Blogs by Matthew Irwin

I may have never noticed how rushed my life had become had I not had a child. I had spent 10 years trying to reach the point I had in my career, and it wasn’t until I started missing out on sleep the first few weeks after his birth that I realized how absurdly tight my schedule had become. I was always working; everything was work, from happy hour (networking) to concerts (reviews). And yet I felt like I was always short on cash (I’m nearing a year without using a credit card).

After the clutch blew on my car and I had to dump a couple grand to fix it, I had a bit of a breakdown, feeling that no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t save any money. After a long talk, we decided that money itself was the problem, and we decided to attempt a more integrative lifestyle, one in which we could earn a living together, while benefiting directly from our labor, rather than collecting a paycheck to pay for our necessities. So we became interns on a farm in Alcalde.

The hope is that in doing so, we’ll both find more time—for pursuits that give us pleasure, for each other, for our baby. The move has been full of challenges, and this blog has become a study in how to work with more intention.

Read more of Irwin's writing at www.matthewjirwin.com.