love. serve. live.
For the past two weeks we’ve been house-sitting a tiny house (and dog) for a good friend. This experience has taught us a lot about tiny homes in general, but more importantly, taught us a few important life-lessons as well. Continue reading “Tiny House Living Teaches You Valuable Life Lessons”
Imagine if today you challenged yourself to completely change your routine regarding food. Today was going to be a start of a 30-day period where you only ate certain things and limited how much you ate. No more sweets or desserts. No alcohol or soda. Nothing fried or processed. No meat. No dairy.
Would you do this challenge intentionally? Why would someone do this intentionally? Could you do it? Continue reading “Let’s Go Fast”
by the Center for the New American Dream
Our intention for living abroad and joining the Peace Corps was to take a “sabbatical,” a time set apart where life looks different from the normal and where we can grow, learn, and reflect. Throughout this whole journey, we’ve been asking ourselves: What’s next? Well, we have a lot of ideas. Turns out they all kind of center around two common themes. One: more travel. And two: making a change in first-world values.
It’s seeming more and more like our vision for a sabbatical may become less of a break-from-“real-life” and more of a long-term reality. That is to say, there’s a very good chance we won’t be going back to the 9 to 5 world and, instead, will continue to pursue an unconventional, nomadic lifestyle (maybe it will only last a year, maybe it will continue indefinitely). We even have dreams to grow Simply Intentional and make blogging part of our livelihood.
I think we’ve come to realize that the consumer-driven American Dream was pointing us in the opposite direction of our true values. We want to learn how to live outside the box. And we’re passionate about seeing more first-world people break free of materialism to embrace a simpler, happier, healthier, and more generous life.
Little by little, as we explore all of our various options for life after Peace Corps, I’ve been doing some research online by finding like-minded bloggers. Three sites stand out to me for the quality of their work and for showing me that a meaningful, “location independent” life is possible. Continue reading “America The Possible”
(two weeks ago)
Peace Corps Nurse: “Jedd, I don’t like that number, you are borderline for high blood pressure?”
Me: “What?”
It didn’t make any sense to me. Michelle and I workout 6 times a week in the morning, going against my Myers Brigg personality type that would rather sleep in and work out when I feel like it. I’ve lost weight since moving to Jamaica (which is an incredible feat in itself because of the tasty, sugary, starchy, and fatty food). I’m pretty sure I weigh less than what I weighed in college.
So how could I be borderline for high blood pressure?
Nurse: “Are you sleeping well?” “Are you anxious about anything?”
Me: “Been sleeping ok and feeling ok.”
Nurse: “Are you eating a lot of salt in your diet?”
Me: “So fried chicken twice a week and adding salt to other meals isn’t a good thing?”
I’m an emotional eater. I eat when I feel like it, and I eat what I feel like eating. There’s never been a science to me regarding what I ate. I love to eat and I eat what gives me pleasure. Looking back at this past summer, I went through a stressful time running summer camps and I think I coped with my stress with eating. Did I think about the consequences for what I ate? I didn’t really think too much about it till recently. A warning for high blood pressure was a good wake-up call for me, I needed to make a change. Continue reading “Intentional Eating”
I took this phrase from a similar, but not exact quote that I saw on pinterest. It ties in with the quote I used in the first of this series, the Intentional Habits post. The image is of our friend, Thomas, on a ropes course at a staff team building retreat with us (about a week after Jedd and I first met). I just think this phrase makes a fantastic motto. It also sort of sums up why we are taking two years off to do Peace Corps, which we consider to be like a “Sabbatical”- a time to pause from life as we know it (our habits) and do something different that forces us to re-evaluate our values and how we live. Hopefully we’ll come back with life-long lessons, new ways of seeing the world, and resolve to help us live a fuller life- a life out of intention.
Speaking of living with intention, I’ve listed below some interesting posts from several bloggers I follow. Continue reading “Habit-Less: Living with Intention”
My brothers & me – from L to R, Josh (hear no evil), Me (speak no evil), Joel (see no evil)
This picture is very telling of me. From as far as I can remember (and also hearing accounts from family members) I have always been blessed with an over-active gift of gab. Gregarious, you might say. Excellent communicator. Public speaker. Conversationalist. Talking seems very natural to me. My aunt has told me I can sell “ice to the Eskimos” (whatever that means) and I have had stints as an actor, a salesman, a speaker, and an admission counselor. So yes, my ability to speak is an asset to me, a gift, and a sense of pride.
Of course like others, my gift can also be my curse. And, yes sometimes, I spit out verbal diarrhea. Continue reading “Verbal Diarrhea – Using our Gifts Intentionally”
Here’s our official New Year’s update video, looking back on 2011. Although we expected to be heading out to Peace Corps in July, we found out in late spring that our placement changed and we were put on hold until the news of our new assignment arrived in August. Despite this “set-back,” we went ahead with our plans to resign from our full-time positions, travel the country, and visit family and friends. We never dreamed of all the places that our waiting period would take us; and even though the Peace Corps journey is postponed until March 2012, our adventures have already begun!
Related posts:
Ten States in Two Months
Away We Go! Our National Parks Road Trip Itinerary
Simply Intentional – 2010 Year In Review
Simply Intentional 