Yes, exactly. But I can't postpone my dreams for so long. I still have my health and I should take advantage of it. Why should my body atrophy away in a chair throughout my 20's and 30's?

When the weather's nice and I'm stuck in my air conditioned office all week, only to be too busy on the weekends with errands to enjoy going out, week after week after week. That's not living.

With Freelancing, I'll need to do it for more years, but I can casually take weekdays off whenever I like and this year I took 8 full weeks of vacation. I don't know any full-time Software Engineers who are given that by their employers.

Beyond bringing in a modicum of control over my schedule, I find switching projects every few months keeps the job far more interesting. I'm learning more every day just as it was in my Junior days :)