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(upbeat music)
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- Welcome to A Downsized Life.
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I'm your host, Danny Brown.
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And in the winter of 2019, my wife and I moved our family
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from a sprawling city in Southern Ontario, Canada
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to a small town three hours north.
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This podcast is about our journey to downsizing our lives.
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Lessons learned, successes earned,
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and everything in between.
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If you're looking to downsize your life,
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join us and listen for free at downsizedpod.com or wherever you relax with podcasts.
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Well, in the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hello there! It's been a while, hasn't it? February
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2020, in fact, was the previous episode. That's over three years ago. We're in May 2023, as I
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record this, and where does time go? Well, I mean, I think we all know the answer to that one if we
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think back to 2020 and especially February 2020. So this episode is going to be a bit of a catch up
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as I prepare new ones to come your way and continue our journey on downsizing our life.
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So what's happened in the three years since we last connected? Well I think the big elephant in
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the room let's get out of the way now is Covid. No one expected that and obviously there's no
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explanation needed about Covid but no one expected that to happen. No one saw that coming and it was
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just it was a weird time wasn't it and I guess it's still kind of a weird time now but that
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really was a weird time, where just the whole world came to a standstill when it originally happened
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and there was lockdowns.
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Obviously there was a lot of people got very sick and unfortunately died and passed away.
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It's one of these once in a lifetime things I think or certainly one of the once in a
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lifetime things.
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We've had pandemics before but I think this is one that's really that really affected
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the world and and kind of for a while actually brought us all together which
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was nice to see. That's kind of disappeared now and I'm not going to get
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into that, there's you know, everybody's got their own point of view on on COVID
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etc but it was a strange time and we were fortunate we had just moved up here
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in November of the year before so we were away from the big city to a
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really small village as I mentioned in previous episodes, and that worked for us
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when it came to COVID. We didn't have to worry about self-isolation because it's a
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small village with only 800 families, we're already pretty isolated anyway so
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that was lucky. If we'd still been in Burlington where everybody was, you know,
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not jam-packed together but very much closer to each other, that would have been
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a different story I think and I know a lot of my friends and their families and
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friends etc they had a harder time with Covid than we did so we were very
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fortunate but the kids hated it especially Ewan. They just started making
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friends at school because they'd come into the school year halfway through in
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November, so come February/March of 2020 they'd maybe been there just about
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three months, just over three months when you take into account the Christmas
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holidays and March break. But March break turned into an extended break that
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turned into right up to summer and then turned into a whole year of the school
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being closed, online learning and all that stuff because of Covid and
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everybody taking precautions. So everybody moved over to online learning
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and Salem enjoyed it. She was fine, she got online, she just did her thing, chatted
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with her friends as usual, got on with her schoolwork etc. But Ewan really needs
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social interaction. So online for him was a big negative and it resulted in him
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drifting and losing interest in school and I don't blame him. He had five
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teachers in the space of a year because of supply teachers, one teacher was
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leaving, a new teacher came in etc. It was just a whole bunch of stuff that really
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affected him and really impacted his state of mind. So all that came to head
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in 2021 as we continued into the the lockdowns. Lockdowns were easing and
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schools were starting to think about going back from online learning to
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physical in the class learning, but that wasn't quite there yet and it all came to
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head in 2021 when I was speaking to Ewan. I could see him really struggling
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with school. He wasn't sleeping, he had really bad bags under his eyes, he was
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just looking so tired and not happy. And I sat down and we spoke and he just
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burst out a really horrible sob that he just wanted a friend and that broke my
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heart, to see my son struggle like that. That all he wanted to do was have a
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friend that was physical that he could play with and have fun with and that
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just broke my heart. So I reached out to a private Facebook group that we are
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part of up here, where it's for the local community and just reached out and
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asked if there was any parents of kids that were in Ewan's class at his age and his
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grade and two replied and that was just the best thing that happened. Because
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from there we arranged a play date with their kids, James and Adam, and that
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really made a huge difference with Ewan. It pulled him back from what I believe
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would have been a serious mental wellness issue and I am just so thankful
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that these two parents replied to my cry for help on behalf of my son's cry for help.
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And now he's thriving, he's just so good, he's in grade seven now approaching
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the end of that year ready to be in the final year of elementary before going to
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high school, so he's really thriving which is awesome. In other news I lost my
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job. Covid cutbacks at the agency I worked at because of client cutbacks
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resulted in me losing my job in March, end of March I think of 2020. So
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everything happened in March basically. Covid really kicked off, the schools went
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into lockdown after the March break and I lost my job at the agency. And because
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no one was hiring, because there was a lot of uncertainty about what was
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happening in the workplace, nobody was hiring. So times were really tough.
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Thankfully the Canadian federal government helped with their CERB
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package and that was for non-workers during Covid which gave you a minimum
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amount of dollars every month for a period of up to five or six months I
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think it was, if you needed it. Now that did have to be paid back at some stage
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but this was tax-free, interest-free, not like a loan but it was a help package, an
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aid package that was to tide Canadians over until, you know, things kind of
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hopefully got back to normal, work was picking up, places were hiring again etc
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the country was opening up. That really helped, that kept us going through what
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would have been a really tough time if we'd just been living on Jaclyn's
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wage. But it all turned out for the best. In September of 2020 I got a job with
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Captivate which is a podcast hosting and distribution platform and I love it.
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The people are so nice, they're so good from the top down. It's a small team:
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there may be 10 of us in Captivate all told so it's a very close tight-knit
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team. All 100% remote so that benefited me obviously, and they're based in the UK
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so it would have had to have been remote - that would have been a long long commute!
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But, yeah, Captivate just... they've helped me rediscover my love for media, for
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creation and podcasting. I've been podcasting for a few years but on and
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off for all of the time, they really helped me get my love back for it and I
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love the job that I do, it's awesome, so I was very fortunate there. At Jaclyn's
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company they moved to 100% remote. All offices closed down temporarily and
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slowly reopened up to whoever wants to go back, but the people that want to stay
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remote working can continue to be remote working so this is what Jaclyn's doing,
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she's 100% remote. She's at home full-time working, obviously full-time,
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at the same job but able to do that from home which she loves. It allows her to do
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so much more, be much more productive and she gets to spend more time with the
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family, because she was commuting down to Burlington every now and again and maybe
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spending a few days during the week down in Burlington. So she was spending time
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away from the family. That is now over, if you like, and she's 100% here so that's
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been really good. It's also been bad, not bad but different I guess, et me
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rephrase that, having both Jaclyn and I at home all day. On the plus side, we're
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both lucky to work from home and that's enabled us to help kids with school
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during lockdown, obviously, but also get more stuff done around the house as
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opposed to leaving until weekends, which normally would have been our free time,
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and that's made us feel less pressured to get a whole bunch of stuff done at
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the weekend, which then makes us tired for the start of the week/back to work
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etc not a good mix. So it's really positive we could both work from home
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100% remote of the time. Different in that we're always around each other now
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and anybody, any couple that's always around each other 24/7 you know there
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can be times when it's not ideal. That's not to say that, you know, we've been
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shouting and throwing stuff at each other that's not our style, but it has
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been a little fraught at times. Just the basics of not feeling like you have your
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own space where you can just disappear, and you don't have to worry about
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someone else needing something or whatever. And that's a really poor way of
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trying to describe it but that's the kind of thing that we've been finding
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was a bit of a mindset change to get used to, both of us being in the same
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place all day. But you know what, it's been fun getting used to that change.
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She's also found her niche in crafting and making stuff with her Cricut which
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is a machine that lets you create designs for wood, metal, etc as well as
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make badges, pins, ornaments, wooden gnomes, a whole bunch of stuff, door signs etc and
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it's been really cool to see her find this and really go with it. She's super
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creative, which I knew she was creative but I never knew she was this creative
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so it's been really cool to watch her designs and that come to life and we've
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got a whole bunch of them around the home. She's sold some to friends, family and
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work colleagues and I'm currently helping her build a website to sell
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locally at crafts events etc so it's been really good to see her take that
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and run with it and I know it's something she's super passionate about
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and it'll be cool to see where she can take it. Ewan and Salem's also grown so much
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in the last few years which is to be expected, but they've really grown and
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not just in age or height or anything. Although Ewan is now a teenager, where
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did that come from? But they've just developed personally in so many ways.
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They're both super active athletes - Ewan's got his soccer now, he had soccer
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before he moved from Burlington and he's continued that up here, but now he's
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playing for a proper rec team, a development team which is the next stage
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between playing as a hobby game and hopefully going to the pro leagues. And I know
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that's really something Ewan wants to do, and currently to make that happen he has
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to travel two hours for games and practices etc which is a big commitment.
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But it's something he really wants to do and he's doing it really well. He's off
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to Florida at the end of the month, at the end of May, to compete in an
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international tournament at Disney so that's gonna be super exciting for him
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and I know he can't wait for that. Speaking of Disney, Salem's already there -
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she went to Orlando earlier this week with her mum and she's with her
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cheerleading team competing at the World International All-Stars at Disney, and
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this brings together over a thousand teams from across the globe that compete
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in the cheerleading competition. Salem's group performs tomorrow which is Saturday
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as I record this, so I'll be sure to update you in the next episode how she got on
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but she's super excited. Jaclyn's been sharing lots of photos and pictures of
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the trip and Salem looks in her element so that's awesome. We've also been able
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to spend a lot more time going around the neighborhood getting to know people
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after a delayed start. That includes spending days and evenings at the lake
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which is always nice, and with friends who have a cottage up here. The scenery, nature and
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just everything around us continues to blow us away. There's always something
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that makes us catch our breath, whether that's a deer coming up to the house to get
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some food or just the natural world around us. It really is, I can't put into
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words how stunning it is and we are so fortunate to live here and be able to
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experience this and we're grateful for that. Part of that is allowing our garden to
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grow and turn into a little nature reserve. Back in Burlington I used to
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really look after the lawn and I'd get my little strimmer out and cut straight
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edges all down the edges and and make it super prim and pristine, and that's gone
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out the window. We don't want to do that. We want to make it as nature intended. So
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there's no beautiful lawn, we've not got a messy lawn, but there's no beautiful
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lawns. I don't cut it, you know, once twice a week or whatever, I leave it at least
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two, three, four weeks maybe at a tim,e and the same with our flower beds and bushes
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etc and we allow them to grow out, and that's allowed a very cool ecosystem of
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nature to live in our yard. We have all sorts of birds, little animals, chipmunks,
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deer and a lot more. It does help that the warmer weather is finally here after
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a particularly heavy winter and the plan is to expand time on the lake. I've got a
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kayak and Jaclyn got a paddleboard last year and we just need the kids to
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get their own and then we can go at any time, with the lake less than a 15 minute
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walk from our house. They do have a little plastic kayak but that's probably a
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little bit too small for them now. Certainly too small for Ewan and maybe
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Salem I'm not sure. So that's something that we want to get this year. Salem
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really enjoyed testing out Jaclyn's paddleboard last year, so we may get that
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for her, and I know Ewan prefers the kayak so we'll see how it goes. I know I've
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probably forgotten a few things but so much has happened that that's
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understandable. I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle so to speak
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with this podcast, and also bringing on Jaclyn and hopefully the kids to
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talk about their own experiences and thoughts since moving here, given all
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that's happened in the last few years. There's a lot to catch up on. Until next
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time, live happily.
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If you enjoy A Downsized Life be sure to share it with friends and family and
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others who might enjoy it too. And we'll see you next time.
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(upbeat music)
