LD Revisited

I ran across the concept of “lifestyle design” again today – as I do repeatedly, but this time in a rather interest outlook. The blogs I read were more of a backlash at what has become known as LD, or more particularly, Ferriss’ LD (Tim Ferriss, the author of “The Four Hour Work Week” (FHWW), spawned the term and the movement of people quitting their jobs to become “location independent”). I wrote a post on this a few months back (and, as I know no web tech, and this is a minimal-tech blog, go look it up for yourself because there will be no trackbacks), in rather a similar attitude. This attitude is one of skepticism of the longevity, of the propriety to society, of authenticity.

Why am I speaking of it again? Because it has prompted a few more thoughts, clearly. I do still respect the particular concept as bringing to light the individual power we all have over our lives and lifestyles, although I agree that the location-independent, freelance web designer and/or company owner concept is becoming outdated. As one blogger put it, it is the “expat lifestyle” by a different name. But these conversations revolve around the nuggets of lifestyle design that is important – the questions of what ARE important enough in our lives to organize everything around?

To begin asking questions, we must find the right questions to ask first.
It is not enough to ask simply “where do I like to be” “what do I like doing” and “what am I good at”, although those are good questions, because when one is designing their lives they must think about the future as well. It is no coincidence that the majority of “Lifestyle Designers” are single and childless. It is not a sustainable practice for the majority of families with this inclination (note – majority, as I have run across several wonderful and enviable families that are doing just this adventure of travel and work who are not gypsies). Simply the ones our parents, or their parents would say is “thinking about the future”, because, honestly, that’s all it is.

Some of these larger questions may be – “what is the most important part of a life I want to have lived?” , or a question that was asked me on a school retreat once “what do I want to be known for?”, even “what are the qualities I want to manifest in my life”. And once some of these larger, core questions are answered the rest may become clear. I want to be, for example, a good wife and mother, to have a happy family with strong children, to live simply. When I see this life, as I do because I am a visual learner more than I can describe it, I see a garden, animals, fresh bread – all much like the life my mother created for me when I was very very small on the farm. I feel the tug of land like Vermont when I walk outside in the day, and I think of a place like Ellensburg Washington where our friend J grew up – which was stifling to his adolescence to be sure – but beautiful, rich, and close enough to a major city to spend the weekend. Perhaps a bit closer to the city I would live, but a place where wanderlusting mountain warriors reside because they lose themselves in the mountains for weeks at time is utterly appealing.

However, I know I require the knowledge of exposure before I can squeeze all the benefits out of a settled existence, and I am young enough to feel adventure in my veins. I keep recalling TS Eliott’s essays from his farm and how exotic and beautiful the “regular” world can be when seen in the light of experience. This writing, too, calls me, as I cannot escape the ease of writing about what makes one happy.

Everything else will come in to place if I focus on enriching my life, providing my future with the required nourishment of wisdom and patience, (blech I sound boring) but also keeping in mind that if I want to send my kids to college, spending all my money in Morocco probably won't cut it.