Back to Basics

This is a topic I think about often, especially when I see my Facebook feed filling up with so much political “blah” and articles telling us just how bad the world has become … when choosing to live a cruelty-free, self-sustainable life it seems you are also choosing to “go back to basics” in some ways.

Some may say its living “off the grid” or “under the radar” … maybe you have heard it called “simple living.” In a way we are but not really. We are only choosing to live in a way that promotes self-sufficiency for sustainability but that doesn’t mean we have no modern amenities. We do have light, we do have heat, and we definitely do not use leaves for… eh hem.

All joking aside – I have had friends, family, and coworkers say how much they envy our ability to “get away from it all.” I guess for me its not a matter of getting away from anything, it is choosing to be around what I want and what I want happens to be a more simple, direct lifestyle filled with kindness and choices to make a difference in my personal health, the health and well-being of others, animals, and the environment.

Seems preachy, huh?

I don’t mean to be but sometimes it just happens.

For others to feel envy for what we are choosing to do – that’s an odd one. I believe anyone can choose how they live their life …. follow the same path as many, dare to dream and follow your own, or create whatever hybrid of a path you want to make. That’s God’s gift to us: free will.

We don’t have to be doctors or lawyers to find wealth in life. We don’t have to live in fancy houses or drive expensive cars. I happen to find wealth in being around my family and helping those that find their way to Willowbrook.

I’ve posted this image before. I was always the man on the right … sitting and worrying about every little thing and the stress of my job. All that was winning. When I made a choice and my family decided to support that choice – we became a lot happier. We do have stressors but we are able to control them with setting time aside to enjoy. To just enjoy the moments we are given and to feel blessed that those moments were given to us.

Today we went sledding.

And all we worried about was nothing.

We simply went sledding.