Changes for a Life in Balance

Putting our life in balance was one factor we considered when deciding to sell everything and begin our adventure. If we were to view our lives supported by the foundation of Financial health, Emotional health, Physical health, and Relationship health…our foundation sagged in 3 of these 4 areas.

Careers, 50-hour work weeks, and rush hour commutes took precedence over other aspects of our lives. The walk from the front door to the car in the morning, my office to the coffee pot during the day, and from the car to the front door in the evening constituted a physical fitness program. The balance of our time was spent shuttling kids from one activity to another, resulting in a family that rarely ate meals together and interactions amounted to hello/goodbye at the doorway as one group headed into the house and another headed out.

There are certainly more reasonable ways than ours to re-align the order or our lives, but for us we are afforded a blank slate in which to determine what is important and what is not. Each day we are able to determine our priorities and to choose which activities to pursue for the day, and which to forgo.

For more than 20 years a primary focus of ours was money, both earning a living as well as saving for retirement. I am not saying that these things are not important and that providing for one’s family and the golden years is not a worthwhile pursuit, but for us they felt consuming.

The pressures of leadership positions within large corporations to deliver more with less, to spend more hours at the office, take less vacation, attend the dinners and meetings, and weekend retreats exceeded the value our family was receiving from our careers. Further, all of these factors on top of one another added weight that eventually led to an unbalance.

We still worry about money. It costs money to feed kids and clothe them, and pay for hotel room and plane tickets. But the time we use on these activities is much less than previously and the stress and pressures are reduced as well. Now we spend 5 hours a week managing our money, the other 50+ hours free to pursue other activities.

When I feel like writing or working on one of our websites I devote the time to these pursuits. I have the freedom and flexibility to work when is best for me and my family.

I am not always creative between 9 to 5, if I am inspired at 4 a.m. I can work or if I choose to take a few days off to pursue other activities this is ok as well. I am able to balance work and money with the interests of my family. If everyone would like to visit a monkey reserve in rural Costa Rica I am able to participate.

We have achieved what we set out to do, to find more of a balance in our lives. This is a short-term goal. We will continue to learn and determine what works and is effective for our family and what is not. We will stay open to finding projects that create income utilizing our talents and interests, but that mesh with other aspects of our lives as well.