The Good Life

Years ago when we had cable we used to watch this show called "The Good Life". It was about people who had made some radical change in their life and found what they considered the "good life." Each episode was very different and we found it inspiring.

Last week I finished a book called No Impact Man. If you aren't familiar with it, it's about a man and his family who try to live a no impact lifestyle for one year in New York City. There are many things I don't agree with in the book like global warming being man-made and such but the book was enjoyable because it wasn't preachy. It was more about the journey the author and his family took. It really made me think.

On one of the last pages he wrote, "Who determines what the good life is?"

I've spent a lot of time working on conserving energy just because I think it's important and I like saving money :) We support local businesses whenever it's possible and it makes financial sense. We eat better than ever because I care about what we put in our bodies. The biggest obstacle I've come up against is how to cut back on our car usage. I think I've been going about this all wrong though. I don't want to do this because it makes sense in our lives but because I felt like it was the next logical step in conserving resources. It doesn't make sense for us, Paul makes his living by driving so I can't really do anything about the 5000 miles a month he drives. We can't walk, bike, or even ride the horses anywhere because of where we live. Driving is the only way to get around. Maybe I'm just rationalizing because I no longer want to feel guilty for how much fuel we consume, but our life is going to involve driving a lot and I'm not going to feel guilty anymore.

We haven't figured out what our "good life" is yet but I do know it's going to include a lot of driving!