The Easy Life?
- Started
- Last post
- 27 Responses
- jaylarson0
Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy's Farm In Pine Island, Minnesota
James WrightOver my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year's horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
- MrT0
I left the big city for 'paradise' 3 years ago and now both me and MrsT can't wait to leave and get back to civilisation. I still work for the same clients but can't stand the dislocation, isolation or the fact that design (me) and TV (MrsT) are not products of sleepy beachside living.
My feeling is not to confuse what makes a good holiday with what makes a good life.
- pity the fool.MrT
- werd - its all what makes you happy. we had a kid 9 months after we moved, so that basically became 'everything'mantrakid
- in a good way.. i mean.. it truly felt like starting a whole new life in so many ways.mantrakid
- Nice. I imagine that makes it all, I think we just picked the wrong spot as much as anything else...MrT
- Where you go?freshdude
- mantrakid0
I was freelancing in the big city, decided it was too fast paced and needed to slow some shit down. Wife and I packed our bags, sold our condo and were moved into a house in a small town surrounded by ocean, forests and mountains. I figured I would slowly lose my big city clients due to them finding someone local who they could meet face to face, and that i'd have to scrounge up work in this new locale, but the big city (re: big money) clients kept with me, and its been 3 years now living in this gorgeous place, doing basically the exact same work I was doing in the big city, minus all the commutes, the waste of time meetings and the headaches.
Morale of the Story: What the fuck do I know? Just do it™.
- nikdaum0
I think there's no guarantee to happiness, no matter what you do or what you surround yourself.
But, you only life once, so you need to decide what is most important to you now with the smallest odds of screwing you over in the future.
Maybe it's the beach.
- clearThoughts0
Very good point
- desmo0
If you choose the easy life, that means you are not ambitious and are a lazy sob.
- Horp0
Have you ever thought of quitting your job and moving close to a beach? That is essentially retiring, but what prevents us from doing it? Our Kids?
I quit my career and moved to the beach. I did it specifically because we were having kids not in spite of it. Moving to the beach is a great thing to do with kids.
- scarabin0
everyone works their asses off for "someday", "someday" i'll retire, then i can really live life. just 15 more years, then i can live life. as soon as the kids move out i'll live life. as soon as i save enough money i'll live life.
fuck someday.
figure out how to live now. you don't need to be sitting on piles of cash to be happy in life...
it's the present that matters
- yupCanHasQBN
- !!!NathanNice
- +1clearThoughts
- :)... takes a while to figure that out. Often only happens as a last resort. Very welcome at any age though. Cheers :)mikotondria3
- Totally. My life is amazing, and I love it. But I'm also looking forward to the beach.nb
- scarabin0
i live near a beach, can't remember actually ever going there
- qTime0
Too many people are conned into believing this work hard play hard lifestyle is actually good.
You don't get much in return for working your life away at some agency. Working for yourself is a different matter.
It always makes me laugh when some people say they like working late.
- Cause they have nothing else to do with their timeclearThoughts
- Wolfboy0
the thing that stops me from moving to the beach is my life in London. I love it.
The thing that stops me from working is my life in London. It costs cash in wage size amounts.
(I studied in Falmouth, Cornwall - so I have lived by the beach without many responsibilities for 3 years and I prefer my life now).
- qoob0
Let's face it Western civilization is doomed anyway
- qoob0
I've considered moving abroad to somewhere cheap to live and continuing to freelance like I do now. The cost of living is so low in some places that I could work a couple weeks a month and do just fine.
- nb0
I'm working on a plan to achieve this in the next 10 years. Call it early part-time retirement. I don't have kids, so that makes it easier.
I've decided that it's crucial to have a solid plan. Currently working on a criteria to help determine my perfect destination. Factors will include cost of living, climate, health care, economic and political stability, language, property costs, safety. There is no place that will meet all my desires, so my criteria should help me decide on the best possible location.
Also need to figure out how to save enough money to survive, and have enough squirrelled away to move back to Canada and get re-started, if I choose to do so in the future. Don't want to get stuck in a struggling economy.
There's so much to figure out, but I've got time because it's going to take a while to save up a nest-egg. I just turned 32 and realized I have no long-term goals. Nothing inspires me to make money these days. I've become comfortable and unmotivated. Hopefully this is a project that can keep me occupied and motivated for the next few years. Then, relax.
- Nice. What criteria regarding language? That the majority speak your native tongue?CanHasQBN
- I'd prefer English, Spanish or French. Just easier for me to learn at this point. Not a deal-breaker.nb
- You can be happy anywhere - find the right people and make something happen.mikotondria3