Never mistake my life for boring. I'm very much in the middle of my working career, which forms the mainstay and most important part of my life. I look forward to my working days and I'm lucky that I have a job that I love. We leave early in the morning and get back around six in the evening. Evenings are all about grabbing time, whether it's for a run, a walk, reading or time at my sewing machine.
It might be easy to think that our lives are boring as we don't go out much, we don't take our selves shopping and we don't take a holiday every year. We don't go to music festivals and it's been eight years since we went to either the theatre or the cinema.
You might think that we'd be bored to tears with our own life but I really wouldn't have it any other way. After a busy week at work our weekends are all about catch up. Catch up on the cleaning, laundry, food shopping, ironing and a modicum of gardening. We love to find time for entertaining friends, visiting family and walking our dogs.
For us, it's about purposeful simplicity.
I can proudly say that there isn't one ounce of life that causes me any stress. Not many people can say that, but we've designed our life to be as peaceful as possible.
We live in a tiny cottage, with a postage stamp garden, we have a quiet social life. We purposefully shun anyone or anything that could, does or might bring drama into our life. We even go so far as to avoid crowds, noise and even the local pub doesn't tempt us due to boozed up people.
Like I said, never mistake my life as boring.
We're not bored and we love every minute of it.
We make it our business to spend very little money but to devote a lot of time to being happy our own way.
Over to you Dear Reader, are you mistaken for boring? Let's hear from you, take a moment to declare how good the simple life is.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx
You are showing a great example and I would never have thought your life was boring. I'm happy you're saying that your life revolves around your work as mine does as well (I'm a teacher too). I can't stand it when all people talk about at school is the way they'll spend their days when they retire. I love working; I've only got 3 more years to go and I know I'll miss it terribly when I finish. Life is happening here and now and yours looks serene and peaceful to me, not boring. That discussion reminds me of a program I saw in England that made fun of New-Zealand at one point because in a Crimewatch program, they were reporting a stolen bike. Obviously, reporting murders and rape was so much more exciting ! Well, I suppose, NZ has changed now but at the time, it was not a boring country, just a happy peaceful one. We say in French : "Les peuples heureux n'ont pas d'histoire". Bless them ! xxx
ReplyDeleteYes! My high flying pals see my contentment as lack of ambition. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI love the simple life. Going to the gym, gardening, walking the dog down the canal side, cooking, reading a good book, talking, I am never short of things to do and I love every minute of my life. I really enjoy my job, it can be stressful but, as you say, I am lucky to have it.
ReplyDeleteBoring is not a word that springs to mind when I read your blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm at home almost all the time, a Sunday morning trip to a car boot sale and an hour in town for shopping and errands might be the only places I go in a normal week, but I'm never bored, There is so much I enjoy about being at home and living a quiet simple life, I wouldn't swap with anyone.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! I'm retired, after retiring from a long career and then starting a yarn-dyeing business. Closed that, and am totally retired now. And I'm so content. I work out, go for 3-5 mile walks, knit, crochet, quilt, read. I love my solitude but am slowly joining groups centered around my passions. Go into New York once a month to hang out with elder DD. And I'm never ever bored!
ReplyDeleteI do like the pub, cinema and theatre, but I wouldn't ever assume that stuff was everyone's cup of tea. I prefer to stay in on Friday nights when those places are too busy. That said, I am lucky to live in a great town with a large artistic community, so there are always friends to socialise with should we feel so inclined. And I only go to free festivals organised by lovely locals.
ReplyDeleteSome people think I'm weird for not wanting to drive, go to night clubs or watch soaps. Hey ho.
We used to whizz about all the time, filling our lives with people, shopping, holidays, events, concerts etc. We couldn't have sat at home for a weekend or settled for a staycation without feeling that we were missing out. That was one of the reasons we got into debt. When we made the decision to get rid of our enormous debt, this involved some pretty drastic lifestyle changes - no more going out, no holidays for a while, refusing invitations to social functions, no more cinema outings or meals out. Initially this was a huge shock to the system and some friends moved out of our lives as we kept saying no as we couldn't afford to keep up with them. Three years later, we have found contentment with our quieter, slower lives, we value the simpler things and each other, and feel less stressed. We always seem to be busy and are never bored (I never hear my son say he's bored - he is able to occupy himself even during the school holidays). I'm sure that some people see us as boring but on reflection, perhaps they can't see that we are happy and contented the way we are, and that we are able to live without many of the things they feel they need to make them happy. Great post Froogs - thank you xx
ReplyDeleteThe simple life is great,,you are a whirlwind compared to us. Boring is the last word I would ever associate with you!
ReplyDeleteThis struck a chord with me as I'm always worried people will think I'm boring, I'm very quiet and the highlight of my day is curling up with my dogs and reading blogs, or getting out into my garden and just pottering. It's a nice reminder that what can seem 'boring' from the outside is contentment to those in the know (or a rich inner life, as I like to describe mine!)
ReplyDeleteBlissful boredom is how hubby & I describe our marriage
ReplyDeleteHi Froogs,
ReplyDeleteReading through...I've noticed no one has mentioned watching television. Could it be that they don't have one. I've not had a t.v. for over 3 yrs now and I honestly don't miss what passes for entertainment these days. I'm interested in knitting, crochet, sewing reading and gardening, just like some of the other people who commented. No time to be bored, just satisfaction when a project is completed.
We've just celebrated our first year unplugged from the Matrix (TV). Not a bored moment and so many good things have happened this year. :)
DeleteI love my tv. I lived without one for 3 years once but love it to bits now.
DeleteWe didn't buy a tv when we married 20 years ago and don't feel the need for one now. My Mom lives nearby and we go to her to watch Le Tour every year...that's it!
DeleteContent with what we have and able to sustain ourselves with what we make being nearly completely retired. I see our life much as you see yours-isn't it fantastic !~!
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to read posts of other like minded people, being content with our lot and still enjoying life to the full. We chose a quiet life and purposefully avoid some invites and would rather walk an extra mile than have to sit near people on a beach! I promise I'm not a misery, just very happy within my own skin! We don't holiday aboard, have new cars or clothes, and many years ago when our kids were young decided to splash our savings on a static caravan in a nice undeveloped site. We go there every weekend, and as often as we can for part of each week. Keep doing what makes you happy! :)
ReplyDeleteI love being 'boring', although I certainly don't think its being boring at all! What's better than being in bed at 9pm reading a good book, or spending time in the gym or at the beach. I hate drama and avoid all of that kind of thing too Froogs. I hope to find a someone special to share that with. On the rare occurrence that someone pops in for a cup of tea, they always say how quiet my house is. I take it as a compliment! I think sometimes people say 'you're boring' as they don't understand how someone can be content with their own company or they feel the need to fill every waking second with something 'important'.
ReplyDelete< is contentedly boring too.
ReplyDeleteThere isn’t a lot of cash at the MO, frankly it’s been so long I don’t think when this stringent period comes to an end I will change what we have been doing. I do like to watch telly but if force I would choose the computer above it. I will normally have a hook in my hand making something for one of our careers to say thanks at Christmas or a birthday. I also love to sit and listen to a talking book with some craft whilst waiting for whatever’s in the oven to finish off. My fave indulgence though is radio 4.This week there will only be £20 fro shopping so foods going to be VERY creative lol. Still we will get there. I have more than most and less then some.
Ummm, you look amazing and both so happy! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is just what I needed to hear. I have been invited to the cinema with friends and really cannot afford to go. I don't even know if I want to go. I shall say no and copy Froogs and do important things for me that will cheer me up. Bless you.
ReplyDeleteI would never think of your life as boring. You strike me as very content.
ReplyDeleteMy life is very routine base which I love, I do exactly the same stuff week in week out.
My job causes me a lot of stress and I also worry about job security. But I have to work so that's that.
Sometimes I wonder why people read my blog because my life is extremely repetitive. If it's boring I don't mind- I find comfort in regular stuff like my garden, cooking, cleaning, walking every day for an hour and hanging with my toddler etc I will never give up movies though- for me it's not about the movie but time for myself. x
FF don't ever think your blog is boring...I love peeking into your life every couple of days! I feel like the nosy neighbour!! As I get older the more I realise that a good life is made up of ordinary moments with a few extraordinary thrown in for good measure!
DeleteI think routine and tradition is what gives a feeling of security and in these times of such turmoil, it is a great anchor.
I read your headline and first sentence and said to DH, "Let's go down to the sea while it's still light". We shut up the house, drew the curtains, grabbed a flask and went for a walk by the sea, then sat in the car, facing the sea and talked while we drank the coffee. We have a car so I can get about, which I couldn't otherwise, to help him get to and from work quicker and one of the things we said was that we need to use it to do things like this, not just the necessary stuff. I'm sure we seem incredibly boring to some but living simply is not boring for us, either.
ReplyDeleteI am another likeminded person, retired now but living very quietly and simply and loving every minute.
ReplyDelete"Boring is good" is an unofficial motto in our house. Too often the nature of my work causes drama, discontent and upset. So when nothing very much is happening, we couldn't be happier.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why anyone would judge you as being boring. If they do, that's their problem! I love being at home and pursuing quiet interests too, but I've always put that down to my personality rather than money or lack of it. I do like socialising but have never really understood why some people like going to the pub so much. They are often such noisy places that you can't have a proper conversation anyway. I'd rather invite people to my house. For my 50th birthday I had a quiet drinks party at home for about 25 people, and nobody had to spend any money except me. I enjoy the experience of live entertainment from time to time, and my family like going to the cinema but I'm not bothered, I'd rather watch the TV from the comfort of my sofa, and I don't mind seeing films a few years after they come out! There is no greater pleasure for me than sitting quietly in my house in the early morning listening to the birds singing outside. Like you, I enjoy my (part-time and part-freelance) work too and I also enjoy walking the dog and going to the gym for an aqua deep class once every 2 or 3 days. I do have friends who seem to go out a lot more than I do, or to meet up with friends a lot more, but I am very content with my own company and that of my family, and really enjoy occasionally meeting up with good friends, usually one at a time, for a lunch or a day out.
ReplyDeleteFroogs, did someone suggest your life is boring? Just wondering! ;)
ReplyDeleteI go hot and cold. I've spent so many decades in the corporate world. 48 -55 hour weeks were the norm and go, go, go. When I took a job with the school corporation I feel I have downsized with a 40 hour week and 205 days a year. When I started I was chauffeuring daughter and very involved in her activities. Now that she is an adult I am enjoying the hours and slower pace (and the "" time), but there are times I want to get out there and do. We have so many wonderful theatres, concerts, galleries, trails nearby. Hubby works nights on the weekends and daughter stays away Friday and Saturday nights so I have the house to myself 2 nights a week, bliss. As much as I enjoy quiet time I enjoy getting out there and seeing and doing. I would never think someone's life was boring if it brings them joy.
ReplyDeleteI am a homebody...I am happiest when I am at home with my family. I hate shopping and parties and such, so I'm sure that some people think that I am boring, but I don't care.
ReplyDeleteKeep doing what you enjoy! You look great!
every afternoon after work hubby and I go for the same walk on the same beach, and every day we comment on how blessed to are to be able to do just that. I am afraid that after dinner we do relax into our recliners and watch TV, I mostly have my hands busy with some sort of needlwork if that redeems me in some way. I never thought your life looked boring - love your blog!
ReplyDeleteSounds likely life. Drama-free, simple and blessed. I wouldn't want it any other way.
ReplyDeleteI get very excited when things start to come up in my garden, then I get even more excited when we start to harvest food. We recently got 2 shelter kittens and that has been a lot of excitement! We got to see our new granddaughter and that was absolutely thrilling. I get totally jazzed when a book on my wish list comes into the library, and when I need a friend to talk to I have a community of women from my church/Bible study group to hang out with, share recipes and eat at each others homes. We do garage sales and thrift/charity shops and the fabric stores when we have coupons, my life is anything but dull! (in my opinion, but then you all sound very interesting as well!) :)
ReplyDeleteFroogs I LOVE the words" purposeful simplicity" -this is exactly what I am currently working towards in my life....after losing everything during the "crash" in Dubai a few years ago, I have worked hard to clear all my debt and make my life drama free, stress free and basically simpler.
ReplyDeleteIn a city like Dubai, this is very very hard work! The whole city thrives on pressure , stress and chaos and I have to consciously make an effort to remove myself from it and focus on living simply. This means very little eating out or going out to bars, little or no shopping and spending ,and working at friendships and relationships which seem to take a back seat when one is stressed.
The Holy month of Ramadan has just started and while I am not Muslim, the working hours in Dubai are reduced by two hours for everyone ,so the whole city slows down and almost seems to take a breath. This sometimes makes me panic, because essentially it means I have less time to do all the work I need to do, but this year I am taking a break...taking the free time to take a breath and step back from life. I am going to embrace the free time and try and practice purposeful simplicity.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts...you have summed up perfectly what I was thinking!
If your life is boring than mine and my husbands is too , people say oh you dont go out and look at us as though we have gone mad , i thought i was the only one who avoided people who cause drama (stress) in my life , this also includes some of my non immediate family and immediate just means me ,my husband our daughter and her partner we have also been known to not go to family occasions because of this and we love each others company and have lots of hobbies and a lifestyle that is more interesting and fulfilling than a lot of people we know , we have health issues that we have to deal with on a daily basis but i have chosen to become self employed to work around them and in doing so have created my dream job, If we are boring , we are happy boring x
ReplyDeleteIf anyone suggested you have a boring life, Froogs, they mustn't "get it". I think you've got a life filled to the brim with those things that bring you contentment and joy. As mentioned as a comment to an earlier blog post, my husband and I deliberately created a "dialtone" life for ourselves after too many crazy-busy years that had us both miserable. When our sons were little, for at least a decade, he regularly worked 50-70 hour weeks. I worked from home juggling freelance writing, photography and more. There were endless deadlines and we were constantly stressed by what my husband called "the tyranny of the urgent". It was merely a dream then--and is a gift now--to have a boring life. We aspired to it. Hip, hip, hurray for boring lives!
ReplyDeleteWow i thought it was just us..my husband and i have been married for 28 yrs..since i was 17 and he was 21..6 gorgeous children later and we still love it being just us..obviously our girls too..but we like it just us..we avoid crowds and pubs..rather be together and be doing something we don't want to do..if boring is what its called then i am boring..i am busy all day ..hubby is at work..we just love being together in the time that we get.I love my life i have worked hard to create..no debts,no stress and no deadlines or urgent texts..just us and its perfect for us..
ReplyDeletetake care froogs and enjoy
sara
My idea of hell is a Saturday afternoon shopping. Would much rather be pottering about at home with my lovely hubby. We do enjoy the very occasional meal out and in fact are going out on Friday for dinner for the second time this year! Keeping up with the Joneses doesn't interest us at all. We are happy as we are and it's great to find out we are not alone!
ReplyDeleteI think you have found a simple unstressed way of living which makes you realise you have more than enough!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better myself. Contented and non-bored here at age 65. This is the way we like it.
ReplyDeleteWell it sounds like my kind of life. Never boring, but simple contented and just as you like it. I can't stand folk that have to have drama in their lives, they obviously watch far too many soap operas!!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the loveliest posts ever to pop into my inbox! How inspiring, what else could anyone need or want?
ReplyDelete