When I first envisioned slowing down my life, I had all sorts of idealistic images. I imagined baking Christmas cookies, canning everything from beans to zucchini, sewing my own curtains, remodeling the house by hand, lovingly strolling the antique shops for this one particular glorious find that I can bring new life to with that cache of stain I had sitting in the basement… . You get the picture. By the time I cautioned myself that it was really only Friday’s off that I was gaining, I had already spent those Fridays several times over. My heart wouldn’t listen. It argued back: “b-b-but, all that time I spent commuting?” It was only 20 minutes each way. Not a huge gain either.
Still, my heart wasn’t listening to my head and while my head hates to admit it, my heart was kind-of right. There is something about re-centering and re-focusing your life that is fundamental and it somehow creates time. I know that it’s impossible to create time, but somehow it happens.
In the end, it’s likely the little things that create the time. It’s not just the time you spend driving to work, but it’s the getting up with an alarm clock and preparing for work. Instead of that five-minute conversation with a colleague who stops by your office, you get a five-minute break to throw a load of laundry into the washer or grab something out of the freezer for dinner. It may have only been a 20-minute commute to work, but sometimes it would take you 20 minutes to wind down, pack up and leave either home or work. That’s 20 minutes you get back.
Suddenly, too, the workday becomes integrated with your at-home time. Today, I have a later afternoon call with some west coast clients so I took the time this afternoon to pick up the kitchen. In a way, it’s like time that used to work against you now starts working with you.
And with that time comes freedom. Prior to leaving my stressful career, I would come home at night exhausted. By the time I did get home – and it was never strictly 8-5 – I had been overstimulated for hours. The last thing I wanted was to explore my creativity. Instead, it was change clothes, make dinner, clean up dinner, sit down in front of the TV for an hour and then go to bed. Saturdays were cleaning days and if I got it all done on Saturday, well then Sunday could be for fun. Sound familiar? It was a conversation I had many times during those five-minute office drop-by chats before I left my old job.
These days, it’s not uncommon to get my laundry done – even hanging laundry out on the clothesline – in between conference calls and writing reports. The house generally gets cleaned up everyday in what would have been my drive-time so even my Friday isn’t typically cluttered with too much housework. It’s great to drop work when I face a particularly complex challenge and go for a heart healthy walk. Invariably, I find it almost always presents me with the answer I was searching for.
And in the meantime, I found that all of those things I daydreamed about having time for have actually largely come true. No, I don’t sit around baking Christmas cookies because candidly, we’re all trying to eat better. But, I do can and it’s not nearly the big deal that it used to be. While it’s a day spent in the kitchen – particularly if I’m doing something like marinara sauce – it’s usually a pretty satisfying day. It’s no longer an obligation on my Sunday for which I’ll pay for the whole next week by not being properly rested.
Taking that exit ramp the day I finally received the offer from my firm was both one of the scariest and most hopeful moments of my life. Was I really ready to do this? And would my life really be much different?
Today, my life is so different. I still have a small cache of dress clothes for when I’m on-site with a client, but that cache has dwindled over the years. I pretty much have twice the amount of jeans, sweaters, shorts and t-shirts. I still work hard, but I work in either my home office or in our fireplace room – both of which have great views of the backyard. I’ve been known to do a conference call on either the back or front deck. I don’t use an alarm clock anymore but I get up just a tiny bit later than I used to.
But I also have time to explore and enjoy life. We take more hikes. I paint – occasionally and not well – but I paint. I pick cherries, blueberries and blackberries in season. I harvest elderberries from my own back yard. I plan meals everyday and I cook entirely from scratch.
Simply stated, I enjoy life. In reality, my mind was right. I technically gained only about 16 total hours in transitioning from full-time off-site to part-time at home work. But those 16 hours have created so much more time emotionally for me that my heart prevails on this one. It may have been all that I really needed after all.
The Yuppie Homesteader 