Anyone else thinking of a radical change?

I think downsizing to a small house you can pay cash for is a very good idea--a place with room for a garden and chickens.

 

Very wise. Take time to pray and discern.

 

My wife and I are about 7 years away from our planned retirement and talk about it often. Having been raised in this financial system our whole lives and taught early on to save for retirement it's a battle I mentally fight to rely on my trust in God vs. $$ more than ever now. Everything we've worked for our whole lives has created a reliance on the value of these pieces of paper with numbers on them (aka money). I keep telling myself and we both keep trying to accept that it could very well be God's plan to take the entire system down. And all those life long plans could be gone in an instant.

But for now we feel we are placed in our jobs and these tasks are what God wants us doing. I am in retail management and she is a civil engineer. I thank God always for the blessing He has given us in all areas of our lives and how we really arn't worthy of such grace so I never, ever want to take anything for granted. If He wants us doing something else He will make it pretty clear I believe. Maybe we will never retire but if He allows is to we sure want to do His Will much better than we are now.

I wonder if God already placed you in such noble and selfless positions as part of His plan. If you could see the positive effects radiating from your positions as a teacher and nurse you would probably be astounded. Best pray to make sure the great good you are doing for others as part of God's plan is clearly understood before making a change. God may want you right where you are and how blessed are those you get to influence in a positive way that you may never fully understand.

God bless.

 

What a dreadful thing Heidi. I don't blame you for wanting to quit. Our culture is so demonized now.

 

Wow, thank you! I needed to hear this. I was just thinking this morning, instead of being afraid my children will suffer, I need to start reading inspiring stories of martyrs with them. I WANTED to be a martyr when I was a kid! Although I was hopeful it would be a beheading so it would be over quickly. If my children are going to suffer, I want them to be able to face it boldly with grace and zeal for God.

 

Coincidentally, the most recent Journey Home video I had watched was still fresh in my memory when I saw this thread. Marcus Grodi's guest was Dr. Brent Robbins, a convert from atheism. Dr. Robbins actually got a call from God to up sticks and move to a different State. He talks about it about 35 minutes into the video.



Please God, Garabandal will get such a clear direction from above, along the lines of "stay put" or "on yer bike". I wonder do many people get that kind of message from Heaven.

 

These are all very good points. I have many churches within 30 minutes of me, including one that is literally across the street from my neighborhood. Though it is a more liberal parish that I don't attend, it is still a comfort to me that Jesus is so near me in the Eucharist, especially in a strange case like a power grid failure where I may not be able to go far. The parish I do attend is my childhood one, a vibrant and faithful, more traditionally-minded church that I feel at home inside. It's a 30 minute drive already, and therefore would no longer be feasible to reach for weekly Mass if I move. It's definitely something that has given me pause.
On the other hand, the diocese of the area I feel drawn to move to is under Bishop Strickland, one of the few boldly faithful bishops we have here in the U.S. I feel like it would be such a blessing and a means of spiritual protection to have him as my bishop.
Regardless, I know God knows best and will show me what to do.

 

It would be like heaven to be in Bishop Strictlsnd's diocese.

 

I don't have children, but if I did ... this would REALLY be exactly what I need to read!

 

Wow...excellent advise!

 

I just sent this off to a mother of a lot of kids...she’s worried...you gave great advise!

 

Thank you for all your wonderful responses - lots of food for thought & prayer.

There are a number of factors operating simultaneously in making me think of making a radical change:
This is my 34th year of teaching and feel burnt out as the job is much more demanding than when I started - in addition for the past ten years I took on additional work (research on a part-time basis) to supplement the family income and to put our 3 boys through college. They are now all working in good jobs and off our pay-roll so to speak.
My wife has always worked part time but here health is not great - she has a bladder problem - diagnosed but no solution - was being investigated last February but with the impact of covid well down the list (will be investigating private route). Her 3 days work are quite intense with the pressure on the health service with covid she feels she hasn't many years left in her (I think she has completed something like 37 years service part-time).
We re-mortgaged 2004 (with hindsight a mistake) so mortgage not paid off until 2029 (unless we put more into the mortgage to reduce time).
I probably could go on teaching anther 5 years at a push. I still enjoy classroom (pre-covid) but there is a lot of paper work/marking/preparation that is very draining mentally and even physically.

I will not be making any rash decisions - there may not be many options anyway - but there is a lot there to take to prayer. I have invoked the intercession of St Joseph to provide wisdom and guidance in all of this.

Then there is the current situation of world turmoil - will the present economic system hold together or are we headed for a crash that would put all plans out the window anyway. I really think the next 2 to 3 years are going to be really tough.

God Bless you all.

 

Will pray. I think you will know when/if the time comes. But there is a lot to be said about the fact that we are where God has placed us for a reason.
Maybe that’s permanent or maybe you will know when it’s time to change.
I know that midway through my teaching
career I was fed up. I took a long exam to work in the Federal government. I NEVER heard anything back. In hindsight, this permitted me to keep teaching and I earned retirement fairly early. As far as moving, I was living in an apartment in a DC suburb with no thoughts of moving. A friend expressed concerns for my safety. Then a woman I worked with offered to rent her house to me. It all fell into place and I wasn’t seeking it. I’ve been here since 1977.
In 1983, I had to move from that house so they could sell it. I said prayers to St Jude because I couldn’t find another place. I was mowing the lawn when a child came over and told me that her father was renting out their house. That house was right across the alley from
where I was living! Same neighborhood.
I moved and bought the house eventually. Never left.
Of course, everyone’s experience is different.

 

I love stories like yours.

 

You were blessed HH. Thank goodness you persevered with teaching. I am certain you must have touched the lives of many of your students along the way, and God wanted you in that classroom.
I have had this very topic of conversation with my husband who also has the strong desire to make a drastic change and move away from our liberal state, he also hates the freezing northeast weather. He has been opining about this for some time, but for now it is in the best interest of our family for us to stay put. The pandemic has trapped us in our state which isn't helping the situation as we can't take a break from the cold. On the subject of retirement plans, our dreams are often derailed. Like you, I believe this is God stepping in to save us from ourselves.

 

You could be describing me 14 years ago when I decided to quit teaching. I had 30 years in give or take. I enjoyed my students but the system had become (to me) intolerable.. My health was terrible/my immune system low. It was frightening to leave before the acceptable date but I did it. I took a deep cut/penalty but I have never regretted it. However our house was paid for--that was the big difference. And it is a big difference. If you could downsize and go to a small place and pay cash from the sale of your current house that would be ideal. It sounds to me like your poor wife needs to retire and take care of her health. I have learned that you can live on what you have. It takes some readjustment and hard trimming of nonessentials but it can be done. God bless.

 

We are retired. I had been a homemaker raising our four children, relying on my husband's income. I had always dreamed of living in the country and felt that once my husband had retired and our children had left home our current house had nothing left for me - we had a lot of neighbours and a small garden. Our mortgage was paid off. We did move, mostly at my pushing for it. It took 2 years to find our perfect house. We are in a semi-rural area walkable to the shops, etc but near woodland and our garden is large. We used an inheritance to fix up the house as we wished it to be and so here I am now, typing this, with a view of trees from my window and no neighbour noise. Only thing I now miss about my old house is the parish. I've made friends in my current one and the people are lovely, but the pastoring hasn't been inspiring, to say the least. Nothing is ideal, I suppose.

 

My husband retired 20 years ago at 58, he gave 40 years to his trade and said that was enough. I still work from my home, part time as artist and photo restorer. We sold our home, moved to the country. Youngest child lived hundreds of miles away, went through a divorce and needed help with our autistic grandson. We moved close to him, big mistake. He started chewing away our savings, found another honey and kicked us out of his life. So we moved to a warmer climate and decided to cut the chord and let him live his own life. We had to take on a mortgage, but it's really not much. Even if you pay your house off you never really own it, there are property taxes, utility bills, ins. Etc. We do not like hoa fees so live in a rural area on three acres. Best move we ever made, twenty minutes to anything we need, in a Bible Belt area. No snow! In our state if you're over 65 you don't pay property tax. Families of today are not like the Waltons on tv, they are splintered. We love our retirement and have no regrets on retiring early. I must say, my husband does get a pension and we put money away for years so we could retire. It was so hard to scrimp when we were raising our family. Our oldest son never married, I still keep hoping, he's 44. So, I'm between two wonderful parishes and feel blessed. I did hear one time Irish mothers wait hand and foot on their sons haha, don't do it! So, follow your heart and keep the faith.

 

Well, Jo M, at least temperature-wise, this has been the mildest winter that I can recall. We have yet to see the temperature here east of Lake Ontario drop into single digits (F). We're in mid-January and our snow total so far is barely over 3 feet. About 10 years ago we had two winters with a year in-between, one where we had 26 days below zero, and the other we had 28 days below zero. The Great Lakes basically froze over those 2 years. The first 10 years we lived up here we averaged 200 inches of snow each year. Our average snowfall the last 10 years has been 150 inches.

In another 5 years Geralyn and I will probably move to Lancaster, PA. Their avg. temperature is 10-15 degrees warmer in the winter! They get a little over a foot of snow each winter.

Now, if you're in the beautiful Berkshires, then your temps would be at least as cold as ours. Maybe in another few years your average winter temps will stay above freezing! One can only hope!

Our Lady of Snows, pray for us!

 

I'll keep your boys in my prayers, Katfalls!

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!