Living Outside the Box.

The American Dream has long been defined by the pursuit of a certain type of lifestyle or definition of success.  For instance, finish high school; choose whether or not to attend college and what career field to prepare for; work forty or more hours a week in that career field for forty years or longer; while working in that career field, save toward your retirement through 401K and IRA accounts and hope the market doesn’t crash; buy a house with earnings from working in your chosen career field and spend thirty years paying it off; then retire in your sixties if you have saved enough or continue working if you haven’t.

This is the formula that most Americans follow because it is what we are taught epitomizes success.  It is a proverbial box that we are placed in by societal expectations, educational institutions, generational beliefs, and often social and financial goals.  The formula is not inherently bad.  It works for a great number of people, and in some cases, it works because most people see it as the only formula to success.  Most people never question it.  The purpose of rESPONSIBLE nONCONFORMIST is to help people question the status quo and consider that there might be more than one formula. 

Let’s start with the following questions:  What if some of us aren’t happy working our lives away for someone else?  What if some of us don’t like to be placed in a box with everyone else?  What about those of us who want to live and work on our own terms?  What about those of us who find we are unhappy in our chosen career and can’t bear to spend forty years in it?  What about those of us whose health is impacted and we realize we may not make it to retirement age unless we make a change?  What about those of us who choose to focus on self-care rather than the pursuit of someone else’s definition of success?  What about those of us who simply think in broader terms and have bigger goals than the ones this formula defines?

My goal with rESPONSIBLE nONCONFORMIST is to encourage others to consider these questions and explore what an alternative formula might look like.  Contact me to learn more.