I've learned the hacks to live a healthy, happy life, based on Western standards. Save money, cook most of your meals at home, skip that daily coffee, meditate, go for walks, join communities with like-minded people.
I won't lie: I've made a lot of improvement. Yet I've reached the part of the journey where hacks don't work the same way. It's like you spend so much time strategizing and figuring out ways to game the system that by the time you get to the final stage, you're not even excited anymore.
Like the fact that I've traveled to 13 countries in one year on less than $30,000. Technically that should be impossible. Thanks to technology though, it's actually pretty easy. In some ways, it's too easy. Some things should be hard. Or at least challenging. I wonder if I'll look back on this time and regret hitting all these milestones so quickly.
Published a book, traveled the world, got my degree, bought a car, married, divorced, started a business, all before the age of 40. I know this all sounds like first world problem shit and it is, but that doesn't make it less real. Now that the major milestones are out of the way, who am I? Who am I becoming?
On one hand I think I'm not my accomplishments, but maybe I am. That's not exactly bad. For better or worse, I can't go back in time and not reach these goals. Now that I've reached them, I am moving differently than I did before. I do sit up and stand taller. I am more confident. I do expect to be treated well. Maybe that's the point of it all. Not the material "prizes." Not the number of books you sell, or which countries you visited. It's just the fact that you fucking did it.