Today is a Federal holiday celebrating “European expansion” as well as a local holiday celebrating local inhabitants.  If you really think about these honoring events, you are sure to be proud.

While one of the above celebrates a “new” act and one celebrates the “historical,” I realized only a very few (federal & bank employees?) get to celebrate with a day off from work…a Monday off from work.

Somehow this morning I woke up early and realized I felt fully rested.  Surprisingly it was 5:01 am when I looked at a nearby clock (not on my nightstand).  I am so very lucky that I didn’t have to think “oh man, I only have another hour or so to sleep before I have to get up.”  Instead, I thought “wow, it’s early and I feel great.”  Then I chose to lay there for the next 45 minutes and relax.  I thought about the great things I would do today, did some mind-calming activities (even though I already felt so amazing and didn’t have to try and meditate/prepare)—it was awesome.

Many of us choose FIRE because we really value the ability to own our schetchle.  This morning turned out to feel like an amazing, special Monday morning.  ALL Monday’s are great, but the enhanced recognition that some people were bummed about not getting this holiday off reminded me again how lucky we have are to have prepared for FIRE.

As the day went along, I thought about the powerful people who choose to live the life of multiple short retirements every couple years.  That is such a great idea to make time to control of your days/weeks/months while you’re young and able to enjoy life to the fullest.  I see a LOT of older people traveling—which is great—but often, some of them seem to be moving slower and some even seem to be in some discomfort/pain.  That pain has to make the travel experience less than optimally enjoyable.

Dave Ramsey is right “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”  The more you plan for the future now, the better your outcome should be.  Nothing works out perfectly, but crafting a vision, making it into a plan, writing it down, tracking it, improving it can only make life better.

What do you want?  How can you steer yourself towards those goals?