“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life – it’s so easy to make it complex”
So Could You Do It?
When did life become so complex? It could be when you buy your first property or when you have children, when you get a pet or when you get your first car. All of a sudden there is a new dimension to your life no matter how small or large the addition is. What happens when you want to start to make your life simple. All of a sudden you need to think about where to even start to unravel what has been building up probably since leaving school.
I now so understand why teenagers or ‘twenty something’ kids go on their gap year or their Big OE. At that stage in life, a lot of complexities haven’t yet had time to manifest. There’s not the myriad of things to sort and a lot of the time there are parents that can ‘hold the fort’ while they are gone and handle anything that may crop up.
Fast forward another 30 odd years and try doing the same thing! It has been a year since we made the decision that we just might be able to make this work. Personally I had to do it in stages as I came to grips with the possibility of not having a base to come back to. I couldn’t comprehend not having a house in a town where I was born and raised and still live. I have never lived anywhere else. We discussed for a long time about selling our lovely home and investing in a property which would be more rental friendly. Then came the realization that we may not want to come back to this town. Then came the big step of cutting all ties. This gives us many more options for when we no longer are able or want to live the nomadic lifestyle.
It’s All About Making Life Simple
It’s small steps when simplifying life. I have been surprised how difficult it has been to get mail stopped and to get all correspondence e-mailed. I thought that in today’s times and with technology the way it is that it would be achievable…….wrong. Some of the biggest organisations in our country still insist that they send hard copies and they do not have the technology to send only e-mails. Did you know that some government departments are using systems created in 2001. There goes being able to control everything completely remotely. I did not want to burden anyone back home but alas, we still have to maintain our Post Office Box but I have found out that I can get e-mail notifications when I’ve got mail so at least that saves someone having to check it to see if there is anything there.
Brave??
When we sold our home, business, caravan, boat, car, furniture and quit our jobs to travel many people have said that we are brave. But we don’t see it as brave… we’re not doing anything dangerous that might endanger our health or well-being. The reality is that we are going to be doing something different. We have been brought up in a generation that has always said that we should earn as much money as possible while we’re young enough to be employed. We needed to buy a house, a car and loads of other crap. To de-stress and enjoy ourselves we should go on holiday once or twice a year. We must work 48 out of 52 weeks a year in order to live the life that is expected of us. Then if we make it to 65 years old and we are lucky enough to have savings we can stop working and retire. Of all the risks we are about to take, betting on future happiness in 15 years’ time is not one of them.