Okay, this blog may be a tad serious but I believe there IS a life but not as you know it. Whilst dreaming about what our perfect world would be like there are brave souls that every year take the plunge.
Most of us by choice or by chance live in a kind of bubble. Where your world is defined by working five, six, even seven days a week to afford often even the most basic lifestyle. Fine if you love it, not so if you don’t.
The age of consumerism is consuming us
The attraction of owning your own home commits us to these days’ huge mortgages or rents. The ‘necessity’ of having two cars in the driveway often means more financing. The reliance on supermarkets to provide your groceries. Television and the internet and social media for your entertainment, the latest gadgets, furniture, clothes etc, etc. We rely on credit as our incomes have stalled over the past twenty years.
For kids starting out they are now having massive university loans to deal with. And then children come along. On top of this, our cities are becoming overly congested. Social media dominates our lives. Being ‘liked’ has become a drug. In the meantime uncertainty in the workplace means jobs and your income can come and go in an instant. The costs of living are constantly increasing…
So we swim out into the stream to compete with everyone else.
All this comes from our desire for security and comfortable life with the hope that one day in retirement you can cash out and sail into the sunset. When all is going to plan then damn it all a pandemic hits. The world is now facing war and it seems on the cusp of a financial meltdown. WTF??!
Maybe it’s time to take stock of your life as I did in late 2018. From a high-pressure world of property sales in a capital city of 5 million souls, driving 100km per day in traffic to work and back, renting a townhouse with a postage stamp-sized backyard. I was on a good income but not happy. I had lived for a time in Montenegro and Russia and had discovered a more personally fulfilling way of life. And I missed it.
Choice not chance.
Fast forward to early 2019, after doing some pretty hefty research into the Balkan countries plus Georgia, I bought a 2-bedroom 2 story stone cottage in a small village in Bulgaria for 6500 Euro (no, that’s not a typo)
Located on 1730 sqm of land dotted with almond, peach, walnut and plum trees, figs and grapevines. wonderful neighbour’s. Super cheap cost of living (for ex-pats, not the locals), three hours’ drive to the beaches of the Black Sea and Greece, bushwalks in the local mountains. I’m surrounded by small towns and cities dating back 8000 years to the Thracians and Romans. Suddenly I was home and found contentment for the first time in years.
Next year I’ll be looking forward to exploring more of Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, in between renovations on the house. Of course, I have the task of learning a language (great brain exercise). Although I’ve found it very easy to communicate in foreign countries with modern language apps, plus many younger residents speak some English.
So, what’s the point of my little rave?
If you want a more fulfilling life then why not pursue that goal or dream, no matter how large or small. It may be the best thing you’ve ever done!
