our newfound freedom
4/08/2016
You should know that we are practically halfway through April and most of those snippets up there are from March. I don't know what to do with this, should I apologize? I just wanted you to be aware that I am aware that I am a tad behind. (they don't know that we know that they know!)
Life has been this beautiful tumult of change lately. We have been living between two homes for the past month. We slowly move this and move that, until now when we are living in a practically gutted house that still has the necessities so we are still here. Like beds to sleep on. And the coffee pot.
Sometimes change is hard. Sometimes change is scary and stressful and sad. This change, however, has felt quite different for me. Although I will say, and I'm just stating the obvious is all, moving is never fun. Packing and unpacking and lifting and driving and lather rinse repeat! And selling a house is never, ever fun. Signing papers and having meetings with inspectors and appraisers and realtors, and not getting your hopes too high while you hold your breath until the final deal goes through because you never know what could happen.
That being said, in spite of the challenges that come with moving and selling, this change has been quite the adrenaline rush for me. This change feels similar to the thrill of graduating high school. You are so very eager to get out of that school to which you are now an entirely different person from when you started there. The walls of the school hold some magical memories along with some painful ones, but no matter what they hold, you have outgrown them now. You are a little taller and a little wiser and most importantly, you are ready. The walls you have outgrown have now turned into the prison bars that keep you locked away. But there is a light at the end of this adolescent tunnel and it is so close that you have to refrain from projecting yourself right into that light! The world is at your fingertips and you can sense that life is about to become an entirely different and hopefully better life for you.
Now you should know that I am not comparing my home to high school prison walls. I love our home. I have loved our home since the second we moved into it. We have made this home what it is now, beautiful and filled with things, landscaped with trees and a fire-pit and a big fat garden. But it is leaving the home that is symbolic. We are different people, Dan and I, and there has been a rattling in my soul for quite a while now informing me that my family needs some change. We needed cheaper, simpler, slower. We need freedom. Freedom from the stress of adult life, freedom to feel young and carefree and to focus on what matters most, which is each other.
It is a tad misleading to say that we would be free from the stress of adult life, of course. We don't have a time machine where we can leave all of the pains of adulthood behind. But do you know what we are leaving behind? The Joneses! Those damn Jonses. If I could offer you one piece of advice it would be this: do not fall for their tricks of needing to keep up with them, the Joneses! Please trust me, keeping up with everyone else is only an illusion. It is a ridiculous notion. A ruse!
Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. Ignore the Joneses. YOU DO NOT NEED THEM.
We have specific goals and we have practically propelled ourselves into those goals now, which feels so refreshing. So much more refreshing than just talking about the goals but never having the courage to take action. That's like talking about taking a shower but never doing it. And how will you ever get clean? The goal, I think, is to live in our dream home with the smallest mortgage possible. Just think about it! Think of all that you can do with that extra money in your pocket! Think of the travels and trips and memories you can make! Think of the amounts of carefree you can feel when you don't owe anything to anyone other than each other! It helps that my dream home isn't very big, mind you. I never wanted a mansion. I dream of a cute and cozy cabin in the woods. LESS TO CLEAN, that is my motto! Simple. Welcoming. Comfortable. With a big huge deck overlooking the mountains to spend most of our time on.
While we have made these changes that drive us down the road towards our goal, it feels like peeling off heavy layers of unnecessary outer shell. We are just getting down to the good stuff, prepping to enjoy a big fat juicy orange. And if you enjoy the orange right, without caring who is looking while juice dribbles down your chin and you stick a slice of peel over your teeth to make a silly mouth the same way you did when you were five, that feels like freedom.
I have been embracing the tumult. I am excited for this change! Life is crazy and life is hard but there are rainbows after dark storms and I am admiring and appreciating all of it, the storms and the rainbows.
TGIF friends! Get out there and get you some!
xoxo
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LOVE this! And I am so with you, damn those damn Joneses!! I'm excited to see where your adventure leads you guys! :)
ReplyDeleteThis. This is my dream! I don't want to owe anyone anything! I want to trade haircuts for vegetables out of the garden! Simplicity! That's where it's at and I'm beyond excited and quite jealous of this new adventure for you!!!
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