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Joanna Rose Health and Wellness

Letting Go and Embracing: The Dance of Life

Posted on July 27, 2014 Letting Go and Embracing: The Dance of Life

I used to not want kids. It tormented me to think about having kids and then leaving them in someone else's care all day while I worked. Many women do this, I know, but to me it seemed pointless and I rigidly held my ground on not wanting children. Until I did....

Then I struggled with the realization that I might have to go against my values in order to have a family. I asked myself if it was worth it and pondered that maybe the world's population didn't need one more, and I considered that maybe I wouldn't be able to conceive. The thought of wanting a child and then putting all my efforts into conceiving one made me not want to consider it once again... What if I can't? What if I do and then I don't have the strength to live my values and beliefs? I've always thought I'd adopt when I was ready, but never realized how much I agonized over the concept of having children myself and raising a family until now. In the end, I "let go and let God." I had to because all of those worries I had were not totally up to me.

My son will be 6 months old in two weeks, and here we are.....ready to let go of our house, move our family, and start really contemplating what we know we want, but up until now it has been a pipe dream. The decision was made almost as soon as he was born that, aside from my part time coaching, I would not be returning to work. We will then start the process of really considering life on the road, even if just for a year, to see where we'd like to plant our roots. Unconventional? Yes. Road less traveled for sure, but the way we see it we're only young once and tomorrow isn't promised. Why wait to do later what we can be doing right now? Especially while Alex is young and not in school. (Will we homeschool? We'll have time to think about this while traveling).

What does this have to do with health and wellness?
The health of our bodies doesn't soley have to do with what we put in our mouths, but also has a lot to do with the thoughts we nurture. Thoughts become feelings, and both combined become action. Traveling and also being completely selfsufficient is something that both my husband and I want and not in the way we first imagined. Back when we bought our house we wanted "the American Dream"...a nice house with a yard, kids, a dog and cat, and successful careers. Our goal of a nice vacation once per year or every other seemed doable.

We started going after our career goals and the more money we made the more miserable we became. Me sitting at a desk job all day and then more sitting in the car on my hour (or more) commute one way. I thought a lot about how I wasn't living what I valued and in fact was living quite the opposite. I overate to compensate for what was lacking in my life. Matt used to love his profession, but the more entrenched in our day to day life we both became the more and more pointless it all started to feel. We both became bitter, resentful, and were escaping every chance we got. Our food choices suffered, sure, but so did our lifestyle because we had so little "off" time and when we did have the time we found ourselves having to maintain our 75yearold house. We love to hike and bike and canoe, but who has time for that when everyday is accounted for and taken up by working?

Many people in our current position would be fearful and stressed out. But the closer we get to "losing it all" and actively purging our possessions the lighter we're feeling. The more focus being placed on our food choices, recreation, and physical fitness, the more we're enjoying eachother and the relationships in our life. To us, that's what life is all about. Not working and accumulating, but living in perfect union with our environment and those around us. 

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