On Not Working and Going on a Bicycle Tour

Sometimes, I imagine someone asks me the question: “Why are you not working in your prime years but going on a bicycle tour?”

It’s true that most people around my age are working during their prime earning years, but I’m not cut out for that.

I don’t have the motivation to achieve and compete with my coworkers and neighbors in an unjust society. When the richest 1% owns 90% of the wealth the game is rigged and I don’t want to participate. A society that became this unfair is a sick society. You might be healthy, but in a sick society you are still a patient.

I don’t want to work because I know when I take out a mortgage to even buy a modest house it’ll take me 30 years to pay back the principal and the interest. Some bank employees are getting richer just by lending me money at a “market” rate and not doing much work. They make money work for them while I have to work in a real job to pay the mortgage for the next 30 years. A mole rat can dig hole as a home for himself in less than a day whereas a human has to work 30 years to pay back a house mortgage. This is insanity.

I don’t want to work when the salary doesn’t equal productivity. If I save the company millions of dollars making an application or an improvement on an existing product, I’m not getting paid millions of dollars. Instead, I have to work the same number of hours as before with the same level of pay. The people who benefit the most is the CEO and upper management. I’m essentially just a tool used by some company. One day, they can fire me without cause and I’ll be replaced by another laborer who will do the same job cheaper.

I don’t want to work because 40 hours per week is a third of my adult life. In the 21st century, no one should be working that long. Work should be a supplement to life. A person’s main job is to live a rich life, not let work get in the way. Meaningful work should bring joy to the worker and positive contributions to the community, humankind, and earth.

I don’t want to work because I haven’t found the job that fits my philosophy of living. A job that pays well so that I don’t feel exploited while making positive changes in a just and equal society.

If I can’t find a job like that then I want to do something else with my life. That’s why a bicycle tour is not just an exploration of places, it’s also an exploration of opportunities. I want to see where in the world I can settle and make the most impact with my time and labor.

Some say that I’m just being lazy. Well, I was the top student in my elementary school in China, my high school GPA was 3.92, I graduated college with a bachelor degree in chemistry in three years. Lazy wouldn’t be the word that describes me.

But I am fed up seeing so many people who are attached to their jobs for their livelihood. Some are living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. Yet the politicians want to make people fight each other when the real enemy is the ultra rich who controls the wealth and the government. I have no time for that. And the longer I work the longer I’ll be sucked into a system where I’ll be an indentured slave.

I’m glad I was able to see through the garbage and make decisions in my own life. As far as I can tell, to be successful in America is to do the opposite that American society wants you to. Buy a house? No. Purchase a new car? No. Get married? No. Have kids? No.

Either I live in the US like that or move to another country that appreciate its citizens rather than exploit them. Maybe then I’ll buy a house and a car, get married, and have kids.

In less than three weeks, I’ll be on my way to another adventure. What will I discover? I don’t know. Who will I meet? I don’t know. I don’t even know where I’ll be sleeping on any given day. I guess that’s the best part of an adventure. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that I won’t be forced to work on someone else’s terms and conditions.

It’s my hope that when I come back I’ll be changed. Maybe I’ll be wiser due to the different experiences I’ll encounter. Maybe I will find what I want to do, in work and life. Am I scared of the unknowns? Absolutely, but I have to get over my fears in order to do something important for myself.

I always say that the best time to do anything is now. Right now, I have the time and the freedom to complete a world bicycle tour. I want to reply to the imaginary person who asked me the question with: “Why are you working in your prime years and not go on a bicycle tour?” Change the question, change the perspective. Because if you wait long enough you might never do it.