Ready for a slower pace of living?
Tired of today's rapid pace of living? Ready to go a different way? Barb is and you can learn to do so too. In fact your health and your happiness are dependent on you doing so.
what has been bound up,
so it can open up,
to be freed up,
so you can show up for Life!
- Mary O'Malley
Are you tired of rushing around? Unable to find your work/life balance 'sweet spot'? Fear (or know) you are burned out mentally and/or physically?
Realize you too have been wooed into materialism, consumerism and 'keeping up with the Joneses'? Unable to keep up that front?
Concerned about the ability of your income to keep up with the increasing cost of living?
These are all common concerns for many of us living right now.
I too share your frustration and fatigue. Luckily...
INSIDE THIS CLOUD THERE MIGHT BE A SILVER LINING: Every day middle class, hard working Americans just like you aren't taking it lying down. Or hoping for a savior. ere are other - less costly and less stressful - ways to live. Ways that are easier on the planet too!
Join me to explore alternative styles of living that you can create that are less stressful and that you love. After all as I say...
Life needs to work around you and not you around it!
That includes how you make your income. Work needs to work around you.
Imagine no more traffic jams, high electric bills, big mortgages.
We all have options. If you were truly honest with yourself (including your physical abilities) do you need and/or want to work less and have more time for living?
If that's you, let's explore topics such as co-housing, tiny homes and the art of slow living. And here's an added bonus: done right making the shift is better for the planet too!
Yes, I recognize those of us who are re-evaluating our current lifestyles, including their likely drain on us, are contrarians to the current culture. But we might be also seen as 'early adopters' of the emerging world of tomorrow's work environments and lifestyles. For those of us who 'can't wait' because of financial, health or energy-related realities, it's time we came together and started building a more sustainable future, that is less dependent on the consumerist 'things' that keep us a slave to them as well.
Tired of the Rat Race? Why You Are So Stressed...
"When will you put more of 'you' into your life?”
― Barb Elgin
Why are human stress rates and mental health problems skyrocketing today?
The struggle is real. Life is inevitably full of tensions and one of the most compelling today is the tension between being controlled by our environments versus taking one's personal control back. Obviously optimal living lies in the balance. But more and more we humans feel imbalanced and we are unsure how to find and sustain it.
Case in point: more and more we are being urged to take better care of ourselves. But then, how are we supposed to do that when demands/expectations from employers, business and families and the overall pace of living are both increasing? Often we blame the individual when he or she suffers illness when to me it's obvious it's more complicated.
Two other examples: the more we know, the more we tend to worry or get anxious about. This is most likely why today's younger adults are more anxious and depressed. How does a healthcare provider handle 'the bind' between knowing he/she should educate his/her patient on a drug's side effects when he knows that doing so could create those side effects in his/her patient due to placebo effects?
I believe we as a society are 'victims of our success' and 'ignorance was bliss'. For example: do you recall hearing years ago that 'computers and technology would make our lives easier'? Or that it was a plus getting our food from anywhere and on the cheap? Until we've discovered both of these realities are, so far, either an endless hamster wheel and/or unhealthy. For example: factory farming. It's helped us learn that you get what you pay for. There is a point where quality is sacrificed for quantity and price.
So just how do you define success? Has anyone ever cared enough about you to ask? Have you reflected and found your definition of success is totally different from what your parents believed and aspired to? Have you reflected and found you don't even know yourself enough to answer that question? Or perhaps even more satisfying and more importantly: How do you define a 'life well lived?'
I don't know about you but I have always grown to become aware of thoughts and feelings my parents never envisioned. For one, my mom and dad weren't allowed to 'become'. As blue collar, middle class people, they silently 'did what they were supposed or 'told' to do'. Yes, this way of life was practical and gave them a level of security and success they are satisfied with, however, they've sacrificed A LOT in being so 'led'.
My generation and the ones after my parents aren't silent. We question. And we have had access to extraordinary amounts and types of information and knowledge they never did.
Back to computers and them making life easier? The answer is that this is only partly true. The bar keeps getting raised. Technology has led us into a trance of sorts. What is the trance? Moving rapidly forward into a new version of society where we are increasingly being pressured to become machines. Like my parent's generation. Don't think, don't feel, keep your head down. A more powerless position, but one that when people accepted they had some freedom within it.
However, the traditional 'middle class' job and the life that went with it has mostly vanished. Instead we work in an economy where many find themselves working more for less. Where the complexities of jobs have continued to grow. And where many of us haven't seen our incomes rise in decades while the cost of living has risen...a lot.
Faster isn't necessarily better. Toughness is only functional to a point. Not expressing 'you' in the world in a positive way is what the ruling class might prefer, but is a loss to yourself and to your world.
No matter how much technology helps us, there are costs. The cost? Simply put...we are not machines. Let me say that again.
You are not a machine...
So the reality is that life IS pushing you in that direction...but only if you let it. In fact, it already is. Not only are machines threatening to take our jobs, our environment - especially government, social media and business - are inculcating 'machine-like' processing into the ways we live and work, more and more every day. And I LOVE technology. But after burning out on the fast-pace of life today, I've discovered the key for me - and it will likely be for you too...
Is to be in charge of YOUR relationship with the machines. And to ONLY engage with the machines when they ENHANCE your relationship with yourself and other flesh and blood humans, not DETRACT from them.
At times, differentiating when technology adds to not takes from our lives is difficult. Unless we are adamant, big corporations - who use the machines to crush us and break our spirits - get to decide how we run our lives.
MY MISSION FOR YOU IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:
Help you put your relationship with yourself FIRST when creating your life.
And what do you need to be able to do so? You need to find a more time and energy to do the work!~That's where it begins and grows, as you slow down and live this more conscious, intentional way.
Ready to learn more? Call me at your convenience to talk to me right away about how I might help you design your life more to your liking call me 410-967-3848.
And congratulations! You are at least aware what I am referring to above IS occurring. Some after all have become unconsciously a part OF the machines and don't realize the peril!
Intrigued? It's easy to get started by setting up a quick chat with me. Do it now before you get distracted. You'll be glad you did. It all begins with a simple conversation...just call or text me here - 410-967-3848*.
*I am not a crisis counselor. If you need urgent or immediate help please contact your local 911, crisis center or go to your nearest emergency room.
