Sell up everything and live life...

[mountainm]

Brilliant article on the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32974131

"Well, we believe that the real measure of modern success is nothing to do with your bank balance or the size of your house, but instead, the amount of free time you have at your disposal. We think disposable time, as a resource to strive for and spend, counts for much more than disposable income.
You see, time is much more valuable than anything else, be it natural resources such as gold or diamonds, or a man-made commodity such as money. Time is the currency of life itself.
Time is also a great leveller that, unlike other commodities, brings a certain equality. Because regardless of who you are, time and tide stand still for no man, woman, or child.
No matter how pseudo-important someone is in terms of their career or place in society, no matter what their salary or how much wealth they have accumulated, everyone ultimately has only a limited amount of time to cash in at the Bank of Life, a finite budget to use. Or abuse, waste or fritter away. Or to spend wisely and with meaning and value, with which to make a difference or to do something amazing."

 

[British Red]

Spot on. We realised five years ago that there were many things we would rather do than earn more money than we needed. So we stopped working full time. Monday I spent a day with my neighbour and our wives and chainsaws logging up firewood. We were filthy, sweaty and tired by the end. We drank homebrew when we got back rather than sat in a pub. Wouldn't swap places with someone in a suit sat in a wine bar if you gave me a gold bar.

Life is not a rehearsal and its too short to do things that make you miserable.

 

[mousey]

I'd rather work and then pay someone else to chainsaw up firewood for me [and still have some cash left] than chop the wood up myself.

HOWEVER, I'm only saying that because I actually enjoy my job sure I enjoy chopping wood too but I'm happier working my job for 8hrs than chopping wood for 8 hrs.

I suppose at the end of the day you have to be happy with what your doing, be that making loads of money or having loads of time on your hands.

One of my sons wants nothing more than to be a scaffy man and have a motorbike - as long as he's happy, [and not hurting anyone] then I don't really give a monkeys.

 

[sandbender]

I did that, if a woman and kids hadn't entered the picture I might still be doing it.

Impressive that they managed to involve the whole family.

 

[santaman2000]

I'd rather work and then pay someone else to chainsaw up firewood for me [and still have some cash left] than chop the wood up myself.

HOWEVER, I'm only saying that because I actually enjoy my job sure I enjoy chopping wood too but I'm happier working my job for 8hrs than chopping wood for 8 hrs.

I suppose at the end of the day you have to be happy with what your doing, be that making loads of money or having loads of time on your hands.

One of my sons wants nothing more than to be a scaffy man and have a motorbike - as long as he's happy, [and not hurting anyone] then I don't really give a monkeys.

That's the key isn't it? To find what you love to do and then be able to make a living at it.

 

[vestlenning]

Life is not a rehearsal and its too short to do things that make you miserable.

Hear, hear!

 

[mountainm]

That's the key isn't it? To find what you love to do and then be able to make a living at it.

Unfortunately when a hobby becomes a job it can sometimes ruin the hobby, literally turning it into a chore.

 

[Yorkshirewanderer]

I think it takes balls to do something like they did, I envy them. Their kids will always remember that year of their lives, what brilliant memories they will create. I would love to do something similar but I know its only ever going to be a pipe dream. I always try to spend as much quality time with my kids as i can, but unfortunately society today is money orientated where work and earning as much money as possible is the norm, I am guilty as i'm sure others are. Reading this article made me think about what changes I could make, even small ones, to make sure me and my family get the most out of life without wasting it worrying about how much disposable income we have.

 

[Goatboy]

British Reds post put me in mind of what it was like for me when I was working on estates and the forestry commission. In both circumstances I was living on small farms or cottages. During the day I did a job that totally involved me and I loved and the evenings were working the farm and those of my neighbors as as they were small concerns we banded together to share th busy times. Most of the houses I lived in were wood fired so my personal wind down time was that I' spend at least an hour and a half each night chopping wood. The rhythmic nature of it was cathartic for me and needless to say I produced more wood than I needed. So loads of it would be shared with neighbors and the older or needy in the surounding countryside. Looking at it now it seems like halcyon times and for me it was. In a material sense I was putting more into the planet than taking out, but spiritualy it was a rich time for me and I was a very happy bunny.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[British Red]

I'd rather work and then pay someone else to chainsaw up firewood for me [and still have some cash left] than chop the wood up myself.

HOWEVER, I'm only saying that because I actually enjoy my job sure I enjoy chopping wood too but I'm happier working my job for 8hrs than chopping wood for 8 hrs.

Enjoyment is the key. I was making very good money indeed in full time employment, but was often frustrated and unfulfilled. Eating simple meals from our own produce, washed down with a glass of elderberry wine and cooked with wood we have gathered makes us happy. Its a simple life, hard work but only we set the pace and if we work late, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labors rather than pacifying a grumpy director. I get to spend most days with my family too which is great.

If others would rather do something else, that's great too. Its just staying on the treadmill even though you are miserable that I find a shame

 

[Tengu]

Do you see what I see?

I see a specialist in Autism skiving. (Trust me, these folks do not grow on trees. it took me 2 years to get a diagnosis.)

 

[mountainm]

Do you see what I see?

I see a specialist in Autism skiving. (Trust me, these folks do not grow on trees. it took me 2 years to get a diagnosis.)

you imply she has a bigger duty to perfect strangers than she does to her own kids.

 

[Tengu]

Thats one way of seeing it, a perfectly valid way, I think.

My Fathers late wife was a Cytologist, she chose to work and help others rather than take early retirement. (Didnt help her in the end, but she would have died whether she was working or retired.)

Sometimes the bigger picture is, well, bigger.

 

[xylaria]

Do you see what I see?

I see a specialist in Autism skiving. (Trust me, these folks do not grow on trees. it took me 2 years to get a diagnosis.)

You are high functioning, life on the front line with very disabled people avoiding getting bitten and scratched is very high stress. I can totally understand why a couple doing a job like would want to cash the life in and hit the road. They are very lucky they both said do it. Rather than than one cling to job and mortgage and inprison the other.

Legging it from a job where you wake up in the night from nightmares of your cleint group lunging at you is survival.

 

[Tengu]

Yes, you are right there...Someone has to do it.

(My enabler chose not to do it so she could work with people like me.)

 

[mountainm]

Thats one way of seeing it, a perfectly valid way, I think.

My Fathers late wife was a Cytologist, she chose to work and help others rather than take early retirement. (Didnt help her in the end, but she would have died whether she was working or retired.)

Sometimes the bigger picture is, well, bigger.

I hope she doesn't read this thread. You think that people have a duty to use the skills they have to help others regardless of how society treats them? Or their happiness and the happiness of those they have a duty of care for.

I do hope you're maximising your potential within society to be in a position to judge others in such a way. You're doing archaeology right? Maybe society would benefit more if you did something else.

 

[Tengu]

Dont worry, I have emailed all my support staff and told them it is their duty to skive.

How I will manage I dont know. Im pretty dependent on them.

 

[mountainm]

I found the article inspiring, the outlook positive, and the intention good.

 

[Tengu]

Yep me, too, in spite of my reservations (vested interest anyhow.)

A Tip, dont be like a person I once knew who sold their house in order to travel the world for a year, then found they could not afford a new when they returned...

 

[Macaroon]

I found the article inspiring, the outlook positive, and the intention good.

So did I, and I also agree fully with xylaria's post above.