lovely.
That shouldn't be a problem at all.
Advertisers do not appeal to our practical side, or common sense. Their goal is to instill inside of each one of us that we will never measure up. So I blame all of my insecurities and issues that roll around in my head on all of the advertisers out there in the world. They targeted me. and it worked.
Imagine being a kid in this day and age with such clever advertising that is intentionally causing people to live beyond their means and end up feeling empty after a hard days work.
"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the un lived life of the parents."
It was October of 2011. My mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It sparked a never ceasing conversation that I had within my head as to whether I was living the best life that I could. Not only for me, but for my husband and children also. It made me second guess every decision we'd made up to that point, but only for a minute. I couldn't help but sit at my desk after a really long hard day and wonder, if I knew I only had a short period of time to live, would I still be sitting here? Did I really have to work? I mean, right away I could answer "yes!" because we needed the money. But, did we really need the money or did we really just like the money?
I have always thought of money being a way to have more freedom. What I mean is, if you had a good amount of money in the bank (or invested) you would have more freedom to quit that job you hated or go on family vacations, etc.
But after my mom's diagnosis, I think I had it all wrong.
I started brainstorming all the ways that we could cut back in our lives. Trim the fat. We lived in a large house with TVs and laptops in every room. We had more cars than drivers. More clothes than would fit in one closet. You get the idea.
I've been gardening for years. I wondered if I could now garden with a purpose. That was my first step towards simplifying my life. Once I started to grow a little of the food that we needed then I worked on the closets. I weeded through the linen closets and each of the kids closets and then to mine (yikes!). The problem with living in the mountains is that you really do have four seasons. It's beautiful, but it also means a separate full closet of every type of jacket for each seasons weather, and for each person. That can take up a lot of room!
We bought a small cabin that was built in 1934. Just after buying it, the huge forest fires that raged through our mountains in the fall of 2005, hit our poor little cabin. I can't believe I never got a picture of our sweet little place as it was!
It didn't actually burn to the ground, but it did so much damage that it had to be rebuilt. This is the part where we learned that we did not have the insurance coverage that we thought we had. I think it took us almost 2 years just to get them to pay what little they owed to us under our policy provisions. Sadly, the rest had to be paid in cash as we went along. Slowly. Very very slowly.
So here we are now, 9 long years later, and the house is finally finished.
We have made a lot of changes as we traveled this journey. We decided after years of brainstorming that it really was time to downsize. I love living in our big house where our children have grown up. I'm proud that we stayed in one place and we have so many memories here. I didn't realize my sentimental attachment would be so strong once it was time to pack and leave =(
My daughter and I have been slowly going through each closet and weeding out what we truly don't need. Our little cabin is only 1/2 the size of this house. I'm trying to figure out not only what is most dear to me, but will be practical and actually fit in the new cabin.
How are we all going to live in such a small place? I know we will figure it out. In the end, this is really going to be worth it. It is going to be worth it, right?
Time tells all.
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