Answering the obvious
So before I really jump into the good, bad, ugly and funny bits about living in the country, I thought I’d cover off the question we get asked most often:
Why did a non-grey-haired couple make a tree change?
(Special thanks to Amy & QS Hair for keeping the sparkles at bay & that question ever-relevant).
Spoiler alert: I won’t be changing the tree changing world with my response!
The simple answer is exactly what I think you’d expect – we wanted a happier, healthier and simpler life.
Outwardly we probably looked pretty successful. We lived in an awesome house we’d built just the way we wanted – often also referred to as the six-car garage with the alright house on the side.
We had well-paying jobs with big corporations. We got to race cars when the Minister of Finance allowed.
However, the reality of the inside was a little different.
The dreamhouse was and would be owned by our bank for at least another twenty years. All while we frantically worked ourselves into the ground in those stressful but well-paying jobs so we could eventually retire financially secure just in time for our first heart attack/stroke/hip replacement!
We were often so busy working we didn’t have time to enjoy the proverbial fruits of all that labour. Or get to do things like taking holidays or racing cars nearly as much as we wanted.
And we were getting increasingly unhappy with how the city worked.
We hated the traffic and the fact our 15-minute commute to work took a minimum of an hour each day, filled with stressed, rude drivers and road rage.
We hated living in a once quiet suburb that was becoming more crammed than a tin of sardines.
We hated the constant noise (special shout out to the bowlo across the road who cemented my loathing with their midnight greens parties).
So we had our mid, mid-life crises, talked about what we really wanted out of life, skipped buying that red sportscar and purchased 100 acres in the middle of nowhere instead!
Don’t get me wrong, living in the country is not always a fairytale and happily ever after, as this blog will definitely show.
But we own our little patch with no mortgage; I get to work remotely doing something I genuinely enjoy most days. I wake up to a killer holiday-esque view every day. I smile more, wrinkle my forehead less and feel much healthier in mind and body.
Okay, enough of the serious, navel-gazing stuff! Look out for my next blog on the time I got busted buying hay for strays.
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