It's been nearly 3 weeks since I left my job and well over a month since the wife and I came to the decision to claim a life of simplicity. So, how does one create order out of Chaos? Everyone does things differently. I'm going to start talking about our process and our progress in this blog. I'm also adding a new label called "Simple." This is not intended to be a series of conversion essays to my way of thinking. It's simply what's going on with us. If it helps you evaluate and make changes for the better, great! If it simply informs you of how we are doing, fine too.
Communicate & Prioritize
Did you have premarital counseling? Remember the Pastor or Rabbi telling you that communication is the key to a successful marriage? Well, it is.
For years, we've "dreamed" of a simple life and then bought cool stuff (mostly my doing!) It was my health that forced us to reevaluate things and consider our priorities. Then one Saturday night in a booth at the local Chili's the dream became a real discussion. We discovered that we were both thinking the same thing. Things aren't working this way. My health was not getting any better. We're both stressed. We're both out of shape. Our big house is all wrong for us. We've been completely ignoring church. Worst of all, with no end in sight how could we start a family? Something had to change. That's when we began looking at our priorities.
One of the best (and painful) exercises in the world is to come up with your desired list of priorities AND then compare it to a quantifiable REAL list of priorities. We did this with a years worth of credit card receipts and an excel spreadsheet. The results? Our #1 priority seemed to be having fun. Our desired priority was being healthy and starting a family.
The problem with these kind of moments is what you do with them. How do you go from discovery to action? I'll talk about what we are doing next time.
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