Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Don't Fear the Unknown: Embracing Change for a Fulfilling Life

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

The Future.

Depending on where one stands, the idea of "The Future" can be invigorating or terrifying.

The thing is, The Future is going to come anyway, and regardless of our best efforts, we can never guarantee the outcome.

Personal examples

Back in the days when I moved to California at age 21, people told me not to do it.

Conventionally speaking, I had no firm employment, little savings, and – as all these helpful ones wanted me to consider – I didn’t know the future, and who knows what could happen? Better to stay with the familiar and predictable.

At the age of 27, Billy and I bought a restaurant in Santa Cruz, California. We were creative with family financing and were able to pull it off. Again, people predicted failure but both of us were energized by the idea of opportunity. We grabbed the bull by the horns and pushed forward.

This scenario happened several more times in our lives. Billy was recruited as a stock broker (he had never been one before) and excelled.

Then, due to one thing and another, Billy had the idea to retire early and travel the world.

This was unheard of in 1991. But we chose to be led by our dreams instead of being pushed by our problems.

The Point of this Article

My point to all of this is… we don’t know the future.

The pattern we are living can be comfortable, but it can end up growing into a grave. At some point, we become too afraid even to change the boundaries of the box of our description. 

Freedom then becomes intimidating instead of invigorating.  

Looking back over the last few decades would you ever have predicted the incidences of 911?

Who would have known that personal computers would become all the rage, or that we could use them as a phone and use our phone as a computer! Nor did we expect our phones to replace most everyday cameras…

So, if Life  Is Change whether we like it or not, we may as well focus on our best lives.

Asking ourselves questions like: What is the win-win here? Can I look at this situation differently? What small thing can I do today to improve my life? These styles of questions set us up for more positive outcomes. Our mind will then tend to search for something productive, options other than a fear-full path.

Fearing the future

When we first retired at age 38, I had two girlfriends who focused on “the healthy life.” Vegetarians, both of them, they exercised, did yoga, meditated, and espoused a lean-mean and minimalist lifestyle.

They are both dead now.

One of them got hit by a truck on Maui while driving her car – she was 38. The other died of leukemia at the age of 40. Both of these events were unexpected, and we were 10 months into our Early Retirement at this time.

Processing this loss, I was startled into realizing that nope, I don’t have a clue about what will certainly happen. These events were not at all what I had in mind, and I was shocked out of my complacency.

Still, I had to move forward, taking the memories and the wisdom of these friendships with me into my future.

The Choice

Basically, The Future is going to come and we can make the most of it, no matter where we are. 

Making little changes every day keeps the flow happening in your life and Change becomes easier to accept, easier to manage. Billy says it's harder to hit a moving target and this is something to seriously consider.

If we are sedentary in our thinking or in our perspectives, Life will give us a jolt that can be difficult to handle. If we have been complacent in our routines, these changes will seem as though they have come out of the blue.

However, if we are flexible, taking advantage of opportunities all along  the way - Change and what it offers - just becomes another opportunity to take advantage of - or to pass by - until the next one comes.

And it will.

By adjusting and bending our mindset and routines from time to time, our lives will be filled with more ease, less agitation.

Which path will you choose?

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Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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