Farmer Audrey

I've been thinking a lot about goals, motivation, and what I want to do lately. 

The answer is: I don't know. 

Coming from a family that is so successful is hard when you aren't sure what success will look like for yourself. I'm beginning to think I need to define success in many other ways. 

Success is having a kick as marriage. 
Success is ensuring that our family has what it needs, and the space to have freedom to follow our passions. 
Success is living a happy and healthy life. 

When I think about this list, the concept of success seems more simple. Success is attainable, and I am more or less successful. So how does it go up from here?

I think the big key is freedom. We are living in the rat-race that is DC Metro. We want to travel and pursue other hobbies that are expensive. We want to be able to have a garden and space for the dogs to run around. Living in a city where land is at a premium and rent and/or mortgage payments are sky high cuts back on some of that freedom. 

So where do we go from here?

Maybe to the farm. 

Looking at cost of living calculators, we could make 40,000 less than we do in DC and have a comparatively similar standard of living in the middle of nowhere land where my family comes from. It's close enough to a bigger city to get us to culture on weekends.  If we both got jobs I'm guessing the pay cut we take would be closer to 20,000. The place we'd live would be no more than 250/month maybe 500/month if we fix up the place.  There would be space for the dogs to run around. There would be more than enough space for a garden. And we could even keep chickens and/or bees. 

It's a crazy idea, but if cost of living calculators are correct and comparable jobs exist that would mean a bunch of additional income to pursue our passions. 

And I have other farm related dreams and goals.. I'll dream more about those another time. I've got a date tonight. :-)