays. A little COVID scare within the family- can this pandemic please be over? I attended CampFI to meet some other FI minded people. I went out on dates; I bought a kayak so I could take others out since my retirement gift to myself was an inflatable paddleboard. I babysat my niece who just turned one and helped a family friend with putting up her Christmas tree.

The last month or so I’ve been exploring the state of Florida, as all the other states are experiencing winter and going internationally can prove to be difficult with the changes of COVID testing. I have those moments when I just think, wow this is way better than being in an office or having flashbacks to being in an office, including even some nightmares about it. I’ve heard that it takes 6 months to really relax and de-stress so on those terms, it means maybe at the end of this month I’ll be getting over it.

My mind is in a much better head space. I’m happier and getting to go on regular adventures. I feel like I’m enjoying where my life is headed. There are a million unknowns, especially while traveling every day. Short term rentals are expensive in Florida at this point, even more expensive than hotels in many instances. I’ve been able to spend time helping others and enjoying family time. I’ve gone to some nice restaurants and had some visits with family that usually wouldn’t happen. I’m still very much learning what life is like in this reset early and transition phase, but I’m loving trying new things, having time to read books, painting, getting into sketching and learning about my creative self, starting this blog and getting to meet wonderful people without the restraint of only having 3-4 weeks off per year and weekends which just felt like they were to de-stress after a long week. The question to ask yourself with becoming financially independent is what will you do with those extra 2,000 hours a year when you’re not working? If you don’t know that answer, don’t fret you will figure it out.