My wife and I just returned from a trip. We were looking at potential relocation possibilities. The place was terribly polluted with diesel fumes in the cities and beautiful a ways outside of town.
We started looking to move because of peak oil. We picked a place and did our research. We got real excited. We strategized and planned our new life for a month or so, and scheduled a vacation for the end of summer. But by the time our vacation came around, we had lost our thunder. The severity of peak oil fell by the wayside as we were forced to continue living our normal lives and performing our jobs. The excitement of moving wore off too, as the best part of planning is the planning, and NOT the repeated rehearsal of the plan month after month. We’re human and driven to adventure when the iron is hot. And our iron was cool.
We arrived to find a place that does not meet our high American standards for convenience. That much was anticipated, but facing the reality is a wholly other situation. Not only is it hard to get simple stuff there, but the cities are hardcore polluted. It’s hard to breathe. We could live farther out, but the roads aren’t even close to good and the scenery, as wonderful as it was, did not meet my innate desire for beauty.
We were left with an unexciting alternative lifestyle option that would provide us with more family time, but several years of difficulty getting established, very few conveniences, and not enough beauty to satisfy me or make up for the lack of convenience.
I need pristine beaches to make up for the lack of a Walmart. Not that I love or even like Walmart, but I do like getting what I need when I need it, and not weeks later after special ordering or driving several hours to find it.
So here I am, back in my regular life. I work 8 hours per day. I have a mandatory one hour lunch which I usually work through. I spend two hours minimum per day driving through traffic. I spend 11 hours minimum away from home, and that doesn’t include any time for fitness or exercise. Then I have to help my wife with the baby while she cooks dinner so we can take our evening walk around the neighborhood and wind down for the night.
I have no life. I have no time. I am seriously tempted to go 3rd world just to have more time. Job and baby equals no personal or wife time. The most personal time I get is when I stay up way too late like I am now and lose sleep I will desperately wish I’d had in the morning.
So I am stuck in the middle on a major life decision. Living here in this way is no longer acceptable. Living there under those circumstances is nearly unacceptable. Where is the happy medium? Where is the solution?
Father, this is where I ask for your help. Open the eyes of my understanding to the best possible solution. Give us ears to hear you. Speak your will. Give us peace. And help us to refocus our lives to live for more worthy pursuits than an extra buck.
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