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The Plan; Part 2 September 29, 2006
West Palm Beach, FL 9/29/06
“Let me splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” I DID IT!!! HOLY SHIT I DID IT!!! “The Plan” has been launched!
On May 22, 2005 I wrote down in this little book of my thoughts my idea to quit my job and travel the World. I am now sitting at the airport and in about 35 minutes I’ll be getting on an airplane to do just that.
My “stuff” is in storage or more importantly what stuff I have left after my many sales. My condo, and more specifically my mortgage are gone. Sold! My fulltime job of almost 10 years; gone! After resigning 4 weeks ago, today was my official last day. Mat Forrest Enterprises LLC has officially been launched and I now have an assistant in WPB to help me cover my freelance contracts. I am officially self-employed!
Most importantly, sitting in the front pocket of my trusty North Face day pack is my passport and the confirmed flights of a 58 day wandering trek through Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, and China! I have flights in and out of each country and that is about it. I'm free to wander or sit anywhere my mood takes me.
It took me a little over 16 months and “The Plan” didn’t quite go as I originally dreamed it would. I didn’t profit from the condo sale as much as I thought so I won’t be traveling on any of that money. Months of a stalled real estate market quickly changed that part of the plan but also allowed me time to work out a dozen different financial scenarios that still made this vagabond dream a reality while also satisfying the structured, safe, side of my personality. I won’t get rich but I won’t go poor either.
I have soooo much to write about. The past 3 months have been amazing right up to my last event at Clematis by Night last night! But I see this is the last page in this journal and I am also already fighting back more tears just thinking about everything that has happened so I’ll wait until I’m sitting in some other town to dive into the details.
Wow, another journal finished….and just in time too. I wish I could take credit for that perfect analogy of starting a new book at the same time that my life is entering into a new era but it’s actually just a coincidence…or is it?
I started this particular journal in Philo Illinois in 2003. Tomorrow I will once again pull back into Philo; a quick visit with the family before taking off for East Asia. In the 3 years or so that have passed, this book has documented my thoughts in places like Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Peru, California, Memphis, Utah, and West Palm Beach; in airports, parks, mountain tops, beaches, coffee shops, and even Walden Pond.
4 days ago I turned 33 and it was the first birthday that never made me think about my age. It was just another day. I feel like I just wiped the slate clean. I am fresh and ready for new. Armed with confidence, perspective, optimism, and a love & lust for life I am ready to start a new book.
MJF
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
