Thoughts and reflections form the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.
Progress on my goals
Boat plan
Lady SierraWhiskyMike has provisionally booked us in for a haul out at the end of the month. This is something you’re meant to do annually /(or, at a push, biennially) to do things like check for osmosis, change anodes and reapply anti-foul paint.
We were hoping for a bit more notice, but that’s boating for you. I’m going to have to beg for some time off work without warning. I’m sure that’ll go well(!) but not being homeless is kind of a priority task.
It’s grim outside today, after a week of positively balmy temperatures the rains have come just for the long Easter weekend. Probably going to hunker down for today.
Lady SierraWhiskyMike got some good leads for work on her consultancy business and has a confirmed teaching gig up at the college on a course she’s designed. That’s one step closer to independence!
We’ve been thinking about the future quite a bit now that it’s basically within range of our imagination.
Distractions and detours
Future us
At some point in the next few years we’re going to have to pivot to work that can either be done remotely, otherwise travels with us or can be done seasonally.
After seeing Brexit, COVID and the Trump Slump, I’m not 100% convinced that we can rely on being financially independent to sustain our eventual travels.
On top of this: I’m very aware that even after becoming financially independent people tend to do some kind of work. Obviously the big benefit to hitting CoastFI would be that the quality and nature of that work would be irrelevant because any income would do it, so I’m still pushing along with working and investing.
So we’re now starting to wonder what that will look like.
Originally, I wanted to be a writer. I still do, I just don’t know if the earning opportunities are still going to be there in a couple of years. I keep meeting people who are quite confident in saying “I don’t read outside of work”. Alittle disheartening. I’m still going to do it with my time freedom, but I‘d be an idiot not to plan to have something with a better chance of success up my sleeve.
I haven’t quite worked out what that is yet. I’ll let you know when I do.
Diet changes
Last update I mentioned that I’d been adding vegan protein shakes to my daily diet. I’m not yet Superman, but Lady SierraWhiskyMike has noticed a difference, so my training and diet changes are making an impact.
I spent this week largely eating plant-based meals. I can’t say I’ve eaten vegan foods – I mean we had hotdogs (well, sausage in a bun) for a treat yesterday – but I’ve been pretty close and I’ve been taking vitamins around this, too, because you can’t actually get everything from plants in the quantities you need.
I have to say I’ve felt pretty good. I can’t tell if it’s because of the higher protein, the lower animal product inclusion or big fat placebo effect, but I’ve been pretty full and eating fewer calories. My sleep hasn’t really changed, but I’ve been able to exercise just fine and I think the combination of diet and calisthenics is working for me.
This weekend is a bit of a blow-out, so I’m expecting to fall off the wagon and then do a regain next week.,
Ghost – Skeletour
I’m flying back to mainland UK tomorrow to spend the night watching the band Ghost at the O2. Me and my mates from uni are making it a Thing. I’m expecting some beers, bad food, shameful behaviour and rocking out. Fantastic.
Obviously this is going to mess up all of my hard dieting work this week, but screw it. Definitely worth it.
Non-FIRE goals
My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)
Managing work-life balance has been harder this week and my teacher has taken two weeks off for the school break, so I haven’t been practicing. I’ll probably do that this evening because it’s absolutely chucking it down outside.
I’m working on Dance Macabre by Ghost. Turns out it’s not too far above what I’ve been playing so far! I reckon I’ll have made some progress over the bank holiday and next week.
Fitness
The Jack H Woods thing is working for me. I’ve found that I want to do extra stuff on top of it, but I’ve stuck generally to calisthenics-style working and it’s getting results. My strength is definitely improving.
On Wednesday, I cycled into work early and got to the gym before the office. For the first time ever I added weight to my pull-ups and dips. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and video watching about calisthenics workouts and one person suggested that if you were stuck in a rut with pull-ups then try adding a weight to that exercise for a bit, knowing that you’ll end up in the 3-6 reps range, and then return to bodyweight later.
So one of my bosses caught me doing pull-ups and dips with a 10kg weight hanging off my waist with a weight belt and chain, and now he thinks I’m a gym monster.
To be fair I did feel pretty badass, even though I barely got to 3 reps per set. Shhh! Let me have this!
I’ve also decided that I’d like to be able to do tricks like handstands. I think I’m months and maybe years away from being impressive, but there’s no real harm in doing the progression exercises towards things like that anyway because in the worst case I’m just going to get fitter.
Handstands are a bit of a problem area for me because I don’t think (a) I have the shoulder strength yet or (b) I have the core stability locked in, but this week I achieved victory by holding a Crow Pose for like 10 seconds and I couldn’t do that a couple of months ago.
Long term, if I can get good at calisthenics then it means I can do muscle-building exercises without a gym because I won’t need access to weights to make progress on muscle growth.
Technically, I could just do loads of press ups and stuff, but doing sets of 20-30 gets old really fast and if I get bored I won’t train, whereas things like front lever, inversions and muscle-ups look fun, don’t need much specialist or in-demand equipment (pull-up bars are never over-subscribed) and can give you a good workout in very little time.
Final thoughts
Quiet week on the financial independence front and I’m very aware that I’m just sitting on a cold boat in the rain as I type this. Probably going to get some chores done ready for my plane tomorrow morning.
Really excited to meet up with the boys and go see Ghost again. Their show last time I saw them was epic.
Calisthenics is making a big difference in my life. I’d thought that being temporarily unable to run would have been a complete downer for keeping fit, but instead I’ve found something else to do that I’m enjoying. That’s pretty cool.
Right, gotta go. Some chores and then some guitar playing await.
My financial independence campaign continues!
