It's all takin' and no givin'
Or, why we're moving to Costa Rica.
What’s up, y’all!
We’ve finally recovered from that road trip and gotten back to work on the house and in the garage. Guess we’re not as young as we used to be, it took a little while to shift our bodies into a different gear! 😁
Reminiscing about the trip, I think the picture above has to be one of my favorite memories. gnob had been sitting out back at my sister’s house for a while, taking in the sun. I came outside and he immediately sprang up, strode out into the yard and pointed down to the mound of dirt at his feet. “What the hell is this?”
I almost died out laughing. “What do YOU think it is?” I asked him before I answered.
“I have no idea, but there are lots of them!” He was utterly perplexed. I almost made something up to tease him more, but I restrained myself. The poor guy was about to lose his mind.
I told him it was a crawfish mound, and I think his head may have exploded a bit. He knew what crawfish were (they live in Oregon, too), but he didn’t know about this Louisiana version. This is why you may hear them referred to as “mud bugs”. Here’s a video of one building his mound.
This week, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about why we’re moving to Costa Rica. There are lots of reasons (especially including the weather!🏖️☀️), but ultimately, I think it’s because we’re searching for the meaning of life. And no, the answer’s not 42.
Similar to last week’s Nietzsche quote that there is no “the way”, there’s not just A meaning of life, but a meaning for each one of our lives. Far smarter people than us have figured that out already:
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked."
― Viktor E. Frankl
“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”
― Joseph Campbell
“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”
― Anaïs Nin
So when I say we’re searching for the meaning of life, we’re searching for our own personal meaning. We both believe strongly that service to others is the greatest gift that anyone can give, and ultimately, that’s where we choose to find meaning in our lives.
-But why Costa Rica?
Well, because it’s hard to find time to serve your community when you’re spinning on the hamster wheel that we call “modern life”. Most of us aren’t lucky enough to find work that is spiritually fulfilling as well as monetary. We end up spending a lot of time doing things we don’t particularly enjoy because they pay the bills. (And they also pay for all of our unnecessary “stuff”, but I’m not touching the topic of minimalism today!)
By moving to a country with a lower cost of living, we can spend more time helping others, rather than helping ourselves in order to simply survive.
We may not find what we’re looking for right away, but the residency program we’re applying for will allow us to live in Costa Rica for two years. That should at least be enough time to shake the whole rat race out of our system, and find a different way of life.
Though parts of the country have become “Americanized”, we’ll be looking for a place where we can live like the Ticos (Costa Ricans) do. Though it has to have internet access. 🤣 We’ll be taking a scouting trip down as we get closer to moving day, since we’ve never actually been there before.
-You’ve never even been there!?! But what if you don’t like it?
Then we’ll go somewhere else! There are quite a few countries that made our short list. Seriously, though. This question reflects the fear that most people feel when they consider doing something like this. I get it. It’s scary to do something completely unknown. Especially something with such a high fail rate.
But success only comes from standing on top of a pile of failures. If we fail, we’ll try again. We’ll still be alive, we’ll still have each other, and really, anything else beyond that is simply icing on our already delicious cake of life.
***
That was certainly a deeper dive than I usually take in this newsletter. But as we’ve been preparing for the move this week, it’s been a topic close to our hearts.
What about you? Do you find it as satisfying as we do when you help others? Have you found a meaning for your life? For some people, your meaning may be caring for your grandchild. For others, it may be saving the rainforests.
There is no meaning too big or too small, it’s not a competition. Simply put, care for something. Serve something greater than yourself. It matters.
"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing."
― Seneca
Quote of the Week
That wraps up another week with Snale Racing! We’ll leave you with the quote that was most powerful for us this week. Have you found your purpose? Peace!✌
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