About
My name is Marie-Lynn (mlrichard at gmail.)
I think “Hopelessly entangled string puppet” is a good metaphor to describe today’s world. It is also a line from The Polar Express. I am hopelessly entangled too.
In the past few years I have been trying to figure out where I am going and how I am going to get there. My life seemed overly complicated and stressful. For the past 3 years, I have been simplifying my life and through it accomplished more than I ever thought I could… by not doing much of anything!
I cancelled the paper. I do not care to read the newspaper or watch the news. Sure I glance at the BBC from time to time and read e-commerce trade medias but I figure if something important or noteworthy happens, I will hear all about it from Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Most media outlets do not focus on the important stuff anyway.
I opted out of consumerism. I grew up with family member who shopped every single day. Still today, their whole purpose in life is the pursuit of the next thing to buy. What is the point of buying so many things made in China out of shoddy material that breaks down easily?
I Do-It-Myself and almost only buy things to make other things.
I buy used, I swap (most recently a huge crafting table!), I thrift, I recycle.
I don’t have a land line phone, I don’t have cable.
I once had a relapse and bought a car… I returned it two days later. I am tempted to purchase my SIL’s under-used car next year so I can drive to garage sales, the Health Tree and farmer’s market.
I work from home half-time or only 6 months out of the year. I figured that I can live with half my salary and that by not having much expenses it goes so much further.
Recently I started reading The 4-hour Workweek. So somebody finally put down in writing what I have been trying to accomplish for years! Right now I am working on doubling my salary but not my hours so I can save up for traveling.Okay so what do I get out of living like this? I get free time to play with my daughter, be crafty, read, learn, cook and volunteer. Since time cannot be bought retroactively, now is the time to watch my daughter grow-up.
The strangest thing happened this year. My employed and well-paid friends told me they envied me. Stranger even, some are actually changing their lifestyle radically to live a similar life.
And another thing happened. Being on a fixed budget I started making gifts myself and I got comments like: “This is the nicest thing anybody has ever given me!” and “I will cherish this for the rest of my life!”. I have also enjoyed coaching entrepreneurs and artists to build their business online.
Best of all, I don’t feel envy for others. I don’t crave stuff anymore. Doing IS way more fun than having.
So where am I going? I really want to move away to Asia and work with a NGO. I have set my departure date in 5 years or when my daughter enters high-school. I have known two families who dedicated 2 years of life to live and work in Africa (in 1978 and 1989). Each family had 2 kids between the ages of 4 and 12. Everyone involved benefited greatly from this experience. I could leave next week but there is lots of work to do to prepare myself and my daughter for this journey. Through this blog I can share my journey towards this goal.
