Into the Abyss
There is nothing quite like diving into the deep end of the rest of your life.
You have talked about it endlessly, you have a plan in mind, you have researched the dangers and scouted the terrain. You may have even stuck a toe in the water.
Nothing left to do but do it! Easier said than done.
There are so many doubts,
What if we run out of money?
What if we don’t like the lifestyle?
What if we get sick?
What if we run out of money?
– oh yes I said that already but that’s OK I think I said it at least a thousand times!
You really only have to answer one question.
What if I do nothing?
That’s the question that scared us the most. We had worked hard to gain some modicum of financial security. Not as hard as some, granted, but pretty good for a couple born into the peace generation. We were not supposed to actually need money after all, just love.
My brother in law once said about retirement – its not about what you need, its about what you have. I think life is like that too.
Most of our concerns would still be troublesome even if we did not make a change to our life. You can get still sick, you can still get sick of your lifestyle, and you can still run out of money.
Most of that is not in your control. Doing nothing is in your control. We decided to try and do something. This is how it went.
For several years we had frequently discussed making a change to our life. There was so much back and forth over the pros and cons, the hopes and fears and nothing had come of it except that we had gotten older.
Then along came a wee bubble in the local real estate market and we decided to list our home, our only real asset, for sale. You know, just to test the market, see what it was worth. Within seven days we had a full price, unconditional offer.
Home-less or Home-free?
All we had to do was be out in 28 days. In 28 days all we had to do was dispense of 99% of our worldly possessions and find someplace to live.
Simple right? We have been discussing it for years, right? I will try my best to convey the terror and excitement, the hopes and insecurities of those days.
First let me say that we did discover another beautiful thing about children. They will take your stuff. Tell them it’s a gift. Don’t tell them that if things go bad you plan to ask for it all back and that you may end up living in their basement. Based on that, give them all your best stuff.
Advertise in the free classified ads. Have an “Estate Sale” it will draw a better class of customer than a “garage sale”. Then have your “garage sale”. Take the rest to Goodwill. Do not put anything back in the house. Do not rent a storage locker.
This is about your freedom!
The process of downsizing, as we chose to call it, is extremely difficult to begin. There is a reason you have all that stuff. Its valuable, right? To who, exactly?
It really is a tough thing to do. You have attached a value to your things that the general population is unable to grasp. Even when you tell them the legend behind each treasured item they are unlikely to offer up more than “five bucks for the pair”.
They think they have you over a barrel but is they that must now find a nook to store that stuff and dust it every once in a while too. Seriously it really is hard to part with things that have been a sense of pride, a sense of security, and often a sense of being.
Nothing was harder than watching my son in law drive off with my collection of vinyl records precariously balanced in the back of his pick up truck. Worse still was witnessing the high fives and exclamations of “cool collection dude” addressed to him that should have been meant for me.
Yet, as the downsizing unfolded, there grew a sense of relief. The fact that people will pay you for stuff that you have had no use for is enlightening.
What may feel like a loss at the time may just be another crack in the wall of insecurity that keeps you from your dreams.
We have not had to remember what day the garbage man comes, mowed a lawn nor had any reason to go to Home Depot for almost five years now.
