Comparison is the thief of joy and I desperately want to be FI. Two things can be true at once. If I’m getting my point across correctly in this post, it’s that sometimes being on the FI journey is hard. It can be especially hard if one compares themselves to others who are farther along or have retired already.
As I find myself reading and listening to FI content, I often find myself unintentionally comparing where we are along the journey to the influential “leaders” of the community. The big bloggers and podcasters who are work optional, FI, or retired already.
I found the FI community at the age of 23 when I was just figuring out my money and navigating my first full time job after college. Six months into my job and I was already feeling the stress of living paycheck to paycheck while I felt stuck on the hamster wheel. Between paying about 50% of my income to rent while I lived alone to having to learn to meal prep, it felt like being an adult was hard. I mean, how did everyone else seem to have enough money to go around? How did people retire?
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