Too gloomy to stay. Too settled to leave.
Do you ever get to that point in Winter when you're just tired of cold, rainy weather?
There's a reason I've spent so much of my life on tropical islands. Pretty much anytime I could swing it financially, that's where I was.
Sometimes I think about selling my house here in the foggy, always coldish San Francisco Bay Area and building a house in Bali instead. Or maybe Thailand. I have friends in both places from having lived in Asia previously. Africa also calls to me, though that would more likely be a year of travel, not building a house right away.
I don't yearn for the road. I'm feeling more like being settled these recent years. But settled in a place where the sun shines more, temps hang in the low 80s, and the cost of living is so low that my current passive income (and maybe someday Steemit blogging) could essentially allow me to retire right now.
Am I complaining? In a way I guess I am, but really I'm thinking through my options. Sometimes we need to face our dissatisfaction so that we'll bother to reach for more. In my experience, the only way we usually get more is if we first stop being willing to settle for less.
(Source: Pixabay)
I know many people who would love to live in California. 😀
I am different though... My dream is to live in Scotland - ever since the first time I watched Braveheart. 😀There is a very strong pull to stay there in a small hermitage surrounded by sheep. The thought alone makes me feel peaceful. The sad thing with this is, that we won't meet, when you are going to Bali. 😀
Much Love,
Brave-❤️
I'm watching Outlander now, so I'm kinda obsessed with it. My husband is Scottish. :) So magical!
Well thankfully planes fly both ways! I can see the appeal of that country lifestyle. Where I am now is a small degree of that. There's a horse farm and an vineyard up my street. Plus my views are all hills and trees and sky, with a creek also flowing along my daily walk. But I'm still in the city in half an hour outside rush hour. I imagine there are quite a few people who would love the cool, quiet of such a setting, and often I do. But I yearn for the sun!
I am so much a sun person! But I do enjoy the contrast of our mountain winters so I can appreciate it more. I lived in Florida for ten years, and it's a little monotonous.
People always tell me when I live on tropical islands that I'll eventually get "island fever" and want to go, but you know even at 5 years I never did. I got enough contrast with the 60s and rain of the winters and 80s and sun of the rest of the year. But if one has fun in lots of different kinds of weather, attire, outdoor activities that vary, I can see missing that kind of contrast. I'm such a simple person that I could just walk the beach every day forever and be content. 🙂
I stayed on Martha's Vineyard for a summer, and I def got island fever. I think I had it in Florida, too. Cause being down all the way on the bottom of Florida it kinda feels like you're on an island, you know? You're just dangling off the landmass away from everything (all the way on the bottom of crazy-land. (I'm not a Florida fan. :) ) )
Yeah, I'm picking up on FL not really being your favorite state LOL!
I get depressed if I don't have sun! I'm going to Bali tomorrow...come join me!! Last year Portland winter got me down! I had no idea there were horses and things like that around your part of town lol.
I feel like being settled AND yearn for the road at the same time haha I get how you feel. Once you've got the travel bug it's hard to ever feel 100% satisfied again. There's always the small part of you that wants to go catch the island sun or something.
Yes, exactly! There is both the desire for "home" and the comfort and familiarity of it, and yet you know the new experiences waiting out there for you at all times. And sun! Sunny beaches in particular.
But you know, we just have to make enough with our crypto to buy a house near a tropical beach and also have a place where the seasons change. Maybe even a dual house share, if one person like Winter in the cold for skiing say and the other likes Winter in the tropics. That way no house ever sits empty but both households have ever "newness" and familiarity!
Well enjoy Bali. It will probably be after a couple other trips that I get back there. Still have Fiji, Spain, Jamaica and Ghana ahead as new places before I go back to familiar ones.
My husband always says to me you have to have the bad weather to appreciate the sunshine and warm days. I try to remind myself that, but it's hard at times when it's snowing out and the weather hits a negative number, haha. Thanks for sharing.
Oh negative temperatures! Save me! Yeah, think happy thoughts. 😀
Aw yeah I ain't about those negative numbers. We're just 30 and 40s here in Appalachia in the winter. That's my limit.
What's preventing you to be happy when it is raining ?
I wouldn't say I'm unhappy. I'm a pretty blissed out person with a very pleasurable daily life and meaningful work, but dissatisfaction seeps in when I'm not distracted by the way the sun buoys me. I think the dissatisfaction is already there, and that the lack of ability to hang out for hours in the sun each day prevents me from ignoring it. Sometimes there is a need for a change, not to solve a problem, but to simply move forward with life. I'm wondering if this might be such a time. Thanks for the question.
Come to Greece !!
It wouldn't be hard to convince me!
haha true
A nice pic
Thanks. It's from pixabay.
I feel the same way. I would like to travel some but settle where the breeze is just right. We have rain here today in Nebraska. At least it is not as cold. :)
When you said "it is not as cold" and in Nebraska, you really gave me some perspective! It's all relative, isn't it? Nice to connect with you.
You could be in Nova Scotia, Canada!....lol That's where I am, and we can have some pretty bad winter weather. Although this year has been pretty easy on us. (Our summer weather is pretty perfect) I know exactly where you are coming from. I'm craving the sun so badly too.
Your statement: "Sometimes we need to face our dissatisfaction so that we'll bother to reach for more. In my experience, the only way we usually get more is if we first stop being willing to settle for less."
I totally agree.....Knowing what we don't want shows us what we do want. :)
Yes, it could definitely be much more cold and dreary than even Northern California! I used to live in Boston and there were days they literally warned people not to go outside or they might die from the cold! I can imagine Nova Scotia sometimes gets even colder than Boston. Counting my blessings, but also listening to that inner call for something just a tad different.