It seems that the more I attempt to simplify my life, the more complicated it becomes 🙂 Does anybody else experience this?
I remember when I had one career, lived and worked in the same city, and lived in one house (well, it was an apartment). In 1998 I decided that I wanted to get into the housing market finally, which in California is quite a feat. So I bought a condo in Dublin which is about 40 miles from where I had been living in San Jose, CA. I bought here because: 1) I liked the area and 2) I could afford it. For awhile I commuted to San Jose for work. After sitting in traffic for nightmarish long commutes, I knew I had to do something else.
My plan was to close my therapy practice in San Jose. So I found a place to sublet an office so I could begin to move my therapy practice to Dublin. I will spare you the details of how difficult it is to find a small office that someone wants to rent to a therapist. After several years and several different offices in the Dublin area, I have finally found one that I rent by myself. Yea, no more subletting! The problem is I never did close my San Jose office. I still commute to San Jose but in the last year, I have cut it back to only once a week. One way to simplify life…
Okay, so 2 offices and one house. In 2005, I must have decided that my life was too mundane so I insanely decided to take equity out of my condo which had increased in value so much that I was able to buy a whole house at one of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. Now before you think me totally insane, let me tell you that most of my family is nearby. I grew up in Fargo, ND – yes, the place of that stupid movie! My lake is about 40 miles from Fargo. I seem to like that 40 mile commute 🙂 Anyway, my Mom who is now 93-years-old lives in Fargo and having a house at the lake, aside from being one of my lifelong dreams, allows me to spend the summers with her. My brother (and his family) and lots of cousins also live nearby. Okay, so since 2005 I have 2 offices in different cities and 2 houses in different states (about 2200 miles away from each other).
In the past few months, I have decided that I want to leave CA, sell or rent out my condo, and move entirely to the lake. My friends and acquaintances here think I’m crazy. “Have you lived through any of their winters” they ask. Of course, I have, although I have to say, it was MAAAAANY years ago. But I like to cross-country ski and I can do that right outside my MN front door.
I am trying to simplify my life. I just want one home and the only office I want is to be in my one home. And I want to do much of my work by phone so I can sit on my deck and watch the boats go by while I work.
But the simplifying process simply isn’t as easy as I thought (hoped) it would be. I have 2 houses full of furniture that I like. Now I have to integrate my two lives. Anyone else ever have to do this? What did you do?
