The anything but khakis Way

“Luxury has nothing to do with money.”- Hugo Jacomet

As a new owner of a jet ski and a soon-to-be owner (🤞) of a lot across the street from the Gulf of Mexico in southern Mississippi, here is what I could see happening in the very near future.

Instead of keeping my golf clubs in my trunk, I could store them at the course. Instead of driving my car to the course, I could hop on the jet ski in the gulf, bebop through the bayous, and arrive at the bridge on the beautiful 6th hole at Shell Landing, where a cart and my clubs would be waiting. It could happen. Of course, it could happen…

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I am absolutely fascinated by lifestyle design. Not WHAT someone does for a living but HOW someone lives. Two very different things. Better yet, I am fascinated by what is desired in someone’s mind or heart that is either thought to be impossible or simply yet to actually be made possible. I like working to make the impossible, possible. The unknown, known. Fantasy, reality.

I have two main thoughts regarding dreams and desires. One, they MUST be yours. No need to steal them from The Joneses. And two, they need not be lavish. I mean, they can be, but lavish dreams can become quite complicated (see expensive).

With that said, enter Mississippi, its exorbitantly low cost of living, and let me tell you a little more about the anything but khakis way of life. The jet ski was a little splurge, sure, but the lot? Shoot, it is about 1/100,000th of the cost of a similar lot on any other coast in America. I like value. It affords freedom. Equally as important, I like good attitudes and positive energy. They afford freedom. The way someone, some place, or some thing makes us feel should be complementary or additive, not a chore.

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What’s at the top of your lifestyle list? For me, I wanted to be outside and in big spaces. (Wyoming fit the bill as did the Gulf of Mexico.) I wanted to stop worrying about what was next and enjoy what is now, and nature handles that for me. It needed to be hot (sorry Wyoming) to soothe my joints. It needed a certain energy, which I get from two places: on the water and in New Orleans.

To be able to do all of this, to start over, cost of living had to be low. Down here, golf membership costs nickels. Real estate costs dimes. I’ll take a $3 BBQ sandwich over most anything. I’m a master sommelier on $10 bottles of wine.

And my favorite “restaurant” down here is a gas station. Mountain Dew and egg rolls. Lavish, I know. I still love style and clothes and always will, but I just don’t deal with meaningless STUFF anymore. It saps energy and clutters vision.

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I’ve been on this beautiful journey for three years now, and occasionally I get a glimpse at where all of this is headed. (Uncertainty and vulnerability were/are the magic tickets.) I’m pretty sure that one day, I want to help people not only unlock their dreams and desires, but also formally help them turn those dreams into reality.

I’ve kept copious notes every step along my journey, and I remember everything. Every action. Every decision. Every conversation. Every success. Every failure. Every emotion, yes, emotion. I had low, low points alone in Iceland, I felt real fear in Mexico and Oklahoma, I had aha moments in Italy and Missouri, and I learn relevant life lessons every single day on the golf course. I’m simply not there yet. I don’t have the full credentials, so I have to be patient and keep grinding. But in two or three more years, the spirits willing, I should have something too good to keep to myself. I will have personally done it, and that’s the only credential I really want.

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So then, if somebody else wants to ride their jet ski up to the golf course, have their cart waiting, and take off and play, I’ll be the man to help him/her dream it and do it. Although we should pick a hole other than 6 to start on…it’s the most intimidating damn hole on the course.

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