Give me a rowboat or give me death

Perhaps it's appropriate that I want to move to an island. Because sometimes, I feel like I'm already on one.

I don't claim to be strong enough, smart enough, or fast enough to join the world's rich; floating around the Caribbean in their super yachts, powered by the automated cash flow that years of superb decision making has awarded them. And yet I always wondered what, if anything, separated me from them. Perhaps I, too, could float around the Caribbean, if only in a sailboat, kept afloat by a small business or remote career. Certainly this lifestyle isn't just for the ultra wealthy, right?

Everything I had learned up until about a year ago told me that only by becoming a millionaire could I live out such a fantasy. However, I'm starting to believe that with the proper motivation, anyone can achieve this lifestyle. Unfortunately, it just takes a little longer than I had hoped. I'm a person who wants immediate results; I won't do many things that don't show me a benefit on-the-spot. Aside from being a bad life motto to begin with, this belief makes it very difficult to take the painful, necessary steps towards a care-free lifestyle...especially when you are unsure what steps to take and how successful they will ultimately be.

I do know one thing for certain: there are three levels of living. One is the basics; food, shelter, some form of companionship. These are the things that everyone requires to survive, and there are people who survive on just this. The second is the American lifestyle; a life of excess, a life of bigger, faster, more....now. And somewhere in between is the lifestyle of contentedness. A life where you do not struggle to provide for yourself, in part because you do not require as much. You are happy with a few small comforts and a deep connection with your fellow man.

This is the lifestyle I seek. And I fear I am one of the few in this area. Each day, I watch more of my friends dedicating more of their time to doing more work to make more money to buy more unnecessary things to have more....more, more, more. They are proud to be Americans. I, on the other hand, am an agent of better. My life will not be defined by accumulation of wealth, but by accumulation of experience. And that mindset has no place here.

Wherever I end up, you can be certain it will be a place that embraces the concept of better experiences over more possessions. I just hope it's not only accessible by yacht.