Well, not strictly nothing. Three months of packing, decorating, boxes, paint and upheaval, then finally our house was ready to sell. We found one to buy, put ours on the market, found a buyer, she sold her house and so we are now ready to go. Except we've decided that our 'dream house' may not be the one for us after all.
Are our fears just down to not having done a major (for us) house move before? Or are we really not sure? We've considered this one month for over a month now, and blow hot and cold like the wind.
Finally, it has occurred to me to use permaculture to think about the decision. I've started reading, writing, scribbling, and hope to get my head together soon. But first, an update, since I haven't done one for so long.
Home
We have sold our house! We started thinking about this several years ago, and way back when I started the diploma in 2014, I wrote in my original Action Learning Pathway:
One day we may consider moving house. I'd like this diploma journey to bring us closer to making that decision.
I've been thinking of this process as my 'moving house' design, but I think I'm going to change the name to 'selling our house', and start a new design for the process of moving on.
Garden
The garden is still fulfilling its function of providing me with a relaxing place to sit. I think it also played a key role in selling our house, as although it is small, it's bigger than many other gardens round here. I did spend on annual flowers just before the photographs and viewings, but I'm enjoying these myself now too.
At the diploma gathering, I started a design around my working life, which I never got round to writing about here. I incorporated several changes into my daily working life as a result, and one of my visions has already started to take shape in reality.
I wasn't sure whether to include this in my portfolio, but on reflection it's actually been really helpful to me to think about 'right livelihood' in terms of tweaking my current livelihood to be 'right for me', rather than working towards a new, possibly permaculture-based, way of earning a living, so maybe I'll include it after all.
Finding a new place to live
We thought we'd found our dream home. Perched high on a hill in the national park, with a bit of woodland, a beautiful garden, and space for a workshop. We had to sell our house to buy it, which we have now done, and in that short period of time we undertook a rather intensive observation phase. We drove back and forth, walked up to the house and round the local area at all times of the day and night (yes, even nearly midnight). Some of our concerns were dismissed - and others became all too apparent. We haven't made a definite decision yet, but we'll need to by the end of tomorrow.
We did bid on another place, closer to work, beautiful and without some of the concerns of the first house, but a vastly ambitious renovation project, having been lived in by its previous owner for 98 years (yes, really). Sadly, someone outbid us, and we were devastated.
We don't want to be rushed into finding somewhere new, so we'll continue with our sale and rent if we don't find anything soon. I'm going to start work on a new design for finding the right place.
Focusing on the diploma
I'm noticing a pattern in this diploma - brief flurries of enthusiasm and activity (usually linked to an event), and then long periods of neglect. I worried about this at first, but now I'm just acknowledging it and thinking of it as seasonal. There's no time limit, things will get done, and I want the diploma to be something that adds to my life, not a burden.
Emotional intensity
I'm not sure that's the right phrase, but I've found the emotions that go with moving house rather intense. I know I'm not the only one. We put such effort into getting this house ready after living here for so long, and deciding which house to move to feels like such a huge decision that I'm marvelling that anyone ever manages to move anywhere.
I think I need to revisit that 'living in the now' design I talked about...
My main vision at the minute is focused on moving house, but in the slightly shorter term it would be nice to get the diploma designs I have nearly finished written up and submitted.
Next achievable steps
- Write up 'Home' design
- Write up 'Work' design
- Revisit 'Living in the now' design
- Start 'Finding a new house to live' design
I think that's probably enough for now.