I was flicking through pinterest the other day and came across this quote which got me thinking on past years and whether I'm satisfied with my accomplishments. A pretty deep conversation to have with oneself but one nethertheless. Upon reflection, it's clear that some have certainly been easy decisions, and some have definitely been very tough ones.
It got me thinking more about my life on the Ponderosa and the reasons why I started this blog. Have I accomplished as much as I would like here on the Ponderosa? The answer? I'm not even halfway there yet. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I haven't tried. When we entered into the our current lifestyle, we made a decision to break the accomplishments into smaller chunks - cause lets face it .... the Ponderosa is a VERY BIG project.
I have to admit that moving did have a tremendous impact on my daughters. They loved our lives living in Wiltshire and going from simple comforts of switching a light on to the fuse blowing every second day became quite a challenge for them. But upon reflection they have learnt to cope, we all have.
They enjoy the daily free range eggs, and ability to not have any food wasted. If we can't eat it, then it goes to the chickens. They enjoy the benefits of fresh home grown vegetables and have accomplished the ability to create dishes with what we have as opposed to running to the supermarket every 5 mins for what we want. They are slowly starting to take on board the beauty of growing our own food but more importantly learning how to do it.
I think in todays society and our quest to provide our children with the greatest of opportunities parents can loose focus on other necessities for their children. An example of this is our life in Wiltshire. The goal was to build the biggest we could afford in suburbia as an investment to then move onto the lifestyle we have now on the Ponderosa. That is exactly what we did with the Wiltshire property and it had all the luxury anyone would desire and it definitely served it's purpose tenfold. But upon reflection, it created new challenges for my girls. In order for them to learn to cook, their idea of being a hunter or gatherer was to simply drive to the local supermarket and get what they needed.
They couldn't understand our conversations of how home grown food tasted so much better than store bought. To them, they hadn't really had an opportunity to understand the importance of it all.
I was also scared that their view of what's important in life were more materialistic instead of seeing the potential in everything around them regardless of age. The move to the Ponderosa couldn't have been any more opposite to the lifestyle we had and in some way, shape or form, it forced the girls to take a step back in order to move forward. We all did.
To have a flash house can be simply fixed with a decision to splash some paint on the walls and home grown vegetables can be simply fixed with a decision to plant some seeds, but the experiences of learning how to do it, can't never be taken away from you regardless of where in the world your life may take you.
I read somewhere that success comes when you like who you are, like what you do, and like how you are doing it. Right now, I'm loving every piece of it.
So what accomplishment will you try next?
Happy living peeps!!
No comments:
Post a Comment