🪞 Reflecting, Rebuilding

I didn’t rush to "fix my life".

Instead, I paused. Let things settle.

Around the end of 2021, I signed up for a mental conditioning program.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made.

I wasn’t sure who I was becoming — I felt adrift.
The chaos of the past few years had drained me — mentally, emotionally.

That program showed me a sliver of light.
A small shift in how I saw myself, and the world.
That small fire — the one that flickered in my lowest days — grew steadier. Stronger. Warmer.

I stopped following trends and unfollowed loud voices.
I started journaling, took long walks, and sat with discomfort.

Along the way, I found support in unexpected places.
I read books like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck, Atomic Habits, The Psychology of Money, and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

My wife saw strength in me, even when I didn’t. Just having that belief nearby helped.

That season of life taught me a few quiet truths:

• You don’t have to do it alone. It’s okay to ask for help. Sometimes, we need someone else’s push to find our own feet.
• If something makes sense to you, it doesn’t have to make sense to others. Not every decision needs external validation.

A new job came in August 2022, permanent remote work which aligned with my lifestyle and still does.

We started trimming expenses — but from clarity. We let go of what weighed us down.

And slowly, I returned to the idea of FIRE — this time, without obsession.
No Excel frenzy. No 5AM productivity cult.

Just: how do we live better, with less?

📈 Rebuilding from the Ground Up

The first change wasn’t financial.
It was internal.

I started paying attention to my thoughts, my body, and my energy.

I began by investing in my health:

• Less junk. More real food.
• I lost the excess weight I had gained.
• Felt myself becoming lighter, clearer, more energized.
• After two steady years of yoga, the transition to the gym felt natural — like the next quiet step.
• No alarms. Just deep, natural sleep.
• Family time without screens.
• Consuming good content.

That physical and mental clarity gave me the confidence to change other parts of life.

I stopped chasing shortcuts and just did the boring, useful stuff — consistently.

Then we made slow, intentional moves:

• Built an emergency fund — six months of expenses.
• Bought term insurance for both of us.
• Took health insurance seriously.
• Simplified our investments and set up proper asset allocation with goal-based planning — a simple dal-chawal portfolio we could sleep peacefully with.

And once our inner and financial foundation felt steady, we turned to the question of how to spend meaningfully.

🌱 True Wealth

We also started spending mindfully — not from guilt or frugality,
but with awareness and intention.

We spent on what truly added meaning:

• Food — to feel good inside-out
• Movement — to build energy and resilience
• Travel — for fresh perspectives

From late 2021 to the end of 2024, we saved and invested almost 70% of our income.
These three years of consistent investing — combined with a great run in the markets — helped grow a portfolio we couldn’t have imagined.

Even now, we sometimes look at the number and can’t believe it.

No more impulse. No more guilt.
Just choices aligned with a quieter, healthier life.

In January 2025, we finally bought our own home.
After years of shifting rentals, it gave us something priceless — a quiet sense of belonging.

We spent a little redoing the house — to make it feel like us,
and even though a good part of our income now goes towards EMI,
we are genuinely happy.
This home has vastly improved our quality of life.

And honestly — that’s what money is meant for.

Sure, we may not be saving that aggressively anymore — and that’s okay.
But the mindful living part — that stays.
So does the contentment.
So does the clarity.

🧭 From Here On

FIRE doesn’t feel like an escape anymore.
It’s just something we’re quietly walking toward —
One SIP at a time. One day at a time.
Without burning out. Without chasing “more”.

The point of money is no longer to prove anything.
It’s to enable. To protect our time.
To live the life we want — not later, but now.

I’ve begun to find peace in the pauses — and meaning in the stillness.
Learning to be happy with what I have,
rather than focusing on what others have.

And I didn’t realize it then —
but what began as a quest for financial freedom has slowly transformed everything else too.

My relationship with work.
My daily routines.
My spending and consumption.
My choices and boundaries.

I feel more grounded now — learning to say no, finding joy without external triggers, savoring silence, and living in the present.

To be where I am today — considering where I started — feels like a quiet miracle. And I’m deeply grateful.

I’m not perfect. But the intent is there — and most days, that’s what matters.

I try to live in alignment with my values.
And whenever I drift, those values help bring me back.

We haven’t fully retired. Not yet financially free either.
But our life today — slow, simple, semi-retired — already feels rich in the ways that matter.

Early retirement may happen. Or not.
But the freedom to choose, to pause, to reflect — we’ve already earned that.

And I hope you do too.

One SIP at a time — toward less noise, more life.

📖 The Heart Behind This Blog

The reason I started writing here is simple:

To share my story with honesty and hope that it helps someone else.
To remind you that no matter how stuck or far behind you feel — change is possible.

Clarity isn’t a destination, but a slow, patient, ongoing journey.

And like everything else in life, it begins with just one small step.

👣 Thanks for reading my FIRE story.

🧘‍♂️ No hustle. No hype. Just slow, simple progress.

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