Nearing 30
I'm approaching 30.
That's a very big number that's way too close for me to be comfortable with it. A few short months away, I had many plans at a young age for the big 30. Marriage, children, a degree, a career, a list of countries I'd been to over a mile long....I've learned that time-worn lesson. Not everything you want just magically falls into your lap. At 29, I have none of the things I've listed. I have paths to them all but, they're tentative, shaken by self doubt and a reliance on the opinion and view of others.
Eight months ago, I was about 196 pounds. I had a bit of a bubble gut, I'll admit. Today, I'm down to 171 pounds- a weight I haven't seen since high school. I have become mostly debt free (other than school loans, obviously) and I have started a relationship I have some hope in. Still, I want better things for myself. I want to save more, and travel more. I want to focus more on my health and happiness than on the health and happiness of others.
Starting August 1st, I'm going to dedicate a lot more time to just that.
I intend to document my progress here, starting with paying off my school loans in two years. On top of that, I intend to travel more for my own health and happiness, and dedicate time and energy to putting a stop to big purchases and shopping in general. I want to minimize my life. Shrink it down to live on less, to be happier with less.
A few years ago, I traveled with my church family to Panama, in South America. Without trying to idealize their living conditions, I wish I could adequately relate to you what that experience was to me. I felt more at peace, stronger, spiritually connected. I sat outside and listened to the hardest rainfall I've ever seen in my life. I stood with men who laughed at my exceptionally pale skin but didn't love me any less for it, drinking the milk of a coconut they'd just spiked from a tree with a long spear of wood. It was barely two weeks, but it felt trans-formative to me. Living where I am now, I find myself continually caught up in the American culture of more is better. It's just not how I felt surrounded by people who had so little that we'd consider it almost nothing at all.
Anyway, I hope to post here more about it. To show pictures of my travels, to show life with less. Approaching 30 and the final decade to middle-life, something has to change, and a journey needs to start.
Let's do this.
That's a very big number that's way too close for me to be comfortable with it. A few short months away, I had many plans at a young age for the big 30. Marriage, children, a degree, a career, a list of countries I'd been to over a mile long....I've learned that time-worn lesson. Not everything you want just magically falls into your lap. At 29, I have none of the things I've listed. I have paths to them all but, they're tentative, shaken by self doubt and a reliance on the opinion and view of others.
Eight months ago, I was about 196 pounds. I had a bit of a bubble gut, I'll admit. Today, I'm down to 171 pounds- a weight I haven't seen since high school. I have become mostly debt free (other than school loans, obviously) and I have started a relationship I have some hope in. Still, I want better things for myself. I want to save more, and travel more. I want to focus more on my health and happiness than on the health and happiness of others.
Starting August 1st, I'm going to dedicate a lot more time to just that.
I intend to document my progress here, starting with paying off my school loans in two years. On top of that, I intend to travel more for my own health and happiness, and dedicate time and energy to putting a stop to big purchases and shopping in general. I want to minimize my life. Shrink it down to live on less, to be happier with less.
A few years ago, I traveled with my church family to Panama, in South America. Without trying to idealize their living conditions, I wish I could adequately relate to you what that experience was to me. I felt more at peace, stronger, spiritually connected. I sat outside and listened to the hardest rainfall I've ever seen in my life. I stood with men who laughed at my exceptionally pale skin but didn't love me any less for it, drinking the milk of a coconut they'd just spiked from a tree with a long spear of wood. It was barely two weeks, but it felt trans-formative to me. Living where I am now, I find myself continually caught up in the American culture of more is better. It's just not how I felt surrounded by people who had so little that we'd consider it almost nothing at all.
Anyway, I hope to post here more about it. To show pictures of my travels, to show life with less. Approaching 30 and the final decade to middle-life, something has to change, and a journey needs to start.
Let's do this.
<3
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