Why I quit my job for a more simple life
When we first moved to Portugal, Will had that life changing moment of leaving his job completely and setting off on the brand-new adventure as a free man, it was his first time since leaving school that he was not employed and not constrained by the Monday to Friday routine. So, moving to our farm on Portugal was a massive change for him and gave him more freedom than he ever thought was possible.
For me, the plan was a little bit different. I was going to keep my job so that we still had a regular income to fund the renovation work that needed to be completed, and up until December 2024 this is what I did. I worked for an airline based in London and had always commuted to work. To begin with this, this meant a flight from Belfast or Dublin each time I went to work, and for the past year this involved flying from Porto to London. My schedule was very variable, sometimes this would mean a week at home, followed by a week away, and other times it could be two weeks away, followed by a few days at home then another few days away. I booked all the commuting travel myself, often at short notice and often it involved a roundabout route to make sure I was at London on time for work. To get to work and make it affordable, I have flown via Milan or Barcelona and one time I even took a night bus from Porto to Faro to catch a flight. As you can probably imagine, this was an organisational nightmare and the travel itself was tiring.
However, I kept going - I wanted to give commuting from Portugal a good go and we needed the income for all the work we needed to do at home. And for the most part, I enjoyed the job. I worked with a great team of people, was fortunate enough to be offered progression opportunities within the company, and with work I got to travel to some really interesting places, that I otherwise would not have seen. My main role was offering VIP hospitality and service, a role that suited my previous experience and hospitality management degree well. I was also involved in delivering training and some of this work, I could do from home.
After one year of the crazy commute from Portugal and with work just getting busier and busier, I began to have my doubts. I started to feel like every time I left for work, I was leaving the life I really wanted to be living behind. I was leaving my husband, our projects and the land that I now felt deeply connected to, to travel to a super busy place to a job that my heart was no longer in. I was choosing money and the security that brings, over quality time – a choice that we all too often feel like we must make.
I have always loved to travel and explore new places; it is a wonderful way to learn about the world. Will and I have been fortunate enough to travel together and have had some unique experiences. Last summer, we visited Sal Island in Cape Verde for a volunteering trip, assisting with the conservation of nesting sea turtles. This was an incredible experience and although we left exhausted and covered in mosquito bites from sleeping in a shared beach tent, it is an adventure that we will never forget. This experience alone really got me thinking, it felt like the work we were doing really made a difference there, certainly to the sea turtles that visited the beaches, this was important. A few days after getting back, I had to fly back to London for work, this trip took me around Africa and I took advantage of my free time here to explore as I always do. But I couldn’t help but want to share this travel experience with Will and I kept thinking about how our time in Cape Verde was so impactful in comparison. It was during this time away with work that I made the decision to leave. Will and I discussed the decision at length and we both agreed that it was time. What we are doing with our land in Portugal is important, we want to preserve and protect it and seeing the local nature and wildlife lights up our souls. We are custodians of this land and as such, minimising our negative impact on the environment is important to us. Reducing my air miles by 99% will be a great start!
So, after working my notice period and leaving London for the last time, in December I officially committed to full-time farm life with Will. Only one month on, I have not had a single doubt! We have been more productive and enthusiastic than ever, and it just feels like we are finally properly settling in here. We have met more like-minded people as I am not leaving every other week, we go to a regular Portuguese class and our focus is very much on restoring the land. We may not be rich in money, but we are rich in time. It feels like we are becoming part of beautiful local community, and we are all willing to help each other out. In the past week alone, we have shared our extra eggs and gratefully received a friend’s extra oranges and kiwis. Life feels simpler, and I feel very much free!
The obvious question that comes to mind is, “how will you afford to live”? Well, we are both registered as self-employed here in Portugal, we make a little bit of money from our YouTube channel and Will can pick up a little bit of carpentry work here and there, we have the option of selling some of our extra garden produce come summertime, and who knows what the future brings. We are trying to look at things a little differently… with no mortgage and no utility bills due to our off-grid power, our monthly bills are really quite low. With putting the effort into growing our own food, we can also keep our shopping bills affordable, meaning we don’t actually need that much money to live on. With the ongoing work around the land and house, we are using a small amount of savings, and we always try to reuse and re-purpose anything we have or find. We are realising that having more ‘things’ won’t make you happy, but time together in nature and doing something in which you feel purpose will. A more simple life, can be a much happier one.
