Is It All Worth It?
Dear Friend,
When a family travels together, parenting is a 24/7 job.
I suspect that this one factor is a big stumbling block for many parents who might otherwise step out into a more creative lifestyle with their family.
Let’s face it. A lot of schools may not be great, but they do provide a convenient babysitting service for us and we feel no guilt about it. We don’t have to make excuses to relatives and neighbors about why our kids are not in school. They are right where everyone else expects them to be, for better or for worse. And with school buses, the babysitter even provides door-to-door service.
More adventurous families often homeschool by necessity. So they find themselves with the added responsibilities of being a full time parent, a part time teacher, and constant defender and justifier of their chosen lifestyle.
So, does beginning an adventure with your family mean that you never get to take off your parent hat? That there are no breaks from your responsibilities as a parent? Plus you take on many more?
And what about adult privacy? How can you live a normal adult life with your partner when the kids are always a few feet away? How will your marriage survive?
And why would anyone intentionally subject themselves to this kind of continuous stress? Isn’t adventure supposed to be fun? Is our culture so built around the conventional lifestyle that trying to live differently is just not worth the trouble?
A lot of questions. I am sure that you realize by now that I have chosen my lifestyle despite the potential difficulties that it introduces.
I have found that my life feels healthier, and more natural to me now. Issues that I thought would be a big problem in the beginning seem much less so now.
Yes, there are real challenges that enter your life when you choose to live differently than most. But they can all be solved if you and your partner can be flexible and creative. So don’t let your fears turn you away from your dreams.
You have to live the life that your were always meant to live. To live otherwise is to be sort of dead inside. If your natural lifestyle requires that you be different from most folks, just do it.
If you are afraid to be the true you, then you haven’t really lived yet. So what are you waiting for? Your life is waiting.
All the best,
Hugh
