Life In Washington, DC
Over a decade ago, my wife and I lived in Washington, DC. Our 1 bedroom apartment was pretty spacious and the rent was reasonable. We were employed full time, and we lived in a great neighborhood that was walking distance to pretty much all of the cool things you could imagine. Easy access to top-notch restaurants, parks, shops, grocery stores, the waterfront, tourist attractions, were just a few things we loved about NW, DC. You get the picture.
We felt comfortable with our setup and enjoyed a frequent influx of family and friends. Taking advantage of annual festivities in the metro area, ranging from cherry blossom, 4th of July on the National Mall, blue crab feasts, and even Rolling Thunder. We had all these great things to explore at our fingertips, but didn’t have the time or energy to do most of them. Surprisingly enough, we always wanted more; more of whatever it was that brought happiness into our lives. After all, it’s in our nature to want more, isn’t it?
Time And Money, Who Knew!
No matter how hard we tried to do more we were limited by one of the most precious resources, TIME. We treated time as spendable resource. Suddenly, we had our “aha” moment and realized that you do not spend time, but you invest it. You invest your time in “things” that fulfill your objectives towards life happiness. Working full time only meant one thing, our time is mostly invested at work. Any leftover time we had, we spent recharging and catching up on personal things.
The second most precious resource, MONEY, was something we had always underestimated. We made plenty of it to sustain our DC lifestyle, but we made very poor financial decisions at the time. This was simply because we were not interested in money management. We were only looking to acquire and spend. Even though we had income coming in from multiple streams, such as side gigs, and working overtime, it was never enough. It was evident we didn’t receive a formal education about money; the most critical skill for becoming financially successful.
Decision Time
Equipped with minimal knowledge about these resources, we decided to restructure our lives. Determined to spend more time on things that matter the most to us, we were ready to take control of our spending habits. After months of contemplation, we decided to leave our jobs, pack our bags, and move overseas, in pursuit of advancing my educational career. At first, we were skeptical because we were not ready to leave our comfortable nest. But we decided to take a deep breath and go for it. It was one of the best decisions my wife and I ever made. That decision alone, yielded great results for us, that would change the way we approach life and finances forever.
Aftermath
Exciting things happened in Europe as we tackled the nomad lifestyle. We learned to live on $2,000 dollars a month, for two and a half years while in Portugal and Sweden. My wife got the leave her job at the age of 36, and is now a stay at home mom to our three children. We had our first born child in Sweden. I was able to complete my graduate program in Sweden for $14,000. The cost of living in Portugal was significantly lower however we only spent 6 months there. All of these things gave us the ability to invest more time on family, friends, and travel. As if that were not enough, we bought our very first real estate property, and ended up on House Hunters International.
Conclusion
Our experience living abroad derived from a simple decision to pursue life happiness. To chase the things we really enjoy the most and cherish every moment with people we care the most about. That my fellow readers is all part of our ticket to happiness in LIFE.
What does life happiness mean to you and what makes you happy?
