Step by Step

First of all, I wish to apologize for this post being delayed by a day. I had it mostly done, but was planning to read over it quickly before posting it. However, I played host to a social gathering that then lasted several hours longer than expected... I won't complain, I enjoy spending time with this group, but it did mean by the time we were done I was ready to go to bed. Now, onto the post!

I want everyone to imagine that we are on a mountain together. Some people are trying to climb all the way to the top, and you're being dragged along. Up ahead, you see something dangerous. A mountain lion, a bear, avalanche, or something else. I'll let you fill it in, but it is the most dangerous thing you can think of. It is coming down the mountain towards your group. If you keep going with them, sooner or later you'll have to run away as fast as possible. If you turn back now, then you can take it slow, watch your step, maybe even stop for a picnic. You may even find some nice trails set by fellow people heading down to explore.

If you're running down the mountain, there are no sites to enjoy, no time to stop and smell the flowers, or listen for the birds calling. With this many people, you're bound to trip and fall over each other, even without the dangerous mountain terrain. People will get hurt. If you're lucky, it won't be you.

This metaphor explains exactly why I'm doing what I'm doing, but also the how of it as well. In the comments I saw a suggestion to check out a blog for advice on how to cook cheap food from scratch. For anyone interested, here's the link: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/

While many of the recipes in there look amazing, I have quite a few recipes I really enjoy, and while I intend to try out many of those recipes, right now, I have quite a bit of disposable income, and I'm not poor yet. For now, I'm looking to gently walk back.I'm taking this step by step, taking my time, enjoying the experience in a way I couldn't if I tried to dive straight into worrying about costs as I try to get my self to cook everything.

Last week went well. I've found I don't accumulate things too much, with the exception of books. I'm going to look through to see which ones I've read and didn't like, which ones I don't find add value to my life, and part with them. What I intend to do is sell them to a used bookstore, so other people can read them. I never realized how many I had, but it feels fairly ridiculous, being several hundred at least. Meanwhile, in terms of everything else, looking through everything that's mine (as opposed to my family's), I don't have a lot of possessions.

Food wise, close to success yet again. Given where I started, I'm very happy with the progress so far, but it's still something to work on. I think it'll probably get easier as time passes and the habits establish themselves, and even this change is good.

Third change, I converted my smart phone into a dumb phone. Total impact on my life: none at all. I realized after a couple days that I wasn't changing anything because I rarely used the "smart" functions on my phone. In fact, these days I rarely use it at all. This is good though, because it means life can continue on.

My only goal for this week: continue to reduce processed food in my life. I'm about to visit family for the weekend, and will follow the druid way of not letting my lifestyle changes infringe on other's lives, so I won't let my personal quest impact them. When I get back, I will be busy preparing everything for moving out for September 1, so I'm going to avoid setting too many goals for now.