It’s been 6 months since I quit my job as an engineer and moved my family to a small mountain town in Colorado. What an adventure!
I spent countless hours thinking about the pros and cons before making this huge life change. Some of them have turned out just like I imagined them. A few of them have been surprising.
Here are 6 things I’ve loved about it.
6 Great Things
1 Complete control over my time
Owning your time is the greatest luxury money can buy. Every hour that passes is an hour you’ll never get back.
The older you get the more precious time becomes to you. The more limited it seems.
I absolutely love being in control of my schedule. The only limitation I have is my daughter’s school schedule—drop-off, pick-up, holidays, and snow days. The rest is truly up to me.
No more early morning calls from the customer or late evening “emergency” calls from a coworker. No more schedule that others can control by sending a meeting notice that I’m “required” to attend. No more 40-hour workweek minimums or limited time off.
So far, this has allowed me to bike, run, paddle, hike, snowboard, cross-country ski, and walk more. I’ve taken random weekdays off from writing for amazing hikes and powder days. And I’ve been available whenever friends and family visit.
2 Making memories and building a bond with my daughter while she’s young
My daughter will never be 7-years-old again. This is a precious time to be with her and a critical time for her personal development. I’m convinced that having me around is giving her more confidence and emotional stability. There’s no way I could ever regret giving her more of my time at this age.
There’s also a greater chance that she’ll feel connected to me when she’s an adult and want to visit her parents more often because of the fond memories that we’re developing together.
It’s estimated that by the time your children turn 18, 90% of your time spent with them will be over.
This article takes the perspective of an adult child who realized most of his time spent with his parents is in the past. It’s interesting to see it from that angle also. Will our children come to this realization?
Here’s another article that gives some good data on how much time dads and moms spend with their kids on average in several countries. The gold standard is Denmark—consistently one of the happiest countries in the world—with 150 minutes for moms and 115 minutes for dads on average.
You don’t need to spend all of your time with your young children. But if you can get above these averages, you’re doing well.
3 Low stress
Stress was constantly on my mind while I was working on a complex product and leading teams of engineers. Without a demanding corporate job, my stress is drastically lower. Both job stress and time stress are gone. And there’s no more burnout!
But I’m also in nature every day. I exercise more, sleep better and easily keep up with house chores.
There will always be stresses of everyday life, of course. Running late to drop my daughter for school. Leaky roof. Cleaning up the house before guests arrive.
These things are less constant and easier to move past than an overflowing inbox, meetings, and problems that need to be solved yesterday.
Don’t get me wrong. Some stress is good and healthy. A stress-free life is also a life without growth and accomplishment.
That’s partly why I’m writing and coaching at PathwayToFI. It provides some stress to meet a writing schedule and create a quality product for the benefit of my readers. And I am learning and growing along the way. But the stress of writing for 20 hours a week is much more manageable than working a strict 40-50+ hours with little flexibility and high pressure to perform.
4 Living wherever I want
My career required living near a city. The post-COVID world is making remote work more possible. But I had to be where the product is being built if I wanted to stay in my current role or move higher in the organization. Since I wanted to start PathwayToFI, I decided to leave my job instead of taking a lower, part-time role.
My wife went fully remote and kept a part-time job that she really likes and wasn’t ready to leave. So we are no longer tied to a location because of a job!
I loved living in Tucson for 15 years, and there’s a lot I miss about it. But I love being surrounded by nature in a small town even more! My wife and I enjoy new experiences, and we knew it was time to make a big change if we wanted more of them.
We were repeating many of the same hikes and day trips in Tucson. There’s so much for us to explore now that we live in a different state. And our daughter has more freedom to play outdoors than she had in the rocks and streets around our suburban home.
5 Adventure
I’ve always wanted to do something unconventional in my life. Travel around the world. Learn a foreign language. Backpack the Pacific Crest Trail. YOLO, right?!
From our new home, and with newfound time, I’ve already had plenty of adventures:
- Chasing a moose for 2 miles in a car through a narrow canyon.
- Hiking several long stretches of the Continental Divide Trail.
- Snowboarding through steep tree runs in 7-foot-deep powder.
Not to mention the more family-oriented adventures:
- Camping and paddling along a pristine lake.
- Biking a path next to a rushing river.
- Exploring a historic mining town.
These experiences really make life exciting!
6 Working on a passion project
I love working on PathwayToFI. After spending almost 2 decades studying personal finance and reaching Financial Independence (FI) myself, I want to share my experiences and knowledge. My dream is to teach thousands of people how to become financially independent and live the life of their dreams.
Writing has been a fun process for me. Coaching people one-on-one and seeing them understand a financial concept and take control of their finances—sometimes for the first time in their life—is deeply fulfilling.
Reach out to me here if you’re interested in personalized help and recommendations. I put a lot of effort and care into providing a quality product to each coaching client. And my concern is about providing value more than making a profit.
Summary
Leaving my career and moving to the mountains has been a big and exciting life change. If you’re dreaming about doing something similar, I’d encourage you to think deeply about the pros and cons.
Will you be more or less satisfied with life? Have more or less regret?
In this article, I went through these 6 things that I’ve loved about the decision:
- Complete control over my time
- Making memories and building a bond with my daughter while she’s young
- Low stress
- Living wherever I want
- Adventure
- Working on a passion project
It wouldn’t be honest to say that life is perfect now, though. There’s always a trade-off between pros and cons of a big life change. Read next about the 6 challenges that I’ve experienced in my first 6 months.
And don’t forget to sign up for FREE at the bottom of the page to get much more value from PathwayToFI.
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