Wanting Something Simpler
Sometimes life seems to be so complicated, doesn’t it?
I don’t know about you, but I crave a life of simplicity, something more straightforward that feels more like actual living instead of just getting from one month to the next.
I think that’s what led my family and me to become nomadic and live an unconventional life.
There is something about it that just feels simpler and, through being simpler, brings a freedom.
In a way, the life we chose isn’t simple at all, but it does feel more straightforward.
I guess, like a lot of people, the life we led before seemed like a bit of a carousel that we just couldn’t get off of.
We worked, we earned money and that money paid the endless bills and insurances on our home and our car and around we went again.
We did nice things, don’t get me wrong, but it just seemed like most of what we had went on just paying stuff off, and that felt uninspiring and monotonous and not what we wanted from life at all.
We wanted more but also less!
The feeling of “there must be more to life” was always present, and I don’t think that’s uncommon for a lot of people, but along with that thought was a longing to just make life simpler and have fewer components to worry about.
I suppose, in some ways, there are actually more components to our life now than there was but it feels more like a choice and not forced on us, so it feels simpler because it’s what we want.
So it felt like, instead of continuing to go around and around on the carousel, we decided to step off and go and explore the rest of the fairground.
I don’t want to paint the perfect picture of the life we chose, though, because it’s still life, with all of its ups and downs, high points and low points, but it feels more, well, us!
When, as a family, we let go of all our belongings, it was difficult at the beginning, but as we shed more, a feeling of freedom came in.
We were simplifying our life and it felt good, and it felt natural.
It felt like we were becoming more true to ourselves, living a life of choice rather than a life we thought we were expected to live.
I’m not all about getting on the soapbox and preaching how people’s lives should look like because were all different and unique in our own ways, but how many of us are living lives that don’t feel authentic, just going along with it because that’s what we think we have to do?
Even though I now live a different way, I still catch myself falling into the “should” trap.
I should write this, I should do that, and before I know it, I’ve created my own carousel that I keep riding around and around, then I remember who I am and jump off the ride.
It’s almost like a constant, having to remind myself of who I really am.
Like any life, the way we live evolves, and I still want to make things as simple as I can, but at least now the money we have goes on things we want to spend it on.
I’d love to hear what a simpler life might look like for you?
Until the next step on the journey
Take care and have fun
Stuart
You're right, it's so much simpler to own less, have fewer chores and not have all the tasks of being a homeowner and paying bills. Life today for us is extremely authentic. We are now almost fully self-sufficient in food, that's amazing. The boys all work part-time, our bills are small, but this moring I've done a load of washing, put away another, vacuumed, sanded and painted some railings that were rusting and emptied the litter trays. Most of that you don't have to do in a hotel where somebody else cleans and does the laundry. Give me simple please! But I was very aware that in Jan and Feb when we were travelling in Asia we were suffering from polluted air, fluoride in water, processed foods, weird sleep patterns, and more. I'm very picky about what I ingest at home, and you can't be that way when you travel. So it's swings and roundabouts. We have managed to keep possessions, particularly clothing, very minimal ever since, though. That helps financially and in decluttering your home and mind. But I know for sure if we were sufddenly homeless I could easily just pack what we needed into backpacks and not miss one thing from home, other than the animals, I'd very happily go back to nomadic.