In October of 2018, I returned to work after taking more than a year off. Here are the things that stuck with me as I reflect back on the fun ride that the last year plus has been.
Topic: Life Lessons
We are taught not to question the ridiculous levels of consumption and waste as a way of life in our culture. When Annelise and I downsized our lives a year ago, we saw first-hand just how wasteful we can be…and that’s after years of making less-ridiculous decisions about what to bring into our lives.
What’s life like six months into my first mini-retirement? There’s been lots of accomplishments and achievements, but also lots of challenges and struggles. In this post I dig deep into what I’ve been up to, what’s been working and not working, and where I’m headed in the coming months.
Quitting my job (without another one lined up) was one of the toughest decisions of my life. It’s also been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. When you challenge yourself to explore the hard questions, you gain a ton of insight into yourself and find answers you may have otherwise never knew existed.
The conventional wisdom is that owning a home is a sound financial decision and the mark of success. There’s nothing wrong with owning a home, but deciding to buy solely based on this conventional wisdom is not a good enough reason to do it. As long as the buyer understands the true costs and complexities of home ownership, they can make a fully informed decision and plan accordingly. But many times, this doesn’t appear to be the case. In this article, I share my story of buying a home in my mid-20’s – including the costly mistakes I made.