Giving it all up for a simpler life

The grass is greener on the side..?

Can only find out if you try

Just cover your 6

Jon Zucco wrote:i wanna buy olaf a beer.

+1 cheers~
maui makes some great beer but I have to swim 2000+ miles to get it

Locker wrote:"Seems some posters like RockyMtnTed feel the need to let us all know how financially successful they are. They have good credit ratings use credit cards and generally have no financial worries. They forgot to mention they hardly ever climb" ROFL!!!

Just spends all his time here acting like a douchebag!

jon and kirra I'll take you up on that beer offer and then I'll buy the next round. OK?

maui coco porter! yes, that is my favorite beer! had plenty of that in san diego but unfortuanetly they dont have it on offer in norway. anyone wanna send me some? haha!

i know i am keeping this thread off topic (as the op asked for real advice from those who have given up the 'comfort' life for the 'simple' life) but i will throw my 2 cents in since i am here and posting about the beer. i believe that for 9 out of 10 people, it gets real tiring living on the extremes (i.e. fully corporate or fully dirtbag). you trade stressors in one for stressors in the other. ultimately, both prove to be fairly unsustainable for most people. i think that the most sustainable life (one that can be lived for many, many years and still allow you to be fully satisfied) balances the two - but that takes a conscious effort to not let yourself get sucked too close to either extreme. finding those decisions is not always easy or clear. although finding where you are most happy on this continuum will be different for everyone i guess...

addicted2alpine wrote:maui coco porter! yes, that is my favorite beer! had plenty of that in san diego but unfortuanetly they dont have it on offer in norway. anyone wanna send me some? haha! i know i am keeping this thread off topic (as the op asked for real advice from those who have given up the 'comfort' life for the 'simple' life) but i will throw my 2 cents in since i am here and posting about the beer. i believe that for 9 out of 10 people, it gets real tiring living on the extremes (i.e. fully corporate or fully dirtbag). you trade stressors in one for stressors in the other. ultimately, both prove to be fairly unsustainable for most people. i think that the most sustainable life (one that can be lived for many, many years and still allow you to be fully satisfied) balances the two - but that takes a conscious effort to not let yourself get sucked too close to either extreme. finding those decisions is not always easy or clear. although finding where you are most happy on this continuum will be different for everyone i guess...

I completely agree. Moving from Chicago to Colorado, yet still having a professional job to be able to afford a mortgage, etc, and have a good amount of time off his huge. You have to have balance! The same job in Chicago was too much because there was no relief. Out here it's not an issue.

addicted2alpine wrote:maui coco porter! yes, that is my favorite beer! had plenty of that in san diego but unfortuanetly they dont have it on offer in norway. anyone wanna send me some? haha! i know i am keeping this thread off topic (as the op asked for real advice from those who have given up the 'comfort' life for the 'simple' life) but i will throw my 2 cents in since i am here and posting about the beer. i believe that for 9 out of 10 people, it gets real tiring living on the extremes (i.e. fully corporate or fully dirtbag). you trade stressors in one for stressors in the other. ultimately, both prove to be fairly unsustainable for most people. i think that the most sustainable life (one that can be lived for many, many years and still allow you to be fully satisfied) balances the two - but that takes a conscious effort to not let yourself get sucked too close to either extreme. finding those decisions is not always easy or clear. although finding where you are most happy on this continuum will be different for everyone i guess...

BIG+1 from this side!

I wallowed through college until I was 26, taking multiple semesters off to climb.

Graduated, got some jobs doing climber boy stuff, never made more than like 11k in a year. Never wanted for anything.

Got to be 29 and was sort of lost. Fell a bit out of love with climbing, and had to face the fact I hid within climbing and the simple life.

Learned from that.

Met my wife when I was 30. Got lucky and found an industry that would accept my odd skill set.

Found out I wasn't burned out from wasting my 30s in the corporate world.

Crushing grown up life currently after thinking I would ultimately wind up in the bottom of a crevasse chewing my tongue off to make it end faster.

Life is so much richer now on so many levels.

I don't regret a day in any chapter of my life. Search hard, find your tao, don't settle.

Have a look around the corner...GO HARD.

the Simpler Life -a challenge even in Colorado. This week we're fighting to keep a horse farm from turning into another giant shopping mall. Greed complicates life no matter where you go remember to ~KISS~

This is simple and it makes since to me.

Dana Marie wrote:I discovered climbing in my forties, and, like most people, it changed my life. I quit running a company in nyc, sold my apartment and moved upstate to be closer to the gunks. I was able to climb almost exclusively for four years. It was incredibly liberating to have such freedom to explore my new found passion. Now, I live in a rental and commute into the city occasionally as a freelancer. I live on a lot less and in my free time I not only climb, but paint and do yoga. It is a much less secure but far happier environment. It is simpler. Everyone's journey is different. I would suggest you look at what you really NEED. And I would look at the rest of the world...and see what 75 percent of the world survives on and compare that to your circumstances. Like an earlier poster said...this is not a dress rehearsal. We are all going to die no matter what. The real question is how do you want to live! Peace, Dana

I also came to climbing later in life (around 40) and have become passionate about it. I'm all for trying to live with less "stuff" -- an argument...um, sorry..."discussion" that I have with my wife every year at Christmastime -- and would have no problem paring life down to make more room/time/money for climbing.

Question for Dana: do you have a spouse/partner (if so, do they also climb?) and, more importantly, do you have kids? I have both, and I think it would be much easier for a single person to live simply/live a climbers life than a family guy like me.

This thread's super interesting. I just finished a 2 month long rock climbing trip, touring Devils Tower, Yosemite, Red Rocks, and Indian Creek. This was my first experience of the dirt bag lifestyle. I lived out of my tent from April 17th to November 11th, and I've now returned to Colorado for the snow season. I teach at a big Corporate Resort, but supporting myself through snowboarding is great.

On my climbing trip, I met lots of people who plan out their next job by how much money they will be spending and how much they have while they are not working. With a strict work hard play hard policy, discipline and a good resume the simpler life is very possible.

It's amazing how nothing: financial obligations or otherwise are on your mind while climbing a long multipitch climb with a grueling approach. You realize how simple life actually is, when water is the only thing you want.

So my conclusion is that giving it all up is not necessary. You can have the best of both worlds. I just returned to civilization 4 days ago. Now I get to work a job I enjoy, and start saving up for my next climbing adventure!

On March 15th 2011 I went out west to some place called moab to meet a friend. I had been working a full time job and had a lot of money saved up. Bought a pop up camper on my way out west and pulled it with my diesel dully truck. My exp of climbing before was gym climbing for 6 months, some bouldering in Athens Ohio, 1 weekend at the new and red and 1 lame'ish week in new mexico. Spent 3 months learning the life style of a "dirtbag" for I was solo on my trip. It was fascinating, learned bucket loads about myself and priceless skills. After arriving back I couldn't stop thinking about it and was planning my next escape from work. I finally settled in as a weekend warrior and really enjoy it.

1 thing I really want along with my 20 days vacation is 1 month off to take a good climbing trip every year. Make it 2 months and I know for sure I'd be satisfied hahaha.

"I finally settled in as a weekend warrior and I really enjoy it"

^^^^THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT^^^^DOING WHAT YOU ENJOY!!!!!

It's different for everybody. Some like the daily grind and climb sporadically, some dirtbag from crag to crag and all the rocks in between. As long as your having fun your doing it right.

David Barbour wrote: Shit man, what do you do? I need to switch careers.

Nothing special - I manage a retail store that sells outdoor trekking and climbing apparel. But that was my point - it's not having a job that burns people out. It's having a job IN AMERICA. Everywhere else in the developed world, you can work hard, have a decent life style and still get to spend a lot of time away from your job. I haven't applied for any jobs here that offer less than 5 weeks holiday, and even that is low. And like I said, it's not like I'm anyone special - I'm just a retail manager. A good one though. That helps.

Since college I've been on a work 15 months, take 3 off and travel routine. It's worked pretty well, but now i'm starting to look for a career, something more fulfilling than the Strategic Consulting I've been doing the last few years.

I'm going to take 3-4 months off starting January to wander the South and West bouldering and escaping winter in MN, after which I'll try to find a job/career that I love, working outdoors.

Living simply, to me, is a lot about Taoism and minimalism. Buy what you need, appreciate what you have, work hard for what you want (but be reasonable about your wants). Just remember to smile, there are a million ways to lead a happy life, so don't get caught up on small stuff.

Locker wrote:Totally agree with this: "It's different for everybody. Some like the daily grind and climb sporadically, some dirtbag from crag to crag and all the rocks in between. As long as your having fun your doing it right." Pretty much sums it up for me, too...

Yea but what fun is it ending the thread just because someone says something that makes sense? If we always did that, it wouldn't be the internet now would it?

Ryan Williams wrote: Yea but what fun is it ending the thread just because someone says something that makes sense? If we always did that, it wouldn't be the internet now would it?

who said anything about ending this thread?

btw can u tell me why it's no simple task getting Boreal shoes this side of the Pond? thank u

This seems to fit here:
youtube.com/watch?feature=p…

Dana Marie wrote:...I live on a lot less and in my free time I not only climb, but paint and do yoga. It is a much less secure but far happier environment....Peace, Dana

Dana, you are my hero. Seriously. That was nice to read. :-)