I Broke Free From ‘Stuff’ and Discovered TRUE FREEDOM

Think about this for a moment. We’ve only got one life and we don’t know how long it will last. So we should be packing it with excitement and experiences.

Yet so many of us spend the majority of time working long hours, earning money to buy things that we don’t really need. To fill houses that are really prisons as that long-term mortgage holds us there for 25 or 30 years. The formula I discovered completely transformed my approach to life—and I’ll share it with you soon. Meanwhile, there’s an incredible world waiting to be explored. 7 Magnificent continents.

At 27, I was trapped in this cycle. I had an apartment, a car, and a steady job. All the things people are supposed to want. But it didn’t give me joy. I wanted freedom and adventure. Experiences I could look back on as I got older.

Sitting at my boring computer center job, watching the clock tick by, I made the final decision. I would give up my job and possessions, and leave the UK.

A few months later, I’d sold most of my stuff. I boarded a plane to India with just a backpack. I’ve never regretted the decision and have led a fantastic, adventurous life.

The Turning Point

My journey towards freedom began years before that. On a company development course, I spent two hours in a basement thinking about my life— about what I’d done in the past and what I could do in the future.

When I came out, something had changed inside me. I realized I could control my life. Take it where I wanted. I realized the normal path of working 40 years until retirement wasn’t the only option. It was completely up to me.

From then onwards, I thought of life like a game. Where I decided what I wanted. Then worked out the moves to get there. It was literally life-changing.

Experiences Over Possessions

We don’t talk about this much, but buying things doesn’t make you happy for long. You just look for the next thing to buy. But experiences give you memories that last a lifetime.

I can picture some of mine now like they happened yesterday:

  • Dancing in the middle of an Indian wedding with 100 people surrounding us and clapping
  • Waiting to cross the Mekong River in a diplomatic car with kids surrounding us, trying to sell us fried cockroaches
  • Arriving on a tropical island in the Philippines in a small wooden motor boat with flying fish escaping the bow
  • Playing soccer next to the airport in Taipei, feeling turbulence from the planes landing
  • Acting as a gangster in a movie in Hong Kong

I could list my experiences all day, and they are so vivid I will always remember them.

In many countries, I have lived with the local people. In Japan, I shared an apartment with a Japanese roommate for a year. In the Philippines, I regularly stayed with my girlfriend’s uncles and grandparents in the province. In many countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, I stayed long-term in small guesthouses or homestays and became friends with the owners.

A lot of the people I knew when I was younger have big houses now, but they are stuck to them. And as you get older, you become more afraid to leave that security of a good job and home.

The Cost of Freedom

The money I saved by not buying new cars and furniture paid for years and years of adventure. These experiences are still making me happy decades later.

The first six months of travel were the most exciting in my life. But also very cheap. I stayed in hostels, ate where the locals did, and rode on local transport. That made the experience all the better. I remember clearly a 15 hour overnight journey in India, on a bus with wooden seats. I remember seeing the bundles of clothes in the fields and wondering why they were left there. Then realising it was families sleeping. I was interacting with people every day and seeing how they really lived.

I went home for a few weeks after six months of travel. People were still working like robots. Commute, work, lunch, work, commute home, dinner, watch TV. I couldn’t relate anymore as my mind was full of adventures.

The Formula

Here is the formula I live by: Less Spending = More Living

I think of saving money as hours, days or weeks of freedom. You are banking time where you don’t need to work. Bank enough time and you can retire, have a break from working, or take a chance on a career you are passionate about.

When you stop buying things you don’t need, great things happen:

  • You need less money, so you can work less
  • You don’t need a big house to store useless stuff
  • Your savings grow faster
  • You find that cheap travel is often more fun and real so can arrange cheaper trips

Taking a risk and getting yourself out there is fun. In Taiwan, I lived in an apartment with 2 other foreigners. I spent weekends running with a running club in the Taipei countryside, or going with a group of other foreigners to the beaches in the north, or staying in Taipei and going to the local clubs and bars. I made memories that still bring me joy decades later.

Don’t Wait

One important thing to note is that health waits for no one. I definitely notice the difference between what I can do now at 60 and what I could do when I was 20. I used to do windsurfing, some rock climbing, go running, and play a little football. I can’t do any of that now. My knees have a problem from running and my hands have a problem from using the computer too much. When I talk to friends my age, they seem even worse.

None of us knows how long we’ll stay healthy, so why wait till it’s too late?

When I worked for the phone company, I made really good money. But I was always watching the clock or calendar and counting down—how long till home time, how many days till the weekend, how many weeks till my next holiday.

Since I found my freedom mindset, I rarely check the time and don’t worry whether it’s a weekday or weekend, because I can do what I want when I want. I can even choose what country I want to be in.

Freedom Isn’t Doing Nothing

When I tried retirement five years ago in Spain, I got bored and depressed. Why? Because freedom isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about choosing what you want to do.

How to Start Your Journey

So here’s how to start your journey. You don’t need to sell everything tomorrow and quit your job. You just start small:

  1. Before buying something, ask yourself if it will really bring lasting joy
  2. Create a Freedom Fund and save money instead of upgrading stuff that works fine
  3. Try low-cost and solo travel. Like I said, most of my best memories are from the times I lived in cheap guesthouses or hostels and traveled on local transport
  4. Make more friends who value experiences and adventures over possessions

The greatest feeling in life isn’t being in a fancy car and wearing fancy clothes. It’s standing on a tropical beach at sunset, being at the top of a mountain, or exploring a market in a far-off city. It’s the feeling of no deadlines, no alarm clocks, and endless possibilities ahead. I was in Asia last month. Am in the UK now, and will drive down to Spain in a week or so.

Over the years, I’ve built up income streams and savings, so have been financially safe even without needing to work for 10 or 20 years. I’ve kept it that way by keeping my expenses down. Apart from my small camper van, my possessions only fill a few boxes.

True wealth isn’t about what you own. It’s about how freely you live.