Living With Less, To Live More?

I am a travel blog fiend.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing because while it sparks that fire in my wanderlust, it also makes me sad that at this point in my life, I can't just pick up and travel. If given the chance to leave to see the world, I would.

I know that for some people, stability is a top priority. Stable jobs, steady income, an idea of where life is going. And while one side of me is the same - I like the salary, knowing where I'll be living in 10 months time, and knowing that my friends are going to be near me with their stable jobs and homes and lives - the other side of me loves change, craves adventure and new experiences and food and memories. I like the idea of living in a way that is more about experiences than material things. I may be alone on that one for the most part, and don't get me wrong, my shopping addiction has provided me with some nice things, but in many ways, I'd like to live with less and to experience more on the whole.

So, where is this going? Like I said, I'm a travel blog fiend. Additionally, I love me a good documentary, compliments of Netflix. This whole thought was inspired by the two.

Living In Another Language is a blog I've been following for a few months now, and different from the others I follow in that her and her husband aren't military based. They are where they want to be solely because that is how they want to live their life, they chose to live in Korea and right now they are in the process of settling down (for the next year) to live and work and travel in New Zealand. I adore the life that the couple has created in truly being immersed in their experiences and living simplistically so that their efforts are put into experiences rather than items that probably wouldn't get to go with them to their next home in a new country.

"TINY: A Story About Living Small" - I watched this documentary one day a few weeks ago, mainly out of curiosity. I've always been intrigued by what people can do in limited square footage; those model apartments at IKEA are my favorite. Even when I was looking for apartments (before my friend signed on to be my roommate), I was interested in potentially living in a 300 sq ft studio space. TINY is about living in a 124 sq ft space (I'm pretty sure my bedroom is larger than that). It's not a story about travel really, his goal is to live on an area of land he purchased, although he could go anywhere since his home is on wheels with a trailer hitch. It does fall into my category of living with less in order to live more. Here's the trailer, you can watch the full film on Netflix or YouTube:

Would it be worth it? To live in a small space? Would it allow you to step outside into the world and help you experience what's around you? Would it be worth it to pick up, leave everything behind and just go? Are the memories really worth more than the material treasures?

Let me know.

Until next time,

-J