So this is a bit jumbled, I suppose my overall question is how do you handle the need to work and living in the rat race with the desire to live simply and not get sucked into all the distractions?
The Ramble: In an ideal world I'd have a small place in the middle of the woods where I could spend life quietly with a small family, with no pressure to work for someone else or be too involved in the rat race.
Realistically, I live in one of the most expensive areas of the U.S. (it's where I was born and raised) and feel like I'm working myself to death just to pay rent. I'm not sure what to do about this. Clearly, I need to have some sort of income coming in to survive. I don't love my field of work, but it's paying the bills. I've tried to talk to other people about how they handle high paced work with a desire for simple living.
My family's response mostly has been to find a dude to take care of me, which I suppose is a thing, most of the women in my family marry young and then never work (note: my mother was not one of the never work folks and is super upset that I don't want to be some CEO of a major corporation or something--she also thinks living simply would be a waste of my degrees). But even if I love the idea of homemaking and never setting foot in a real job situation again, I'd feel super uncomfortable letting someone else pay for my whole life. Also, I'm single and can't count on life working out like that.
I have decent savings and no debt, but I have no idea how to start moving toward a lower-stress, peaceful life. I'd love to move somewhere cheaper, but other than that I'm at a loss. I'm not trying to never work or be lazy, I'd just like to not have to be stressed out all the time and only working to keep up with everyone else when all I really want is a small place, food, books and nature.
How do I reconcile wanting to not be constantly stressed out about the world, work, money etc with wanting a simple life?
Submitted October 15, 2017 at 02:42AM by cupcakepnw http://ift.tt/2yqJIJx
