The title of this blog is "Simply Sustainable - My Life on an Organic Farm". It mostly talks about the ups and downs of living and working as a farmer. But I wasn't always a farmer. In fact, my previous incarnation was about as far from farmer as you can get. I worked in the financial services industry for over 25 years....securities and commodity brokerage, to be specific.
My epiphany that maybe that industry wasn't where I needed to be came to me back in 1992 and it took me two years to shake myself loose from it and "retire" from my long career there. I have never looked back, although sometimes I do miss the money. Of course, that only lasts for about 30 seconds because my old life always flashes before my eyes and brings me back to reality because the truth of it is that I am not sure that I would have survived another year in that business, much less the 13 years since my departure.
I have worked hard to distance myself from the reality that most people live in daily (9 to 5 job, big mortgage payment, credit card debt, etc.) on purpose. I gave up a lot by today's standards of success to get to the place I am in my present life. The money, the house, the car, the travel abroad...none of it really ended up meaning much after all, once it was gone. For a while, it was kind of like an out of body experience, but when I settled back down to earth, it was all good. Like anybody else, my life is far from perfect, but it is much closer than the marjority of people that I know. I have truly never been happier in my adult life.
Of course, I would not be honest if I didn't give a lot of credit to the people around me who have supported and loved me no matter how radical or strange my choices may have seemed to them. And I certainly could not have reached this level of
satisfaction in my life without having my best friend by my side every step of the way. Sometimes, there are people who come into you life that have a profound effect and if you have the wisdom and openess to accept what they bring to you it can change your life forever. Not to sound cliche, because I truly belive this, opening yourself up to the endless possibilities of the Universe is the most important step anyone can take to having their best life ever. We are only given one life at a time to live, so make this one count.
