We quit! Yep, my family  just keeps quitting. Quitting has really gotten a bad rap over the years. Of course, we’ve always been told that we should stick with people, places and things, even if we don’t like it! A winner never quits, right? We’ve been taught that quitting is bad and staying and sticking with everything we try is good (and safe), even if it feels bad to us.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you are sticking with something? Especially if you don’t enjoy doing it. . . or owning it or. . . being with it? Why do we continue to live lives that don’t really serve us? Why do we stick with things and people that we don’t really enjoy? Is it because it feels comfortable? That we think we should? That someone will be disappointed if we don’t? Or is it that we delude ourselves into thinking it’s the safest? These are the questions my family has been asking for the last several years. One thing we are discovering is that life is short. And happiness and enjoyment are our top priorities.
So what have we said NO to? What areas of life have we called quits on? Read on. . .
We Quit School!
9 years ago my husband and I quit sending our kids to school. A year after that, we quit trying to “teach” our kids and let them follow their interests, with our help and encouragement of course. And you know what? They know how to read, write, do math and are pretty darned good citizens of the world. The’ve learned HOW to learn – learn anything they like. And they’ve kept their thirst for learning intact by learning what they’re ready for when they are ready.  Not only that, they KNOW themselves. They know what they like, they know what they don’t like and they know how to quit when something doesn’t serve them.
We Quit Eating what the Government Suggests!
We know our bodies better than anyone! And everyone is not the same. We cut out sugar and most grains and started feeling better and healthier. We stopped buying most processed foods and try to buy local when we can. Farm fresh eggs and bacon for breakfast every morning is so delicious!! And healthy, I might add.
My Husband Quit his Corporate Job
My husband has a passion (and wonderful gift) for technology. He was a technology director for a major corporation making six-figures, but he didn’t feel fulfilled or get to work in the areas he really enjoys. So he quit his corporate job a year ago and is pursuing his passion for working with Mac products and servicing small businesses who use them. He loves what he does now and gets to work from home and be his own boss! A lot of the work he does can be done from anywhere. We’re looking at other avenues for making money where-ever we are. This took a huge leap of faith on both of our parts, giving up a secure salary for uncertainty. So far, the net has been waiting for us every time we jump into the unknown. We couldn’t be happier with the decision to work for ourselves.
We Quit Health Insurance
This was kind of a byproduct of quitting the job, but when we looked into private insurance which would have cost us over $1,000 a month we elected to go without. We try to keep a cash fund for medical emergencies (put the $1,000 we would have spent on insurance into savings) and we take VERY good care of ourselves. We don’t run to the doctor for every little thing. We pay cash to doctors that we like and who promote wellness (of course these types of doctors don’t even take insurance) We’ve had one emergency room incident since not having insurance and were surprised that cash paying customers get DEEP discounts. Didn’t even phase us to pay the bill! We may elect to get a catastrophic policy sometime in the future but that’s as far as willing to go when it comes to health insurance. Changing our lifestyle has made us FEEL so much healthier and health begets health. A happy day plus nutritious food really makes for a healthy body. Plus, we put the focus on being healthy and luckily so far we have been.
We Quit Paying a Mortgage
After 16 years of home ownership we sold our 2,500 square foot home. And we ditched the realtor and did it ourselves, saving us $8,000. Selling your own home is so simple and my husband will be contributing a “how to” post in the near future on how to sell your home “by Owner” and even how to get on MLS without a realtor. Home ownership was great while it lasted but we’re ready for some adventures that require us to be tied down with less “stuff”, so this made total sense to us. It’s been a week since we handed over the keys and we haven’t looked back! Plus, with the equity we received, we have a very secure nest egg in place.
We’ve quit other things too. Like:
- * Trying to live the “safest” way
* Living for what others think we should do
* Caring what other people think
* Doing what we’re “told” is best
There is so much uncertainty in this lifestyle, but if you get down to it, nothing in life is ever certain, including a six figure income. We decided that life was too short to do a lot of things that didn’t bring us joy. Do we ever have to do things we don’t want to do? Of course! That goes without saying. But we’ve minimized those things and we focus on living lives that are inspiring and uplifting and that make a difference on the planet.
We are currently living in the question of where we want to be next. For the moment (or the next two months) we are renting a house on the beach and enjoying every minute of it. Yes. We’re working here. But it’s work we enjoy. And we’re playing and laughing and enjoying life a lot. We don’t know how long we’ll stay here or where we’ll go next, but we do know that in this moment . . .in this most precious moment which is Now. . .All is well. And for us, that means EVERYTHING.