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While walking around in our garden en cutting some herb and flower bushes I had one of those enlightening moments, and in a split second I realized I found the perfect way of living. It involves a mountain, lots of trees, a sun, friends, great food, some more time, space and new adventures. The way we live now is so gratifying, full with things that amaze me daily. Small things, like birds that fly into the house fearlessly, like it’s their living space and not yours. Or the discovery of a plum tree in the part of the garden where I normally never go. A big part of this perfection is definitely all the nature that surrounds us.

At the same time I love the amount of time that I now have to experience new things together with Eduard every week and not only at those moments when we are on holiday. But also being able to spend more time with friends online and offline. Aah, I could go on and on about the great things I enjoy on a daily basis here and now. Even though it pours rain as we speak, I have to admit that I love the weather as well. Any weather really, which is strange from somebody that has been complaining about weather for the last 23 years while living in the Netherlands. But here it’s different, not only the weather, but also how I deal with it, or maybe the circumstances. It’s a companion now at moments when I need the sun to dry our clothes and also a companion when our garden needs some watering and rain is the only easy way out.

As said, I could go on and on, but it’s not a fair story I guess…. because it’s not the whole story. While I realized today that I found the perfect way of living, I also have to admit that I haven’t found the perfect way of making a living and that’s (a big) part of it, isn’t it? I have come to a crossroad in my life this past month. This week is kind of the last week that I am getting a regular paycheck and from next week on I’ll be an auto-entrepreneur. It’s something I’ve dreamed about for 5 years I think. It was one of those vague dreams in life, where I was working towards, but quite unfocused or maybe even unconscious. But now it’s here, it’s not a dream anymore, it’s my reality.

While I’m lucky enough to have enough safety nets around me that make this new chapter in my life not so scary, I do experience it at least as a very exciting time in my life. I’m going to try something new and  although I think it’s going to be great, I’m definitely not sure how and if it will work out, which is the exciting part, right? I have a lot of things planned and some of these things will start as soon as next week. I’ll be doing exciting projects for other people and at the same time I’ll be working on my own (new) projects. It will be hopefully a great mix of things that I’ll do, that keep me motivated and at the same time will offer a great learning experience. I’ve especially missed this last part the last period.

So while I’m taking this promising but – for me – unfamiliar road, I hope to update you the upcoming year(s) about this small part of the perfect life, the making a living part. Making a living from the top of the mountain actually. I sometimes even consider doing a survey around these far away villages in the mountains. Just ring their gate bell and ask them how they make a living, while living so far away from the city, where “normal” people work. They might have found the secret I’m searching for. I promise you if I find it, I’ll definitely share it with you so that you don’t have to do your own research.

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I found one secret already though, you can save a lot of money (if you don’t live in the city) by growing everything by yourself. I’ve cut a lot of bay leafs today again to send away to friends. But hey, if things don’t work out I can always start selling them on an (online) market. ;) And then I made this great bouquet which cost me exactly 0€. In combination with a very affordable vintage vase it’s now brightening up our house. Now be careful, Eduard would do the maths and would say: “let’s say that you saved 20€ today, how much did you earn per hour for the whole day?”. As said, I only found part of the secret, I need to work on finding more secrets! I for example need to do some research on the sense and nonsense of hourly rates. :-P

Also – to be clear – this way of living is perfect for me or us, but it might not be perfect for everyone or you. Actually I believe it won’t be perfect for most of you. Might also not be perfect for us in a few years, because we are all different and during life we change. We change our expectations of life. It would be kind of ignorant to say I’ve seen and done everything now that I’m 32 and I know everything I (will) want, (will) need and what (will) brings happiness. But for now – life is almost perfect here #onthemountain .

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