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Beginning the Journey

© Mari Brodersen

About six years ago, my husband and I were at the peak of our "work hard so we can accumulate more and more" existence. Though we lived in a beautiful Santa Fe style house in a lovely neighborhood, we spent our weekends looking at model homes -- most of them $700,000 and up. We thought we could afford one if we both worked a good 60-hour week and took no vacations for several years. We drove decent cars, but "wouldn't it be nice to drive a Lexus?" So we also spent a lot of time test-driving high-end cars. We wanted designer clothing and state-of-the-art electronic gadgets. We wanted to refurnish the house. We never had enough of anything to make us happy.

Then I began to have health problems (which would, five years later, be attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome). I kept pushing the envelope until my doctor told me that I had to cut back to a 20-hour work week.

At about the same time, my husband began to have chest pains. This frightened both of us! He stepped down from his stressful middle-management position with a large corporation, and is now working a 40-hour week at a nonmanagerial position.

Because of our health issues and lowered income, we had to re-evaluate the assumptions that had been ruling our lives. The biggest one was this: success means accumulating materal objects. We began to change our thinking by recognizing that we really had much more to be thankful for than we had realized while we were running in the fast lane. In fact, we had too much! So we adopted an attitude of gratitude. We kept our beautiful house and paid off the mortgage. We decided to keep our decent, reliable cars. Designer clothing is not important, nor are state-of-the art gadgets. And we have kept the old, comfortable furniture that we've always had; meanwhile, my husband has started creating mission-style furniture on his days off.

Janet Luhrs's book, "The Simple Living Guide," caught my eye in a book store. I bought it, and we read it and discussed it. We gave our surplus belongings to a charity. We learned not to "sweat the small stuff." And we began to integrate Luhrs's suggestions into our daily life. The result has been a fuller life.

I hope those who have begun their journey will also share their stories. I'd love to hear them!

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