Finding Balance

Life has changed over the past month. Big changes. Great changes. A new season of our lives. Time to reconnect with family and old friends. How are we finding balance in these changing times?

This fun old scale is in the kitchen of our Airbnb!

Last month, we found ourselves looking ahead to what we knew would be a very busy period in our year. Our oldest son Aaron was planning a trip to see us in Scotland. We were headed to London, our favorite city in the world. After London, we had lots of family visiting and new places to explore.

We were starting to feel pulled in two directions with our part time jobs. Working created structure and normalcy in our lives, which we appreciated when we first started this nomad life. It truly helped us transition from a life where our purpose was driven by our careers, to finding a new purpose in growing through exploration. Work helped us stay mentally creative with problem solving. We had consistent interactions with people in the US instead of only seeing strangers every day.

Working in our small studio in Wales

But after eight months on the road, were starting to dread having to live by the clock. We had to be back to our Airbnb each day by 2pm to log in and start working. Due to timezones, we were sometimes working until 10pm. As we looked ahead to visits from family and friends and our desire to explore London and other new cities, we wondered how we would balance it. We knew that financially we were fine. We had planned this from the beginning and the part time contracting we were doing was always a shorter term plan. But were we ready to give up our identities we had developed through our careers? Who would we be if we fully retired in our early 50s? Would we find things to keep our brains stimulated? Would we be bored? How would we fill our days?

After many long walks with equally long conversations, we both came to the decision that it was time. We were ready. We wanted to fully embrace this lifestyle we are living. We wanted to have both feet fully in the nomad world, and not feel that pull of checking emails, deadlines, and deliverables. It was time to cut the apron strings from our old lives and fully live our new ones. We gave our notice, shipped back our laptops, and as of July 10 2025, we are both fully retired.

Walking and reflecting in Hebden Bridge

And we love it.

Now that we can live our best retired lives, and don’t need to live by the clock, we are figuring out how to find balance with our activities. One of the biggest challenges with this nomad lifestyle is not acting like we’re on vacation every day. Without work to anchor us, this becomes even more important. Some days we just stay at home. We cook, we do laundry. We take walks in the neighborhood. I work on future travel plans. Eric has his development projects that he likes to do. I practice my french. We like our slow mornings and quiet evenings.

We have had a jam packed dance card since our last official day of work, and it will stay that way for the rest of the year. Aaron was in Scotland with us for a week. We’ve met up with old friends and new nomads couples here in London. Our oldest friends from college came for the weekend. Next week’s Eric’s parents join us for a month. That’s followed by two weeks with our youngest son Andrew. And finally my sister joins us in France for a week.

What a blessing that we can experience the incredible places we’re living with those we love. We know that those visiting us are on vacation, and want to soak it all in. So we’ll keep working on balance. Slow days and fast days. Relaxing and exploring. Eating out and cooking.

And loving every minute.