The only thing I can put our decision down to is that we reached some sort of a tipping point.
We've spent the last seven or so years as a couple idly daydreaming about living on acreage. We've spent hundreds of hours exploring pockets of countryside around Brisbane on weekends, examining real estate listings and attending the odd open home.
We'd always come home to our house in the suburbs afterwards, put a load of washing on, get up and go to work again the next day and move past it. Not in an unhappy way.
Just because, that's life.
2012 brought our tipping point and, to be honest, I can't even put my finger on quite what it was.
A stressful financial period after Lucinda was born and the company Dan worked for went belly-up certainly didn't help.
One too many evenings when I came home exhausted from work, hastily fed Lucinda something from the freezer and then put her straight to bed - frustrated and worn out - didn't help either.
A new job opportunity in a new part of town for Dan. A trip too many to visit friends in the country.
An increasing, murky, sinking feeling that you must be living someone else's life for them.
None of these are enough to make you pack your bags and head for the hills on their own, of course.
But cumulatively, they're enough to bring about a certain introspection. Enough to make you step back from your day-to-day life and look at whether this is what YOU want. Not what society recommends for you, or how your friends or family live.
After all, they have their own wants, needs, temperaments and goals to contend with.
Sometimes in life, we all just live to survive for a while. Breathe, eat, sleep. There's nothing wrong there. It's just the way the world goes.
On the occasions we're lucky enough that opportunities present themselves to extend beyond that and we're able to take advantage of them, then why not?
That was our tipping point, I guess.
Why NOT?
Life is a journey. This is the next stop on ours.
I think having children can be the tipping point. Somehow when you have kids, you seem to crave a simpler, quieter, more meaningful existence. I have no doubt we will end up on acreage ourselves one day too. xx
ReplyDeleteI feel so excited for you on this somewhat brave new adventure. Part of me would love to live in the country but I have a job that I love here, access to great support from family and children who I dearly love but would probably drive me crazy if I could not get out and about with them easily. So for now, this is the place for me but happy to live vicariously through your farm move. mel x
ReplyDeleteI understand that tipping point you talk of, just in a different light. For us it was moving away from all our friends and family in NZ to give our children a better life and opportunities in Australia. Most of our loved ones didn't understand the decision but to date it's been the best thing we could have ever done.
ReplyDeleteOur next dream is to own a decent sized block of land, it will take a little time but we will get there.
Wishing you luck on your journey.
x
I wholeheartedly agree with the first comment, having children changes a lot of things, it did for me, and it was all positive. I don't think you'll look back once you are settled. Seems it's meant to be to me.
ReplyDeleteLove this post and love observing your adventure. I think we've come to a similar realisation, it's time to do something that feels right.
ReplyDeletewhat a thoughtful post, edwina. and you are courageous for realising your dreams - for recognising that yes, sometimes life is just the ordinary but there's a point where the ordinary is not sufficient - that's someone else's life. you've expressed it so clearly.
ReplyDeleteI love this post too, I can understand exactly what you mean having reached my own tipping point recently. I look forward to following your adventure and starting my own, as I look around the room I see piles of half full packing boxes and imagine you must have a similar view right now too : )
ReplyDeleteGreat post Edwina, my family are all grown and gone now so my tipping point came later in life, I worked for a publishing company in Sydney and had hours of travelling via train to and fro and being crammed like sardines in the carriages, not getting home till late dinner then bed only to start all over again the next day, my husbands job disappeared and we made the drastic decision to move to Qld but couldnt afford the high coastal prices and ended up here in the Lockyer Valley, it was a bit hard to slow down at first but now life is very peaceful.
ReplyDeleteSo many people reach that point, but are too scared to take the leap into the unknown. They stay balancing on the edge frightened of what is out there. You are both lucky and brave to have stepped of the edge into your new life.
ReplyDeletehttp://iliska-dreams.blogspot.com.au/
Just enjoy the feeling of living your own life for a while, these people are obviously content where they are, but you have a need and are going after it with both hands! Life is a journey, and we are here to live and enjoy it, not just get by, working long hours and regretting decisions we 'might' have done. I will continue to follow your amazing progress and wish you the best on this branch of your journey.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to realise, and I'm sure you do, that nowhere is perfect and there will be things you won't like about your new home, just as there will be things you miss about Brisbane. But you have to make a decision based on what feels more right than wrong and then give it your best shot.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I can't wait to see more of your brilliant photographs! xx
I'll be eagerly following your progress on this project. I think you should consider yourself lucky that you reached tipping point sooner rather than later. I say that as a 50 yo who sees many of my peers struggling with life because they chose the path that society dictates - that is accumulate and surround yourself with things that you don't really need then have to stay on the treadmill to pay for.
ReplyDeleteVery honest post,it's one of those decisions only time will tell. Family is everything!
ReplyDeleteVery brave decision and I congratulate you on making a change. It's much easier to do nothing x
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