April 19, 2016, 5:36 a.m. -  Luix

#!markdown Great piece Dirk. I personally resigned a better job position (going from working on the trenches to be a technical leader) and chose to stay working from home, skipping a three-hour daily commute to and from work in the process. I also get to pick up my kid at the kindergarten, with our bikes loaded in the van, and head for a short spin every now and then. To me, losing all of that wasn't simply worth the extra money. It will all pay even better when we move 10 minutes away from our local forest reserve in a few more months. I know some may differ, but personally I'm not obsessed with the latest and greatest. And looking at the fiascos several friends went through for being early adopters of several technologies (this last being exacerbated by living in a third-world country, i.e. try to find a spare set of seals for a last-gen fork), I think I'm in the right lane. As you stated, as you age, it's harder to take risks. And a family creates stronger ties to that place you like to call "home". How do I find balance? By taking short escapades to places with better trails or more mountains. I think I wrote this before, but it's worth bringing it out again. We have a saying down here: _"No tengo todo lo que quiero, pero quiero todo lo que tengo"_ (I don't have everything I want, but I want everything I have).