Get Out of the Rat Race

Get Out of the Rat Race

I have been on a missions to create a slower pace, like the islanders of Kauai, in order to achieve one of my life guiding words ‘Be Present.’ I want to get out of the rat race of my daily life and into a simpler life.

Do you ever feel like you're just running "in the wheel" and are part of the rat race? Get things in order and get out of the rat race to a simpler life.

How much of what you do on a daily basis is all just part of a rat race? Do you ever feel like you’re just running ‘in the wheel’? In order to Be Present, I needed to get out of the rat race, and create a simpler life.

Get Out of the Rat Race

A simple life has a different meaning for every person. For me, it means trading chaos for peace and spending time doing what is most important to you. It means getting rid of many of the things you do so you can spend time with people you love and do the things you love. However, getting to simplicity isn’t always a simple process. Its a journey, not a destination, and it can often be a journey of two steps forward, and one backward.

Cory and I had discussed countless times the desire to purchase property out of state…when we retired. Living in suburbia just wasn’t satisfying. Last year, the realization came that retiring anytime soon wasn’t realistic, and planning to wait several years was just postponing a much needed change for us.

For those that have seen the TV series Weeds and have heard their theme song, it’s very much how we were beginning to feel. We made the decision to start looking for property close enough to city life so that we could still maintain our businesses in Sacramento. Within exactly 7 days, we found our dream house and property. We had an accepted offer by day 9. It was meant to be. We left suburbia.

Creating a Simpler Life

Now some of you may argue that living farther away from our work isn’t really simplifying our lives. And in some ways, you’re right. We now have more daily chores with our chickens and we have to plan out our meals. People may not want to come visit as often since we are ‘so far away’ (though in truth we are only 25 minutes away from our old house) and our commutes are longer.

It’s funny how I thoroughly enjoy the drive home each day. I’ve just recently started listening to audible books again. Audible books have long since been my method of reading. Finding time to read a ‘real book’ on a regular basis is difficult.

Or you will find me singing in the car more often now too. The drive itself is not one where you can be texting or daydreaming about what you must do first when you get home because the roads are windy and they narrow to just 1 lane in a few sections. I don’t mean 1 lane each way, I mean 1 lane that both directions share. You have to really be on the look-out for oncoming cars, as well as deer, raccoons, skunks, wild turkeys, bobcats, you name it, crossing the roads.

The drive is peaceful. The drive is relaxing. Everyday I feel like I’m coming home to my own personal bed and breakfast. I smile as I drive home.

Moving out of the city was a step in the right direction to creating a simpler life and Living 5×5.

So, how are you living5x5 today? Share with me your steps to simpler life in the comment section below.

Be sure to GRAB my FREE Manifesto Guide for everyday inspiration.

2 Responses to Get Out of the Rat Race

  1. “Every day, I feel like I’m coming home to my own personal bed and breakfast. I smile as I drive home.” Yes! Just that. I love the drive home. Well except when I’ve had to drive kids to and from town 3x in one day. But most days are good! I feel exactly the same way about our little 6 acres.

  2. I did the same thing. The drive got to be quite relaxing. Unless it snowed. Then it could take me 3 hours to get home. But I had a solution for that, too. I made sure my drive took me by a movie theatre. If the roads got to snarled up, I stopped and watched a movie. By the time the movie was over, the traffic cleared.

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