The sub-title of this blog is “Doing it Differently”, but what does it mean really and why is it important? It was an idea that was born about three years ago when we decided to make a change, quit our daily jobs and set out to do something new with less stress, less strings and more freedom to do the things we really wanted to do in order to gain a life that was more fulfilling for us and for our family.
Three years ago our life looked very different. As two employed parents, we spent hours commuting to work or working long hours at the office. Often I would leave work stressed to pick up the kids from day care while feeling guilty that I had to leave the office early but still ending up pickling them up rather late. And maybe the most frustrating of all; having a feeling that you didn’t ever really satisfy anyone, neither the boss, the kids or yourself.
Slowly we realized that we it was not the way we wanted our lives to play out. We realized that the most precious thing we have in our life is time and no matter who we worked for, the payment for that time spent would never be enough to really compensate for it. What we felt was, that there was too much time wasted on things that mattered less and that was something we wanted to change.
Today, three years later, both of us work from home, I a little less than originally planned, he a little more. He was ready from the start, for me it took a while to get used to it and some days I still struggle.
Most of the time though we are here, greeting the kids when they come home from school and eating lunch together. We work in totally different rhythms, I like the morning hours especially, he the late night hours with the quietness of a sleeping house. Even when there is lots of work and lots to do, there is still lots of freedom and lots of room for creativity.
As self-employed we understand that there is really no such thing as real economical security and at times it can seem a little scary. With that said, this year has been one of the more profitable ones to date. We know that we have to pay more attention to what we spend and how and we have to be ready and able to make changes and adapt to new situations.
So where do we plan to go from here? To that I can only say that life is a wonderful journey and that is an answer that no one can really answer. I do hope that we can continue to do this thing we have started, that we can continue to learn new things and to develop individually as well as a family. Most importantly, I hope we can continue to enjoy what we are doing.
Happy New Year!
Next week : “Doing it Differently” Part Two with a more practical point of view of what it is that we do.
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