During the film Hustle and Flow, both of the main characters face their own of a mid-life crisis. Djay is questioning the long term prospects of being a pimp in his late thirties. Key is realising that being a court stenographer and having sex with his wife once a month is significantly less than he had dreamed for his life.
Besides being an excellent film, this was a splash of cold water in my face. Having just turned 35 myself, I empathized with Key, sitting in Djay's car, smoking weed and commiserating with Djay that all he is doing is "paying rent."
Which brings me to my point. A year ago, I woke up one morning, made coffee and began my bike commute to work. As I pedaled up the hill right outside my house, i noticed that the day was starting exactly like yesterday, and that the day would probably be just like yesterday and not too different from tomorrow. I realized that i was doing this job solely to pay a mortgage on a house I neither liked or cared about. The job had become stale, i had become stagnant, and i seemed miles away from ever realizing my dream of living and working in Europe.
But on the surface I seemed to have what most people wanted. I owned a home in Vancouver (read: I have a huge mortgage), cycled to work, and generally did not need to push myself too hard. I was stuck in a rut.
So rather than read some inspiring bullshit in a self-help book or numb my pain with weed and whiskey, I removed myself and my family from the situation. Less than 6 months after that sunny Vancouver morning in July, we arrived here in Dublin.
"Everybody gotta have a dream."
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