Word for the day: Abundance
Color for the day: Burgundy
The last few weeks have been as busy as any were when I was working and busting it for college. I am mostly done with my classes now, and just waiting to get the thesis bound and delivered, and my graduate reading done. There have been a multitude of developments, complete with some setbacks here on the homestead. You can follow all the fun on the Our Homestead Adventures playlist on the YouTube Channel, Twisted Candle Media.
I am eager to get the first year of homesteading under my belt, get done with the degree, and have something akin to free time again. I say akin to, because as a writer and multimedia creator, I know that balance is something I will have to work hard to create, and that there’s really no such thing as “free time” when you’re working in the ways that I do. When you’re homesteading, it’s a full-time job. When you’re writing and creating things online, it’s a full-time job. And then, when you are paying back student loans, that’s another full-time job, hopefully with benefits. Then there are the regular human things like family and housework to fill in any possible gaps that are left. Where’s the joy?
Well, the joy is everywhere along the way. There is none of this stuff that I don’t love. I love writing and creating online. I love all of the work of homesteading, and caring for my home and family. All of this means that I have a life. A really good life, full of things and people that I love. The parts that are like free time are almost all of it. In my “free time” I write. In my “free time” I homestead. In my “free time” I spend time with family and friends. Each of these things must exist in some kind of balance, because I refuse to give any of them up.
You know what wasn’t on that list? Self-care. Taking the time to sit down and read a book for pleasure. Swinging in a hammock. Having a ridiculously lazy day, just laying around the house, binging Netflix and petting the cat. Well, we do watch some Netflix. I also watch some YouTube, and scroll a bit on social. I like to think of it as market research, though, so I’m not sure it really counts as free time.
I think the point of all this is, I choose–happily–to not have what most people think of as free time. I fill my life with adventure. I want to always be doing, creating, or discovering something, to be nurturing someone, or to be learning something. Some folks might call that being a workaholic. I call it choosing to live abundantly. Abundance isn’t about how much money you have, how many things you accumulate, or how big your house is. It’s about living as fully as possible with what is in your means. Granted, the student debt is pretty steep, but I think we can get it managed. We have plans and backup plans. There’s no sure thing in life but death and taxes, but we try to live as simply, yet as fully as we can.
Sometimes our getaways are as elaborate as a trip to Colorado, and sometimes they are as simple as a backroad in Hubby’s truck with the windows down and no particular place to go. Both of those things are rare, but that’s why they’re special. What we are building here is special too. We’re putting down the deepest roots of our lives here on this little homestead. I plan to retire here someday, and enjoy the final harvests of my life here.
Of course I’m writing about the homestead. It has come to represent everything that I hold dear.
The rest of this year will be much like the start, with a few changes, like work.
I’ll be posting a lot on the Twisted Candle Media channel from here on out, as well as building up the newsletter. So, if you want to keep up with the newest developments, sign up for the newsletter, which will be forthcoming twice monthly, and subscribe to the channel. There are a few playlists to choose from, including the homestead stuff and the Chasing the Muses playlist, where I will be talking about creativity and writing.
I hope you’ll join me on this quest for abundance both in creativity and in life!
Until next time,
Be well!
~D~
