So how do you slow down when you get there??

mikec4193 · #1 03/06/12, 07:11 AM

Hi everyone

I was just thinking about this on Sunday and wondering to myself. I have been working 2 jobs (6 days a week) since 1981 and I guess I am kinda high strung kinda guy so I am always rushing rushing and rushing somemore. Basically I bought into this suburban lifestyle but I have a plan to be out in the NE Kansas area in the end of 2015 to start a more back to the earth lifestyle.

I was spreading horse poop to make my bed for my corn this season on Sunday and dont you know...I am pushing and rushing again..huffing and puffing and counting the minutes it took to load a wheel barrel etc etc etc...

So how do I slow down when I get there (the country life)??? I have this hurry and rush rush so ingrained in my nature...how so I back up and "smell the roses" as they say??

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

MikeC

TxMex · #2 03/06/12, 08:06 AM

Murphy's law helps.

I know exactly what you mean. I didn't realize how much I was always hurrying and trying to fit as much into every hour as possible until I moved to a remote area of the Texas border. Absolutely NOTHING happens quickly there. For the first 6 months I felt like I was battering myself against a wall. Then I began to get philosophical. After a year I was sitting around having coffee with other locals and sharing grins about the new person in the area that was frustrated just like I used to be.

Like most things....time will take care of it.

haypoint · #3 03/06/12, 08:14 AM

Slow down? Perhaps you are thinking that the simple life is the easy life? Not so much.
You ddidn't say what the "country life" means to you. Even the more specific, "homesteading" is filled with variables.
If you intend on, for example, living off your own vegetables, it takes lots of planning, work and materials. Add just one goat and you are noy faced with growing hay and grains, planning breedings, fencing and fencing repairs, etc. Heating with wood takes lots of hours cutting, splitting, hauling and the time each day bringing in wood and tending the fire.
I guess the simple life has kept me so busy, I didn't have time to count the minutes it took to clean the sheep pen or gather the eggs.

Alice In TX/MO · #4 03/06/12, 08:23 AM

It does take a while for the mind set to switch over. There are still days that I am ramped up into overdrive, and I've been out of the rat race for six years.

Learning that it's OK if it doesn't all get done *today* helps.

nancy237 · #5 03/06/12, 08:26 AM

Highly recommend taking up fishing..
It can work wonders ...

Yvonne's hubby · #6 03/06/12, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikec4193

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

MikeC

You may derive some insight by listening to John Prine's..... "Illegal Smile" while fishing.

jwal10 · #7 03/06/12, 09:04 AM

Some of us never learned. We were forced to slow down. I now know what it means to live one day at a time. IF I don't get it done today it will always be there tomorrow. I don't rush at all anymore. I am living the easy life. Not by choice, well....I choose to live and enjoy....James

snoozy · #8 03/06/12, 09:11 AM

Torque your back out with single-wheeled wheelbarrow, and you will be forced to slow down. Or figure out what devil is driving you and take the whip from its hand.

Coloneldad5 · #9 03/06/12, 09:15 AM

To some extent the environment itself will tend to slow you down some. Not that you won't be kept busy as you will, it's just that the pace will by it's nature slow down some.

There is always something to do on a farm, always a fence to mend, hay to cut or put up, animals to feed, garden to hoe, etc. But you learn that you don't have to 'rush' the job, in fact more often than not, rushing it only means you'll have to do it again as it didn't quite get done right.

It is also a matter of making a mental decision to slow down. For some life forces them to, for others they have to tell themselves to slow down and quit sprinting everywhere. Farm life is good in that it allows you to take things on an even pace (slow and steady wins the race).

Then again sometimes you just have to say "to heck with everything, after I feed the animals (the absolute must chores) I'm taking the day off and going fishing or something" When you are working for yourself on a farm it's possible to do that once in a while.

salmonslayer · #10 03/06/12, 09:37 AM

Slowing down is a mattrer of perspective I suppose but I can tell you I was in the same grind you are for most of my life and since moving to the farm though I am busy everyday, it is much more satisfying.

I took a par-time job last year to pay for some medical bills and it soon became way more than I wanted with more hours than I could handle. The money is nice but I have given notice and will be done by the end of this month. We also (the Mrs and I) have always participated in various volunteer capacities and since retirement we have enjoyed doing even more....but it can get carried away and you have to draw some boundaries. I am now down to the Fire Dept and the Lions Club and both take up a lot of time and effort but both are something that really are important for me (my father is slowly going blind from glaucoma)...even with that I have had to limit some things. If you are a church type person you will find lots of things to fill up your time in the rural mid-west as well.

Just like at your present work, you have to decide how much you want and set some boundaries or the so called "simple life" will swallow you up and you get a big dose of burn out and frustration. I consider my life to be living the "Simple Life" because I work for myself, I dont have money issues to worry about, and I genuinely enjoy what I am doing. ...this life is very, very satisfying after a life of high stress and constant motion.

One bit of advice though, start slow and be realistic in your expectations. And when you get to your place, take a day off now and again and learn to just enjoy where you are in life.

am1too · #11 03/06/12, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikec4193

Hi everyone

I was just thinking about this on Sunday and wondering to myself. I have been working 2 jobs (6 days a week) since 1981 and I guess I am kinda high strung kinda guy so I am always rushing rushing and rushing somemore. Basically I bought into this suburban lifestyle but I have a plan to be out in the NE Kansas area in the end of 2015 to start a more back to the earth lifestyle.

I was spreading horse poop to make my bed for my corn this season on Sunday and dont you know...I am pushing and rushing again..huffing and puffing and counting the minutes it took to load a wheel barrel etc etc etc...

So how do I slow down when I get there (the country life)??? I have this hurry and rush rush so ingrained in my nature...how so I back up and "smell the roses" as they say??

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

MikeC

Takes time.

uncle Will in In. · #12 03/06/12, 09:55 AM

You will do just what you want to do. You can just keep on running till someone has to carry you. Some people are geared to be their own enemy. Brinks don't do funerals.

SFM in KY · #13 03/06/12, 09:57 AM

If you are a hyperactive Type A person, you don't, really, until you are forced to by age and old injuries. You retire and "just" have the farm, so you add more garden, buy more livestock, add more projects ... and keep going.

My grandfather retired from full time ranching when he was in his late 70s. Moved to town but my grandparents put garden in the whole back yard ... looked like a quarter acre to me.

My father retired from full time ranching when he was nearly 80. He still kept a few cows, they put in a big garden ... they did go south in the winter but spent most of the winter out in the SW desert rockhounding and hunting 'lost' gold mines.

I was on a small 'farm' when I retired ... kept that, leased more land, ended up with 60 head of horses ... I'm still on a farm though I'm 'downsizing' ... I've gone from horses to ponies and from 60 to 20 ...

Slow down?

I'm just as busy ... I just enjoy it more.

ronbre · #14 03/06/12, 09:58 AM

you probably don't..but one thing that works for me, I put a swing, by the pond, and I'll force myself to just sit and swing and watch and listen for a while..sometimes it is amazing how long I can force myself to sit there..

**Terri** · #15 03/06/12, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikec4193

So how do I slow down when I get there (the country life)??? I have this hurry and rush rush so ingrained in my nature...how so I back up and "smell the roses" as they say??

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

MikeC

me, too, and so I decided that smelling the roses was over rated. I find outside work to be more exciting than peacefull.

Instead I enjoyed the bird song while I worked and the feel of soft soil. While I ride round and round on my riding mower I admire the place and turn future plans over in my head.

Working outside is more exciting than peacefull! Will the squashes give a good crop before the bugs give it an illness? If I feed the bee hive now will I need to divide it or just give it another box so it has more room? Will a late freeze kill the fruit blossoms or should I dehydrate or should I take the easy route and just eat what I want fresh?

Actually, when I want to smell the roses I go into town, LOL! I ENJOY town if I do not go too often! I get a book, buy lunch that I did not cook, and enjoy the sights. I could not enjoy town properly while I live in it but now it is nice....as long as I do not go too often! LOL!

canecutter · #16 03/06/12, 11:10 AM

Slowing down probably will not happen. An active mind and healthy body can't stop. For me the simple life is stepping back in time a little and doing more for yourself. Doing things you truly enjoy. I suppose it simply means working for yourself and loving it.
Because I'm still working a job and I go there to rest! Then I come home and go to work.
I love the results of my work even though it can be extreme labor at times.
http://www.strugglinghomestead.blogspot.com/

FarmboyBill · #17 03/06/12, 12:28 PM

Old age has slowed me. Ive taken several tests to see if I was a work aholic. I WAS. If old age dosent do it soon enough, a heart attack or stroke will guarantee to work. I still think im working fast, cause the same chores and things to get done is still here the same as they was 20yrs ago. But, Im alot slower now than then so I got to work harder to keep up. Im putting in my mkt garden this year. Be the first in likely 10 yrs.

lmrose · #18 03/06/12, 01:05 PM

The simple homesteading life is a lot of hard work but we enjoy it. That said my husband used to run carrying two 5 gallon pails of milk from the milking parlor to the cooler room and run back when he dairy farmed. He jumped fences and never took time to open gates. Rush, rush rush! He took chances and suffered several injuries over the years also because he was always in a hurry.
When we first met he worried I wouldn't be able to keep up with him as I have always been slow moving. 34 years married this July he has slowed down to my speed! He wore himself out rushing and being hyper. I haven't changed and still am slow but still get everything done necessary. Now I open gates for him because he can no longer leap fences!

**Terri** · #19 03/06/12, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

Im putting in my mkt garden this year. Be the first in likely 10 yrs.

Way cool! What will be your main crops?

TNHermit · #20 03/06/12, 01:13 PM

I go with Haypoint. I work harder around here than I ever did building. Probably cause things change all the time and you can't plan as well.