Living against the status quo is tough. Time and time again there can be feelings of frustration and isolation.
Here at Untemplater.com, we hope to bring together the people who have a burning desire to do something different, to achieve a remarkable life: the life that you truly WANT. Ultimately, we want to help each other achieve our goals and our dreams.
If you’re on the outside looking in, what challenges are preventing you from living the life you truly want?
If you’re already preparing for a big career or lifestyle change, what are some challenges or ‘unknowns’ you think you’ll face?
If you’re already fully immersed in an Untemplate lifestyle, what hurdles do you deal with in order to maintain your lifestyle?
Do you need guidance with your new business? Is debt and financial trouble keeping you chained to your (undesirable) job? What kinds of pains are you dealing with right now that you are looking to solve? Are there any specific topics you’d like to see addressed by our authors?
I am brainstorming ways to earn some income from the US while I live and travel abroad. Most countries will require a work visa if I were to earn money in their country, so earning money from an American company makes things much easier. I really wouldn’t mind if it’s low level work or not, as long as I would be earning money to support myself while living and traveling in Asia. I graduated a year ago with a Finance major and have never done any freelance work. Any ideas?
Honestly, I think I’m most concerned about losing the social value of the workplace. Not that I’m best buds with anyone from work, but I live alone and don’t have many friends in the immediate area. Quitting my job and working from home would leave me to myself a lot more than I think I can handle.
My biggest hurdle is probably my wife. I love her dearly, but she is really more into a more conventional lifestyle. In a way it’s funny, because I don’t go into the more extreme aspects of untemplating myself, the location independence and the work from your computer stuff.
I’m in the same boat. However, I love my wife more than anything related to location independence.
My challenges are legal. I’m on probation for a felony conviction and that makes it difficult to travel, and even harder to find a place to live. On the flip side, it also makes it next to impossible to find a job wich is a good motivator to start my own business. But I don’t really have a clue as to what that business will be. 🙁
I think it really depends on your untemplated goal, but for many people (myself included) i think the biggest challenge is financial freedom. This would answer 2Ls questions too. My biggest current and future challenges are going to be financial. Making my money in a non-standard 9-5 way.
for all of those living the untemplated lifestyle… how do you afford health insurance?
That’s an awesome question! I would be interested to see how those living a location independent or untemplated lifestyle can afford health coverage without negating all the positive financial benefits of such a switch.
Well, if your location independence includes world travel, most developed nations have universal healthcare, and many developing countries have extremely inexpensive healthcare. It’s pretty much only in the US where it’s a problem
Yeah, I get that. But having lived in Italy for a couple of years, I would not trust their socialized system. I have horror stories of stray dogs roaming the halls of the hospital in Naples, no doors between the recovery wing and the outside street, and treatment rooms with 12 beds crammed into a single room.
In fact, when I lived in Rome I had to go to the hospital for something, and since I was still covered under my parents plan I used an “American” hospital that was full of Harvard-educated doctors, and was endorsed and encouraged by the US Embassy. Had I not had health insurance, I would have had to go to one of the public hospitals (A thought that scares the hell out of me).
Now, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t ever use the public hospital. My buddy had his appendix burst in Lucern, Switzerland and was in the hospital for 4 days. It was a really nice facility and experience, and when we checked him out it cost us a grand total of $35. But all systems are not created equal. If I am out in the world doing my thing, I want to know that I have the very best medical resources available.
Hi, been reading this blog since the beginning. I think there needs to be more exploration and coverage of what an Untemplated life looks like for those of us raising families. We all want the best for our kids. And we all want to follow our dreams. And there are many times where you choose your kids dreams over your dreams. It seems that most of the Untemplated stories and suggestions are very individualistic… or if they are family related, it involves traveling the world and home schooling your kids. It isn’t everyone’s dream to home school. 🙂 Keep up the good articles.
Thanks for the suggestions! You bring up some great topics that I think can work both ways. Personally, I often feel like I have an obligation to my parents to be successful, so that I can help support them. Part of my personal battle is whether or not to put aside pursuing my own passions in order to help support my parents. I think it’d be interesting to see both dynamics, and ultimately how you balance your family (or community even) and yourself.