Have you ever wanted to throw you hands up in the air and walk out on this incredibly obnoxious thing they call adulthood?
Wanderlust, the feeling of wanting to roam unfamiliar lands, is a growing feeling among Millennials. More of us are shifting the image of the American Dream from the idea of 2.5 kids and a dog, to a picture of traveling the world.
The average US worker, clocks 47 hours a week, and when you add the time we spend commuting, another five to 10 hours, it pushes our total work-related hours over 55. Then there’s work-related stress, which takes up so much time, we’ve lost track of the hours we spend attending to it.
While most of us conform to the daily grind, a 35-year-old man who goes by Benedict (aka Ultra Romance) decided working just wasn’t for him. Benedict comes from the Connecticut River valley and tried to work as little as possible. He told Business Insider he chooses to live on the fringe, spending six months a year working on a fishing boat.
I work about six month of the year, as a commercial fisherman or charter fisherman or a guide. I also sell bicycle parts online. It’s been very much like, get your work done for part of the year and do whatever you want the rest of the year. For me, work is a segue to traveling.
He then spends the remaining six months of his year traveling on his bike, camping under the stars, and spending only about $10 a day.
Since graduating from college 15 years ago, Benedict says he hasn’t lived more than six months in any one place. He has never owned a car, and he got a bank account just so he could buy and sell bicycle parts on eBay. (He keeps the cash he earns in little bags that he buries in the ground.)
And despite giving up on the the “real world,” Benedict still finds himself stressing about money (though significantly less than the rest of us).
I don’t count my money. Money really stresses me out. I just put it all in a bag and hide it somewhere. As long I have something in there, I know I’m doing something right. I think day by day. I don’t think too far into the future, but I’m happy, and I’m always open to change.
Benedict is either crazy or a genius. Either way, he is certainly living the life he wants.
[Featured Image Credit: Ultra Romance via Instagram]