Lisa Merrai: Living Life on Purpose

Have you ever, at the end of a long day and with a list of things that still need to be done, dreamed of packing up and going back to basics? Ever realize that you don't really know your neighbors or fellow parents or church members, and wish that you could live in a community that took the time to communicate about more than the weather? I would be willing to bet money that I don't have that most of us have thought about doing just that. Lisa Merrai, along with her husband and four children, are doing it.

Lisa and her family moved from San Francisco to small town Oregon to be surrounded by nature, and take a true break from the frantic pace of life in a large city. She spent last year homeschooling her school age children, taking them on long-term vacations to Mexico and Colorado to teach them about other places, cultures, and languages. It's ended up being a homeschooling experiment for she and her husband, as well, as they learn things about life and family that they wouldn't, had they decided to stay in the city.

Lisa blogs about these experiences in her blog, Life on Purpose. She writes about the challenges of making such a huge lifestyle change, and inspires that little voice deep within that keeps telling all of us to take a look around and ask if this is where we really want to be.

Lisa was kind enough to answer some questions for us, and she has some great things to say.

K: How did you decide to make this huge jump in life?

Lisa: Back in 2008 a series of events triggered a mid-life family awakening. Peter's job in the frenetic financial sector ended and for the first time in his career he was a free agent. At the same time, I was feeling more and more dissatisfied with urban culture and the transient community in San Francisco. I grew up surrounded by mountains, forests, gardens and rivers. I felt a deep yearning to return to the land, to live in closer communion with nature. Observing that our children, while thriving, were also interested in a change, we decided to reinvent our family, beginning with where and how we lived.

K: What do you ultimately hope to attain from this major change?

Lisa: We hope that we will find a small town community where people are truly connected by place, land and each other. This entire year has been about discovering a place that has the key ingredients that we believe create a vibrant, healthy community. Every town will have it's quirks and normal human dynamics but we believe that when people
are invested in a community they have more compassion and kindness towards those around them. We hope that life in a smaller town will be slower and more intentional. We tried to create a meaningful community of friends in the Bay area for 15 years and failed. We were very disappointed by that.

K: Did you blog before starting "Life on Purpose?"

Lisa: No. I have never written publicly before. I have been writing something or another since I was about 7. My first publication was a newsletter for a detective agency I invented. I wrote a lot of poetry as a child and well into high school. In college I lost my confidence for creative writing and shifted into academic writing. My first jobs out of college involved everything from equity analysis for an investment bank to screenplay reviews for a motion picture literary agency. I have a box full of journals which I contemplate burning periodically.

I decided to start a blog as a way of documenting our journey for myself and our family. Everyone wanted to know what we were doing and why. I have tried to walk a line between informational and personal while still keeping our privacy. I did not want to write a blow by blow public diary. I do try to capture some of the drama and reality of our journey but I intentionally keep it cryptic to protect the privacy of family members.

K: You and your family traveled quite a bit in the first year of your adventure. Is this something you plan to continue in the coming years?

Lisa: I absolutely love travel. We had planned to travel for several years together before settling down in one place. Two things have hampered that plan: homeschooling and four kids. I learned alot about homeschooling this year, which I will write about soon. The short answer is that it's much harder than I expected. It is a full time job even though it doesn't have to be. It really depends on the personality of the children. I have one independent self motivated
learner and one totally resistant learner with two on the way. I saw the writing on the wall in Mexico and very reluctantly decided this would have to be a one year experience of "road schooling." Also,traveling with younger children is quite complicated. It is not like a week vacation where you make due. We are living on the road where nothing is familiar. Young children like and need routines.

We hope to do another year, perhaps in Australia or Europe, but we'll spend the whole year in one home base and take side trips to explore from there so the children can be enrolled in a local school and make some local friends.

K: What advice would you give someone who was considering a similar change in life?

Lisa: I think about our year as a family sabbatical. The chance to break out of our old patterns and assumptions has been so scary and exhilarating at the same time. We have all tried new things and pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zones. It's amazing to find out how little you need! It's also interesting to discover what actually matters to you. Everything comes out! I have met so many others who have taken their families on the road for a specific goal (the Vogel's) or just to listen to the call of Spirit (Jacob Nordby ) and experienced the most magical transformations in their lives. I think if someone is considering a change, it's already happened. It's just a question of when you get started.

Thanks Lisa!