Should i quit my job for a Mountain Life ?

If you think the city life is emotionless & plastic,  If you have been searching ” Should i quit my job for travelling to mountains?”, ” Mountains are calling me” and already read 5 blogs before this you are in the right place. Many people have the tendencies to leave their city life to be in the nature, to be living a raw life just the way we were intended to live. However not everyone is meant to be.

Is the feeling Real OR Hype

Make sure you are not fed up with your current job and that’s the reason you seek escape. With everyone seeing travel stories on social media your mind gets brain washed to believe that you are not meant to do a stinking 9 to 5 job and you belong there in the woods. However lets just take a test to determine if you really want to be in mountains or is it just a current trend/ fad.

14 days -Truth TEST :To find whether you are not getting caught in a modern day hippie fad take a 14 day test wherein you dont log on to social media ( Detox) . This will stop your brain from getting hammered with travel images from all over. Try to live your life like your dad would in the 1990’s. Live the normal non- digital life and try to see if you can adjust yourselves to such life. Try reading novels ( one with tangible paper ). Try catching up more with freinds. Watch some classic movies. Do the office work like your dad would. Do this for 14 days- 2 week.

Result: After 14 days check if you still have that strong feeling for moutains or you just feel strangulated by your job. If you feel its not the mountains but the job from which you need to escape, you need a change in job rather than a change in geography. Stop reading this further and start working on a resume.

Otherwise you have the reason to believe you are meant for a peaceful life in mountains

Earning Money in Mountains

Once you are clear that city life is not meant for you and mountain is where your belong the next big question is money. You and me both have this feeling that only if some one could pay me a decent stipend for every month  I would quit my job the next day. The chance of that happening is when i get a lottery of 100 Billion dollars. i.e. Never. So a income source in mountains is necessary and thats what we will discuss later. First lets talk about that current job. Sustained money flow in mountains may not be assured as such a fallback mechanism, a Plan B is needed. So before you quit your job and head to mountains make sure you have enough money to last you for atleast two years. Make sure to keep a quarter of this reserve cash with your trusted person as a last saviour & a last warning

PROBABLE INCOME SOURCE

Once you have enough fallback cash reserve. Its time to think of new income sources. There are many options to earn money in mountains, none of them are assured immediate success. All will require efforts for atleast a year before you can settle for some decent income

A. Moutaineering jobs: If you are an adventurous type then moutaineering job might suit you. These jobs would mean trekking & assisting other trekkers in mountains. These jobs will range from ( in order of income) :  Porter (15K per month), Trek Lead, Climbing Guide, Trek Organisers ( Lakhs per month), Sponsored Athletes . This is an endurance related job, but if you can do it then there is nothing like it. More about it here Mountaineering as a career in India

B. Hostels  : There is a wave of travelling in the entire world which provides opportunities in hotels department. With the current trend there is a huge opportunity to set up hostels in remote areas. With your new age skills and already established friend circle in cities you can easily leverage a good clientale . Hostel is nothing but a trendy hotel which has less cost of operating because of the shared facilities. Hostels are in demand among youngsters & as such hostels can be good source of steady income

C. Monetising your Skills: Most frustrated people like you & me are mostly IT folks, who are engineers and MBAs . Though we feel our knowledge is futile in the practical life, it would be of  huge value if you can use it train mountain people. How about taking up a teacher’s role in a remote village ? Or even starting the school itself ? Think on these lines

D: NGO’ ing your skills / Volunteering: Not for profit Non- governement organisation operate in many remotest areas trying to improve the village life. There are ways you can join such movements. You might not get paid , but your stay & food would be free of cost. It will provide you enough time to go around the place, mingle with locals , live the raw life at zero cost. Few good options to find such opportunities are GrassrootsVolunteering etc

E. Research Activities: There are many life sciences / biological / ayurved education degrees which will result in you taking part in researches into hinterlands of Himalayas. It will take you to forest reserves not open for normal public. Imagine the kind of benefits this route has. The only problem is you will need some time & research to get such qualification. Or you may become assistant of such existing people / scientists . I dont have leads on this & even i will be doing more research on this.

F. Yoga Teachers  Yoga is a skill set which can provide you health, peace of mind & a heavy wallet. If you can master Yoga by practicing it for few years and taking up the Yoga instructor course you are certified to train people. People in search of their true self are very good clients to learn yoga from you. You can get your Yoga teacher credentials from Sivananda Ashram ,Kaivalyadham Ashram etc

G. Backpacking / Couchsurfing / Busking: If you like to be on the move and not settle anywhere. You can move around couchsurfing i.e. you can stay at random people’s home in return of help with the daily chores. This solves the basic problem of staying  & food and also provides you with some cash. This will work in foreign countries where payments for normal chores are high however wont work that much in hinterlands of cash- strapped himalayan villages. You can make some quick cash by busking. If you can either sing, play musical instruments like guitar, ukelele etc or have a good sense of humour, you can easily have your own street shows. This is more suitable for a young guy without much stability.

H. Freelancing / Digital Nomads: This is easily the most taken route for reaching self employment. All you need are some skillsets , a laptop & good internet connection which can be easily acquired. Such skillsets can be easily learned through Udemy, Lynda, Skillshare etc. The best way out can be to become a website builder , digital marketer ,photographer & content writer. With the easily available internet there is increasing demand in having personal websites which provides huge opportunity to website builders who can operate from any corner of the world. Similarly there are many magazines/ corporates which have a routine requirement for new content. Plenty of freelancing opportunities are available on websites like Fiverr , Freelancer ,Upwork etc

I. Vlogging: You can easily create videos from anywhere around the world and upload on YouTube. ( This is my Youtube channel). This is the most taken road for self sufficiency. The competition is huge but so are the benefits. If you become successful YouTuber, you would have enough money in an year to sponsor 5 years  of travel

J. Blogging: Older brother of vlogging is blogging. There have been many famous blogger who earn by hordes. You just have to identify you area of interest and consistently write blogs which add value to your readers. And over and year or two you would have a passive source of income which would only increase over the years. How to start a blogging website

K. Trading After having tried many of the above options I myself was in search of something more permanent which would give me lots of free time. This eventually lead me to share market. This is a huge opportunity for anyone with patience & willingness to learn. If you can spend an year learning & mastering trading this can be consistent source of income ( lots of it ) & lots of free time. I truly believe if you are able to master this art form you can multiply your money 100X within a year once you achieve the proper expertise. Though this might seem very lucrative it is risky as well and 50% people wont succeed at it. However if you start learning this in your free time as a side income this might provide consistent income in the long term. Just needing an internet connection you can start earning money sitting in any corner of the world & living a dream life

Age Trigger

In country like India where a guy is expected to be married before reaching 30 a sudden urge to move into the mountains will be ridiculed. So if you are single in 30’s and being primed by parents to get married ( arranged marriage) you just missed your train to the mountains. The only chance is to get a better half with a similar mindset which i kid you not is pretty difficult to come by. As such if you have strong thoughts about settling in mountains the best time would be in your mid 20’s when you are much more instinctive & adaptable than in 30’s

Life is not working your ass of 6 days a week and then spending a Sunday resting to be doing the same thing all over again throughout your life. Life is also not about having crores of rupees in your bank account at the end of your life having not enjoyed it at all. Life is happiness , emotions, to be able to breathe fresh air , look at a sky full of stars. Most importantly mountain life is devoid of jealousy & greed. IF this does excite you then you have the drive to be in mountains, you have the fallback cash reserve & a probable source of income.

Apart from this you will need a strong mindset. Being thrifty and living on bare minimal helps to sustain easily. 

That’s all folks. This is the Free Bird signing off !

If you have any doubts add a comment at the end of this post or reach out to me through my social media channels. All links at the bottom of this page. Below are few more mountain related posts you may like: