My 30 year thanks to SLN

[Yossarian]

Some people take a long time to close the gap between beliefs and actions. For me it’s taken 30 years. I first came to SLN in 1994 or 95, I don’t recall exactly given the time lapse. But I remember the trigger, it was the release of the admittedly trite but easily consumed “Simplify You Life” by Elaine St James. Which then led immediately to YMOYL, which I loved. And then here to SLN (not to be confused with SNL, as amusing as both can be). I’d always loved Walden, and Thoreau remains an intellectual beacon for me, but SYL was appealing to my then wife, and YMOYL really spoke to me in a contemporary sense. But there are a lot of choices that once made, you can’t take back. So for three decades I’ve been working high reward, high stress professions thinking I had to strike while the iron is hot. There will be time later to step back and focus on other things, but if you bail out now you can’t get back into the game. And it wasn’t greed, most of that effort went to providing for others. And now, after three decades, I find myself relieved of many of those obligations. The kids are launched, the ex is comfortable, and I’ve helped most of the people on my team who served me advance to their own stellar careers and opportunities. I intellectually knew this was coming, but I have to say the emotional rush of finally letting those things go as “one more year” excuses and just living life on my own terms is, if not overwhelming, fairly more turbulent (exhilaration, fear, anxiety, gratitude, etc) than I imagined.


So it’s nice to see that this little corner of the simple living world remains, even if just the playground for some old timers. In the social media age it feels a little like rediscovering some kind of lost Jurassic world. Cheers to all of you, and thanks for bookending my journey!

[bae]

Good show!

[Alan]

Good to hear from you again Yoss!

"I really do admire you a bit. You're an intelligent person of great moral character who has taken a very courageous stand. I'm an intelligent person with no moral character at all, so I'm in an ideal position to appreciate it." - Colonel Korn

[iris lilies]

Hey Yo, this update is wonderful! I am glad to see you here.

I came to SLN in spring 2001. We were always simple livers because as DINKS it was always appealing to me to live on one salary and save the other in case one of us hated our jobs and wanted to walk off. DH did actually do that a couple of decades ago, but he immediately started his own business and did OK. He certainly didn’t make a lot of money, but he kept very busy and was beloved by people in our neighborhood because he could fix their stuff. DH is naturally very frugal anyway.

I always knew about Your Money Or Your Life but didn’t get around to reading it until I’d been on these forums for quite a while. I had been a fan of Bob Briner’s radio show where he talked about
achieving “critical mass “ that sustained your lifestyle and then you could quit your job.

[iris lilies]

Once in a while I think about certain annoying members here, debating your tax law posts, and laugh. They really wanted the one percent of our population to solve all of our country’s financial problems and wouldn’t accept data reasonably presented by an expert as a counter to their desire.

[Tradd]

Good to see you again! I’ve been here since 2001.

[happystuff]

I intellectually knew this was coming, but I have to say the emotional rush of finally letting those things go as “one more year” excuses and just living life on my own terms is, if not overwhelming, fairly more turbulent (exhilaration, fear, anxiety, gratitude, etc) than I imagined.


Nice to see you again! I can definitely relate to this right now. Good luck on your journey to "just living your life" on your terms!

[catherine]

Welcome back, Yossarian! It is gratifying to see the real-world benefit of YMOL on the virtual friends we've had throughout the years. I can't remember exactly when I came to the original site, but it was definitely early 2000s.