Entering the mainstream
For the past 14 years many of our decisions have lead us outside of the mainstream. This began with home birthing, which led to home schooling, which led to the freedom to travel, which led to quitting our ‘normal’ jobs- you get the picture.
For some, reading about how we live, you may not think any of these idea’s particularly radical and they may not sit outside of your cultural norms. I know for my children, all of these practices seem pretty normal. For my husband and I though each of these decisions has been counter cultural to everything we were surrounded with and grew up believing. Whilst we thought they were good decisions for our family I have to be honest there has always been a little sense of unease, something that nagged at us as we “hoped” we were doing the “right thing”.
Fast forward 14 years and here we are now….having spent one month in and firmly in the mainstream lane. The kids have chosen to go to school this year (uniforms, schedules, weird peer relationships) and the adults have “proper” jobs again (uniforms, schedules, weird peer relationships).
I’m here today to reflect on whether this is the “right” decision for us and whether the “trade off’s” of the decision are “worth it”? I’ll be honest straight off the bat, I am really enjoying the increased income that has come from returning to paid employment and the possibilities that this opens up for us. Obviously it’s tied to working normal jobs which seems like we are back into our old habit of- save like mad and then spend it all travelling however I think this time around it’s a little different and this is what makes me motivated to keep on truck’in.
The difference this time is that once we have reached our savings goal we are actually done! By done, I mean we will no longer have to work ever again for a wage- in the next three years we can retire- I would be 50 and my husband 55 (Mel Gibson yelling “Freedom” comes into my head while I write that!) and we can live modestly but comfortably, travelling as and when we want.
On to school……I am not convinced that school’s in NZ are hitting the mark BUT are the kids enjoying themselves? Well, yes they are. Do they think they want to stay in that system for the next 5-6 years?…..no they don’t. Giving our kids an upbringing that makes them unafraid to try new things and be adaptable means they are enjoying the experience in front of them at the moment but they are by no means invested in doing the same thing forever- just because that’s what is expected.
The trade off’s of our current lifestyle feel pretty big to me at the moment (maybe it’s culture shock!)- lack of freedom, over burdened schedules and long periods of time away from the family each day. Only time will tell if this was worth it. From where I sit now it’s working alright. We are making sure that when we are home we are hanging out together, talking about our day and working to get the house jobs finished but in a way that is not too arduous.
So that is where we are at- overall is it a good decision to get back into the mainstream? Well in a way it’s a back to our roots kind of thing and my husband and I are definitely comfortable in the systems that we find ourselves participating BUT do I think we’ll be here long term? I hope not!