Quote:
Originally Posted by Freya
Is abundance or lack of money the reason you are where you are (I mean literal location)?
If money were no issue... would you change where and what you have? Would you stay where you are now? Add to it? Move across the country or world?
Have you settled or fully found your dream? Did the "settling" bring happiness or more pain in your heart and head?
I personally have "settled" in the short term in an area I never intended to be in for reasons that I did not see coming. An over abundance of money would magically fix this (gee it would for most everyone lol), but I am now stuck wondering if I need to redefine my original goals since I am now waaaay off course. And this is causing an internal dilemma of epic proportions.
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I think where you are professionally and how old you are really colors your perception of "settling" or "living the dream." In my 20s I was frustrated by not being able to find a job in my field. In my 30s I'd accepted that I was not going to be working in my field and had compromised on my professional goals and was ok with that. In my 40s we had a massive period of acquisition associated with our farming ambitions and hobby interests (and relatives died and we ended up with household contents (lots of sheets and towels flowed our way)). Now, in my 50s, I find I am deliberately downsizing, as if lightening our possessions in preparation for "something." I don't have a vision of what that "something" is.
And I've become comfortable with "compromise," which is another word for "prioritizing." It is very likely we won't up in a garden this year.. is that "compromising" because we seem to be working more hours to pay our bills? Or is it a decision to allocate our time and efforts in another direction? I want better housing for my animals but the barn of my dreams is probably never going to happen. Am I compromising.. or making a decision that carrying the debt necessary to build that barn isn't something I'm willing to do to obtain that barn?
It is my firm belief that vocabulary, the words you use to describe something, shape how you think and feel. You call it "compromising," I call it "prioritizing." It's the same thing: you don't have the resources to do "everything."
So.. my priority right now is to put resources into savings.. which means those resources are not going into a barn. If I have free time I'd rather spend it working with fiber than working in a garden.. even though I'll probably regret the lack of snap peas come July. Although.. if it doesn't stop raining there won't be snap peas in July anyway.
It is a "compromise," of sorts... but really, it is setting priorities and adjusting those priorities as opportunities present themselves.
