It's Time for a Life Update
Lots of new readers, so here is the background story
Warning: this is newsletter is too long for an email. If you open in substack you will see more photos.
I started writing “Hobby Hour” about a year and a half ago to share my hobbies with… my sister (haha, I wasn’t sure I would ever share this with anybody). I was at a point in my life where I felt like I desperately needed an hour a day to dedicate to myself, cue the name “hobby hour”.
The biggest change when I started Hobby Hour was that I started prioritizing myself. All I wanted to do was give myself an hour of joy every day that was just for me. At the time I was working in a soul-crushing job as a special education teacher for kids who deserved way better than what they would ever get. It was beyond exhausting on my fragile spirit and I was tired of feeling down all the time and like there was nothing left for me.
I started to get to know myself better and processed it while writing this little newsletter (I used to do it on “company time” at said “soul-crushing” job just to get through the day).
I have to laugh at my first blog post (March 2023) because before anybody besides my sister read this, I claimed minimalism for myself. Here is a quote that made current me chuckle:
Maybe I am becoming a minimalist now. Life is a bit of a balancing act and I am trying to make it easier by having less to balance.
I was right. Having less does make it easier to have a balanced life.
By May 2023 I was certain that I couldn’t keep working in a system that failed to allow me to teach, yet still call myself a teacher. I took a leap of faith and quit my job without a plan. Then, my husband, Zach, quit his job— still without a plan. Finally, we sold our house—still without a plan, which was… part of the plan. You know how that goes, right? We went for a backpacking trip with nothing but our backpacks, our Subaru Outback (classic, I know), and a storage unit full of stuff.
Right before we closed on our house, we met with some hippie friends for dinner at their home. They lived in a 17-foot yurt and had experienced the feeling of “having no keys” a few times before. It is not every day that you meet people who understand what it is like to leave a perfectly good life for the sake of a new experience. It was a night I will never forget and the wisdom of these friends fueled my confidence that everything would eventually work out.
After all, we had already started from nothing1. That’s the joy and pain of your early 20’s. No money, no career, no keys… no problem. Only this time, we knew how to do all the “things” with confidence, like secure an apartment and apply for jobs. No big deal. To prepare for the worst-case scenario, we were already watching “I live out of my Outback” videos on YouTube. We also had extra cash from selling our house and not rolling it into a new living situation.
Our backpacking trip ended prematurely, but that was okay. We decided to move back to our home state of Wisconsin (we love the seasons, what can we say?). Only this time, we were moving to a place we loved to vacation, especially in the winter. I figured that we would figure out the rest of the details eventually.
I hadn’t been this free of a thinker before we decided to move. I did a lot of work in purging my belongings and downsizing before our move and it was all easier because I decided to live with less. The version of my life that the last 12 months have been, has been my favorite version yet.
Zach and I found meaningful work. We have taken advantage of what the weather brings us every day. We have slowed down and learned to cook and eat better than ever before. We have made friends and connections with our neighbors and our community.
Our goal all along has been to minimize even further. We have a dream of downsizing our 500-square-foot apartment to a 350-square-foot yurt (we have learned a lot about the restrictions of off-grid tiny living in our neck of the woods along the way so far). It’s taking a long time for this dream to come true, but as we wait I become more and more sure that a tiny, more sustainable way of living is worth working towards. Sustainability is my hobby now.
Sometimes friends and family ask if we are going to stay in the Northwoods forever. Time will tell.
Lots of love,
Elaina
I fully acknowledge that this statement comes from a place of privilege of having familial supports
It's so cool to see how you've turned things around! I'm so happy to have the audio recording of Hobby Hour that we did around the same time you started writing. You sounded so beat down about your job. Even the fact that you had to cling so hard to the 1 hour of joy you carved for yourself each day sounds kind of sad knowing that you're now finding joy in (almost) every little thing.
Those sweaters are beautiful! I’m currently planning a sweater for this winter, can you share the patterns you used, particularly for the white one and those basket weave (!) ones?