Money VS Work VS riding?

[RustyIron]

Seriously, your question is one pondered by many. Here's what Joe Simpson had to say about it:

"In the West we live in a safe society, a world of vaccines and high tech medicine offering longevity for its own sake. We are encouraged to be careful, to avoid risk, to build secure safe lives, comfortingly backed up by pensions and life assurance and anything that would shield us from the reality. We are taught to look ahead to the future and work towards a perceived idea of what we want from life. We are rarely told to live for the present, to take what we want and give nothing back. Societies cannot operate on such selfish principles. Occasionally illness, bereavement, redundancy and accidents impose on people and bring them up short with a shock of recognition that, however hard they try, nothing can be permanently safe."

"When I walked away from the avalanche I was somehow committed irrevocably to a chosen path. I knew what I wanted, and that was to climb. I wanted to be good enough to go to the greater ranges, the Andes, the Karakoram and the Himalaya, and to climb on those mountains. I wanted to travel, and to see other people's lives and cultures, to climb their mountains and keep putting myself back into that transient perspective I had found in the Alps. I didn't want a career, or marriage and a family, or anything that would tie me down and hold me back. I simply wanted to be free, and being in the mountains was the most liberating experience I knew. It was quite the opposite of everything I had been brought up to think and do. The fact that non-climbers could never understand made it all the more special, like a secret held within the minds of a select few."

Simpson no longer lives according to the above sentiments. I guess most everyone, at some time or another, learns that it's nice to have a roof over one's head and a wad of cash for the pizza guy when he delivers your dinner.

Whatever you choose, have fun at it.

[cbHarping]

I've changed jobs a few times in the past...A few years ago I was in a job that paid well but I was miserable; it was extremely stressful all day, lots of overtime, boss calling me on my days off. I took a considerable pay cut when I changed jobs, but I was much happier. It was worth it.

I also work as a musician, and that's pretty difficult since it's never steady. As KeepsWhatHappens said, you have to "make hay while the sun shines". That means some months I'm working every day of the week and having no social life and other months I hear the crickets chirping because there's no work. This has been the slowest year ever for me with my music, and I hear all my musician friends confirming that they are in the same boat.

The amazing thing is that the money has always come when I needed it, even though I was making less at work. When I had an unforseen expense come up, it has always worked out. It's difficult, but I do believe if you're doing what you are meant to do, and trust, the money will come when you truly need it.

[hoovermd]

The key is simple: Marry Well.

This is the only time proven method to accomplish what is necessary