Simple Dreams

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a simple dream. I feel like in American culture, we’re taught to want more, to expect more all the time. So, it leaves us feeling dissatisfied with whatever we have. It makes us always strive for more than we have.

I remember when I was in Korea, I didn’t have a well-paying job, but I was happy. I could learn piano and Korean, I would go to work just three days a week, I would travel, hang out with friends, record music, film videos, and overall just feel pretty satisfied with life. But then, my mom told me that my dad was questioning my finances. He was worried I wasn’t making enough. Maybe I wasn’t making that much, but I certainly didn’t need to worry about it so much at that point. Eventually, I would have built up skills (in piano, Korean, music production, video production, maybe grew my YouTube channel, etc.) and built up a network of people to take the next steps in my career to make more money. But I was thinking so short-term and was so stuck in this limiting belief that I had to be making much more at that point of my life, that I ended up making some costly decisions that ended up with me going back to my parent’s home in the states and having to start all over. My regret is that I let other people’s opinions of my livelihood ultimately sabotage me.

I didn’t have a wealthy lifestyle. I was just living in a studio apartment. But, that was enough for me. I had a pretty minimalist life. I was glad that I could afford to still travel and hang out and have hobbies despite not making that much. Of course, it would always be nice to make more, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t gradually make more money eventually. And, that doesn’t mean that I had to give up my whole lifestyle just to pursue more money. In the end, money just represents a number, and it just gives you more choices. But what choices did I need more of? Not really much. If there was more I wanted, I could always find a way to make more money for it. But, there was ultimately nothing.

So I’m here to tell you not to stress out about making more money just for the sake of having it. If you have a big dream, that’s okay too. But, I’m talking to the people who have simple dreams. You might just want a small apartment with a dog you can care for. You might just want to go to community college for a couple years instead of an ivy league. You might just want to travel around the country instead of the whole world. It’s okay to have a smaller dream than someone else. You don’t need to “go big”.

For myself, I want to eventually move to a warmer place (open to within the states or outside of the country), have a place with a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a space for an office, own a bike, and go vegetarian and then eventually vegan again. I already have the other things that I would bring with me, such as my camera, my phone, my computer, and my piano. I might have to update my wardrobe in warmer weather. I’d want passive income to cover my expenses. That’s pretty much it. I don’t need much more.

It’d be nice to have a partner, and I’d set certain standards for them. For example, they’d have to be accepting of me being hairy, have good finances of their own (no debt, able to cover their own expenses), and be respectful. I should probably write a post of what I’m looking for in a partner. XD I haven’t thought about it too much. I kind of have some idea, but I don’t really think about it consciously.

Anyway, in terms of living on my own, I probably should estimate how much that’s going to cost me. If I can figure out my expenses, I can figure out how much I’d need to make in passive income to cover all that. I know passive income is taxed a little differently from regular earned income, so I’d have to figure out how much would go to taxes and how much would be leftover to me. Right now, I’m making a simple goal of reaching $50/month in passive income. I’m less than halfway there right now, and none of that comes from my blog at the moment.

I think it’s good that I don’t have too big of a dream. I mean, it’d be nice to have more, but it’s nothing something I’m actively looking for. Most times, rather than caring about materialistic possessions, I think of what I want to do with my time. I try to find ways to make the time I spend more meaningful, or at least fun. Eventually when this pandemic is over, I’d like to go visit different places that I haven’t been to before in my own city.

I haven’t really figured out what I want to do with my time, probably because I haven’t really explored or had the opportunity to do so. Sometimes, I get inspired to produce a song or sign up for a new course. But, my interest fades pretty quickly most times. I’m not so keen on challenges. I just want something that is engaging.

Anyway, I don’t really know how to end this post, but that’s pretty much all I had to say. I kind of went on tangents, but I think you get the point. If you dream small, that’s okay. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.