I got into stoicism (being stoic) multiple times in my younger life, then again when older.

when i got this giant old house in my 20s? I was amazed to find out things didnt cost like i had been taught they cost. Bought it for straight cash, didnt have to make house payments. I paid cash for used cars, so, i never had a car payment. Its a triplex (3 houses in 1) and "#3" had an old thick cast iron woodbuener in it... i slowly dragged it end over end, into "#1" where i lived, and got it up on the obvious hearth built for it... it was intended to be a temporary solution? until i turned the gas on...

I liked exercising anyways, so, cutting up wood here and there all year long was a fun hobby and exercise. After a couple years? i realized i was never going to turn the gas on, and could care less.

getting a "great job" and working all those days and hours? to have a "nice house"? never made sense to me. I found i simply dont CARE. I enjoy doing my hobbies inside my house, its an old one.

i "upgraded" my wood burner? for a gigantic "pot belly" i burn coal in.

when everyone else pays 100,200 or more a month all year round for heat they only use in the winter? i spend a couple hundred bux on coal? delivered? and i am done.

when everyone else bitches about rising heatig costs? I dont. it stays about the same.

when everyone elses power went out and they froze in the big snow and ice storms? i was warm as toast.

no house payment, i just dont have a house i can "brag" about.

I dont feel like i am "missing out" on anything... you guys making 120k a year? bragging? thats great for YOU.... this is great for ME.

I started out "jealous" of other people making a lot of money... but along the line? i became more proud of doing more with less, and having the free time to do the things i really like to do. Work on things. learn how things are put together and worked on.

I learned to tear my car apart and fix it myself. I can buy an old dirt bike? and fix it up to run fine myself. if i need help or advice? a mechanic friend is fun to talk with about the project.

sure, you might START OUT doing it all because you "have to"? But, somewhere along the line? you realize you are "more masculine" because of all the work you do, all the exercise you get, all the "man things" you know all about... that some guy living in the city, making 150k, kissing his biceps in the mirror like a woman admiring her ass on a cell phone pic? simply cant do, and wont do.

i can kill a wild animal, and cut it apart myself in the basement, and cook it and eat it. What could BE more masculine than THAT?

Go ahead, poke ALL the fun you want to? how "i'm gonna buy my own island... with a ferrari ...ha ha ha"...

MY version of bliss? A big log cabin somewhere remote, with a dirt bike.

i have gotten "soft" before? I dont like it... i dont want to get "soft" ever again...