Accepting tradeoffs

I live in a very quiet place. There are 30 or so people here, only one road that sees very little traffic, and woods all around us. I wake up with birds chirping, and most of the day, that’s all I can hear around me. At the same time, public transport is pretty much non-existent, there are no shops nearby, and I have to move my car to do pretty much everything. Food delivery is not an option, and regular couriers often deliver late. And forget same-day delivery. Rent is low, but there’s also no fibre, and up until recently, the only connection available was a crappy 30-down-3-up that was often offline. Life’s all about tradeoffs, and I’m learning more and more that the path to happiness requires some ability to recognise and accept those tradeoffs. I’ve been self-employed my whole life. That means carrying all the responsibilities for my job. It means having no PTO and no ability to let someone else take care of my mistakes. But it also means being able to decide how to spend my time.…