This week I have the distinct pleasure of putting Vermont’s universal health care system to the test.

For a few weeks now, I haven’t felt exactly right. I can feel my heart beating harder than it should, my chest hurts, my cycles are all screwed up, and I feel like I’m breathing through a straw… at 10,000 feet above sea level.

For the record, I’m not usually a hypochondriac. In fact, I go to great lengths to avoid seeing anyone in the medical profession, for reasons I won’t get into right now. If anything, I have a tendency to downplay the significance of my symptoms. But I have a new theory that EVERYONE becomes a hypochondriac while waiting for a diagnosis. The degree of paranoia is directly related to the amount of time one has to wait.

Posted in Life, acceptance, anxiety 36 Comments »

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last Road to Freedom Update, so I figure we’re due for another one. I can’t say that too much has changed as a result of Jeff (my husband) quitting his job (our only income), because we’ve been in vacation mode since the first week of August. Now we’re home, back to real life… sort of.

However, there are three things I would like to mention:

1. Mortgage Status

– We ended up paying for August and September. After my conversation with the bank, I had the distinct impression that I should miss my payment since a) we have no job, and b)  the bank can’t help us until we are behind on payments.

Posted in Life, Road To Freedom Update, anxiety, choices, family 35 Comments »

When I announced that we were leaving the rat race with no Plan B, I got basically two reactions from readers. Most are completely excited and happy for us because we’ve escaped the golden handcuffs. But a significant number are worried about the practical realities of this move… how is it actually going to work out? In essence, we have become guinea pigs for others who have considered making such a decision but aren’t sure it is safe to do so.

I hope to chronicle this latest adventure in a few different ways, so as to paint as complete a picture as possible. My first rule is to not spend ALL of my time blogging because I want to be fully present in everything we are going through, rather than buried in my laptop. So, at least during August, my posts won’t be as long, and some of them may just be photos with captions.

Posted in Life, Overcoming Challenges, Road To Freedom Update, about me, anxiety, choices, family, present moment 38 Comments »