What If Freedom Was Never About Money

We’ve been sold a version of freedom that costs a fortune.
A million dollars in the bank (or more). A house we spend the best years of our lives paying off.
All for a life that only begins when we’re too tired—or too old—to truly enjoy it.

But what if freedom was never about money?

When my wife and I sold nearly everything we owned, it wasn’t a crisis—it was clarity.
We were finally ready to strip away everything that wasn’t our dream.

We took the proceeds and bought a used truck camper for less than $10,000.
That’s it. No $300,000 RV with slide-outs, flat-screen TVs, or high-speed internet.
Just four walls, a roof, and the open road.

We parked on public land—national forests, BLM land—places where you can camp for free, legally and peacefully, surrounded by silence and stars.

Our expenses dropped to almost nothing.
No mortgage. No utilities. No Netflix.
And suddenly, we weren’t stuck anymore.

We had bought something far more valuable than stuff—
we had bought the freedom to do what we want, when we want.

That’s when we discovered a truth no one ever teaches you:

Freedom isn’t about how much money you have.
It’s about how little you need.

And we’re not alone in this.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that true wealth isn’t about accumulation—it’s about liberation.

They’re leaving behind the stress, debt, and expectations of Western life, and heading to places like Costa Rica, Panama, Thailand, and Indonesia, where the cost of living is a fraction of what it is in the U.S.
In many of these places, you can live simply—and beautifully—for less than $1,500 a month.

Ocean views. Fresh fruit. A slower pace.
A chance to build a life based on intention, not obligation.

These aren’t trust funders.
They’re teachers, writers, digital nomads, couples, retirees.
People who realized that by releasing a few comforts, they could reclaim something far more meaningful: true freedom.

It’s not about running away.
It’s about stepping into a life that actually feels like yours.

It’s about simplification.
About aligning your life with what actually lights you up.
About saying no to what drains you, so you can say yes to what matters.

And it’s about trust.

Trusting that you don’t need to keep up with the Joneses.
That your value isn’t tied to how busy or profitable you are.
That it’s okay to want less, to live slower, to do it differently.

We didn’t buy freedom—we unbought everything else.
We stopped waiting for some distant retirement.
We stopped chasing comfort, status, and approval.
And we stepped into a kind of life that was radically simple, yet deeply full.

So if you’ve been thinking about the life you actually want—
the real one, the quiet one, the one that feels like you—
this is your reminder:

You don’t have to be rich to be free.
You just have to be brave enough to start letting go.

—

📖 This is the heartbeat behind my book I Don’t Want to Grow Up.
It’s for the dreamers, the wanderers, the ones who believe there’s more to life than schedules and screens.
If you feel that pull, you’re not alone.
Get the book here.

Camping free in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah