Wide awake staring at 4:20 a.m. on the clock I am sweating with the inner pain and mental anguish of another flight tomorrow back to the remote worksite. I am over it! In despair I said to myself “I choose not to…”

I slipped quietly out of bed not to disturb Sheridan (my wife) who as a mother of our 2 boys has perfected light sleeping. I know she feels my pain. Normally I would describe myself as upbeat and energetic but my working away from home on a fly-in fly-out roster had finally pushed me to extreme limits.

I felt like the kids Toy Bear with half the stuffing knocked out, ragged, scared, and vulnerable.

The end was imminent. I was about to terminate my long-standing career in the mining industry, that had followed on from an exhausting stint in the oil and gas industry. Ironically, that also had me in the middle of the ocean or the middle of some Australian outback desert.

Initially it was all about the money, but soon the emotional cost of not having a regular life was far greater. Others in management and executive roles working gruelling long hours know pressure and stress burns like a slow fuse to an explosion.

Have you ever stared at a blank piece of paper and did not know what to write? I was trying to list what I wanted most in life, it should not have been that hard, yet apparently at that point in my life it was ridiculously hard.

So instead, I started writing things I did NOT want and wow I just could not stop. I did not realise the intense emotions I had bottled up inside for so long.  The list appley titled “I Choose Not To…” had my thoughts gushing one page after another of all things I did not want to do anymore and hated most. When finished I felt emotions of exhaustion yet exhilaration, I felt relief; however, there they were on paper and still in my possession. To make matters worse I still had to cancel my pre-booked flight to the next forsaken job destination.

No!… It was time to just say no more!

At precisely 5:00 a.m. on the next day of my now cancelled flight, I was alone at Trigg Island Beach preparing to float my frustrations away forever. I was amazed how the wind direction, the water current and weather conditions were all so universally aligned, it felt like an omen and meant to be.

My company hard-hat with my list secured inside simply drifted out away from shore. I was amazed how quickly it all happened. There I was sitting with calm gratitude as the sun rose watching the very distant makeshift boat disappear into the ocean out of sight forever.

My “I Choose Not To…” list had been removed, gone forever. Wow that felt so good. I was energised yet still had no clue what I was going to do next I felt a chill from my emotions of panic of not having an immediate job or income prospects, yet I was excited about the possibilities. It just felt so right. This truly was a defining moment in my life.

Some colleagues admitted that my decision took courage. While others condemned my utter stupidity. Either way their opinions did not matter much as it was my decision, and I was prepared to accept the consequences.

Emotionally and physically, I was numb with the thought of my actions. The last few swings did not go well, and I hated living in a ‘donga’. Working in the Australian outback heat is punishing. Especially as a coded welder when the mandatory safety heavy leather protective suit is stifling.

This just added to the discomfort of the dust and the flies and of course the inner loneliness of not sharing those special moments with my family. I had already missed our last kid’s birthday. When they look up into your eyes and quietly slowly say, that is ok it doesn’t matter… No that is NOT OK…it matters!

Learning to say no to something that is not serving you well in life is one of the hardest things to do.

So now I was proudly self-unemployed. Typically, my Google searches included, how to work smarter? how to change careers, and yet they mostly kept leading me down the path of making money online. Could that even be possible I wondered? What is that lifestyle really like and who has achieved that? I became obsessed with searching other people’s successful freedom lifestyles.

My career money has given Sheridan and I the good fortune to have travelled a lot and experience some pleasures so memorable I still feel the emotions when I look at the photos. Like:

• The excited grateful smiles of the children from the Bali Kids Education Project
• Snorkelling the Polynesian Islands in the warm crystal-clear turquoise water
• Cruising the Caribbean on the grand Oasis of the Seas, with its fine-dining visual culinary feasts, elegant champagne bar, and amazing entertaining Broadway Shows

I vividly remember the moment relaxing on yet another cruise ship deck chair, basking in the warm solarium pool retreat, (no children allowed), I turned to my wife and said, “can you imagine an ongoing lifestyle like this?”

Money being generated from an online business 24/7. I mean passive income from a business that provides the freedom to go wherever whenever, we want.

She slowly took another sip of her exotic frozen Mango Daiquiri…paused and declared, “I’m in”…make it happen!

I became obsessed with researching people’s lifestyles, after all I was on a quest to make it happen.

Crawling the Internet, I found my biggest challenge was sorting through the plethora of “How-to” information. There seemed an overload of promises and hype out there and not always from people who have achieved real results.

One group I discovered proving the possibilities were Location Independent Professionals (LIPs). These people genuinely have an amazing lifestyle. The common money-making activity being Freelance Digital Marketing. Simply referring other people’s products and receiving a commission.

Fast forward to today … and my life now as an International best-selling Author, Enrichment Speaker and Lifestyle Mentor is all about giving back and encouraging others to make small changes in the right areas of their life that make a real difference. That takes courage and effort.

To me balanced lifestyle is everything!

True wealth is having abundance and balance in all areas of life and that is what Freelance Digital Marketing offers.

I have developed a simple method to fast-track success for achieving the perfect lifestyle.

1. MINDSET – Know your goals and why they are important to you as this gives you the energy and motivation required.
2. MECHANICS – Learn the “How-to” information required to achieve your goals.
3. MENTORS – Connect with those who have already achieved success with the goals you are pursuing.

My brand is Success Leaves A Trail®.

So, let me ask you three questions; are you ready to make some changes in your life? Do you want more? Are you willing to make choices as I did?

Because if you genuinely are ready to improve your lifestyle, I would like to share some information that will get you started. You know whether the timing is right for you.

I sincerely hope this has inspired, educated, and encouraged you to simply click “Learn More”. 

Cheers

David Bunney – The Lifestyle Mentor™