Downshifting your life – part 1 – Where to start in three easy steps.
Downshifting is not just a buzz world nowadays. It is more like a trend people, and especially young people have decided to intake. The reasons for downshifting can be varied, but each and everyone who has ever decided or just even thought of living a simpler life, has something in common: escape the hectic of big city life for something more down to earth.
Although downshifting is a radical decision to take, it is not easy to organize your life to spend the next to years on a caribbean island or in a small town somewhere in the country side. Downshifting has its pro and cons and it requires a lot of preparation. Part of this will be understanding what downshifting implies, the rest would be up to your organization skills, the rewards are though immense.
So this is our first installment of our downshifting serie: where to start in three easy steps.
So where to start? There isn’t a real manual of downshifting, so the first thing would be asking yourself what you really want and what you are willing to give up to obtain it.
If nevertheless you would like to hear from others that have already beaten the path you are about to take, there are many books on Amazon, and here is a short list:
- Life swap: The essential guide to downshifting
- Downshifting: The Bestselling Guide to Happier, Simpler Living
- Downshifting: How to Work Less and Enjoy Life More
- Downshifters Guide to Relocation
Start reading and take your time thinking. Do not stop asking what you really want in your life. The worst thing that can happen is giving it up all to discover that the life you have taken is not for you.
The second step would be deciding where to go and what to do. What is your passion? Do you want to be a writer? Or do you want to own a small bar in the south west of Spain? Do you want to be a ski instructor or do you want to sail in the caribbean?
What ever you want to do, you need to have a plan for how to get there.
So this would get you to the third step: finances. How much money do you have in your bank account? How much money can you save till you decide to quit your job and relocate? How much money can you earn if you sell your expensive tv or car?
As you see downshifting is everything but an easy project. It requires a lot of thinking and preparation and for sure is not for everyone. Nevertheless we hope to have given everyone some foods for thoughts as they say..
Think about what you leave. Think about what you gain.
