I have to say, I'm in agreement about the nastiness possibly coming from the fact that people's own choices were being challenged. When someone is trying a particular lifestyle choice and succeeding at it, and someone else would like to achieve the same thing but is not willing to make sacrifices in the same area . . . often times the first reaction is to criticize. I'm not sure why that is.

We've had a few experiences with this as well. There are investment strategies we try that other people are not willing to risk. We also make sacrifices in areas some people would never contemplate (cable TV). On a recent visit to the home of one of my husband's childhood friends, we were surprised at how critical he was of what we were doing.

We found it interesting that he was so negative, when we were getting ready to take off and travel for six months, were debt free and had the ability to only select projects we found valuable. This person was still struggling financially with an overpriced lifestyle and was clearly not willing to make any changes, no matter how obvious it was to us that he had the freedom available to him much more quickly than we had been able to achieve it.

He was really interested in our lifestyle and wanted it for himself, but when he asked how we did it and we told him, he couldn't help telling us why our strategies wouldn't work. He somehow missed the obvious . . . that it was working.

The same seems to relate to the gentleman you interviewed. Just because a lifestyle choice is not for everyone doesn't mean the person it is working for is wrong in trying it out. Good post.