I did have to force myself to look under all the cushions to get there. It definitely sounds nicer than it is, especially with the heck of a bull market in the past 6 months. I know the market is very regularly near all-time highs, and it’s hard to understand what the new normal really is. Is it normal to experience hyperinflation? Is it normal to have your government shut down for weeks? Is it normal to look at the news and just see only hate, violence, pedophilia, drama, death, and prejudice? Is it normal that many of my friends who just graduated college struggle so hard to find even one job in their field of interest? Is it normal that AI dependence, both administratively and emotionally, is seeming to grow at an exponential rate? Is it normal that I feel disappointed in our world? I guess it’s better than being in a global war? At least we’re decaying internally.

It just feels like this FIRE journey is one of pure optimism. Such is the need for the dollar to stop devaluing. Such is the need for everything to stop becoming so abhorrently more expensive everyday. Such is the need for companies to prioritize social benefits over shareholder value and profit. Such is the need for politicians care about their constituents.

Every single day. Goodbye Social Security. Goodbye SNAP disbursements. Goodbye Medicaid. Goodbye political cooperation. Goodbye social unity.

What kind of safety net is needed to feel safe?

Probably the kind that you don’t need to work for? The kind you already have? Sighs, the envy for the more privileged is up-surfacing again. I should probably go figure out what that means. Security as a birthright versus security as a lifelong project are two different lives completely I feel. And that feeling scares me as I question whether this pursuit of security has instead left something in the wayside. Something that only at the point of a self-decided point of security I then realize I had lost in the process. The pursuit of happiness? The pursuit of personal interest? The pursuit of the arts? I have no clue. I try to balance it all. I try to be intentional about being intentional, so that these regrets don’t happen.

But, to be free already at birth. Isn’t that a beauty?