AT LARGENTINA: How we chose Argentina- and our aspirations for the trip

I’m writing this the day before our departure from Traverse City, and it’s hard to sit still!

This may sound like a funny way to explain why we ended up “living large and in chArgentina," but Liz has always wanted to live in France.

Lifelong learning and adventure have always been part of our family plan, but they grow up fast and life gets complicated. So a couple of years ago we sat down and got serious about taming the wild mustang of our life- and aiming that beast down some more intentional side canyons.

We want to take our kids on a long, epic family adventure. Long, to us, means three months. Epic means somewhere far off and unfamiliar to any of us. Wherever we went needed to offer lots to learn- this means interesting culture, geography, history, and food- and a language other than English. We wanted to stay, more or less, in one country, too so that we could develop a deeper appreciation for a particular culture. On top of all that, we had to figure out how to keep our life back home from going off the rails- and we needed to pay for this whole monster.

As I look back, step one was articulating the goal (“long, epic family adventure“). Step two was timing, and this has two parts.

First part: when in our life? When we first started imagining this trip, our daughter’s middle school graduation was about two years off. We knew that the beginning of high school meant the closing of the proverbial ventana (or at least that taking extended time off would be much more complicated). That established our window of opportunity.

Second part: when in the year? Downtime for brewery sales is winter, so things are less hectic. But winter is also when a lot of my work gets done- planning for growth and preparing for the next high season. On balance, I decided that mid-winter was best for me. Liz’s work is pretty year-round, but summer around here gets complicated with family visits and kids sports. Plus, it’s frickin’ freezing here in winter. So we decided that the mid-winter before Ella started high school was our target.

So, “long, epic family adventure.” Mid-winter 2019-2020. But where? I devised a complex ranked-choice voting scheme to decide between the nominees. Liz voted for France. There were advocates for Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Thailand. Argentina wasn’t even on the list.

Then Liz observed that if it’s winter here, it’s winter everywhere in the northern hemisphere. This is where France fell off the list: winter = cold = snow = everyone wants to ski. And ski = $$$$$, which we knew would break the budget.

So we started thinking about the southern hemisphere- and at that point it rapidly just became a choice between Chile and Argentina. This was a tough call given both countries’ eminent satisfaction of our criteria, but pitting massive inflation (Argentina) versus political upheaval (Chile) finally tipped the scales in Argentina’s favor. [We will be spending some time in Chile, too.]

And once we made that decision, the rest was just about digging into the incredible richness of Argentina’s culture, history, geography, gastronomy, etc. Now were are SO SUPER PSYCHED that we chose Argentina!

Honey I promise that someday we’ll live in France (preferably in springtime).

More later.

Hasta luego!

INTENTIONAL ACTIVITIES: THE TRADE-OFF THAT'S REALLY A TRADE-UP

Photo Credit Vlad Kutepov

IAs require varying amounts of time and effort. This implies a trade-off: less time, effort, or resources will be left over for focusing on LCs. Might this mean less income? No new car this year? It just might. But let’s review Premise One: where an activity (all things considered) increases your well-being then your interest is to do it.

So the proper standard, when deciding where to invest your time and effort, should be: which will yield me a greater marginal boost in well-being: investing my resources in LCs or in IAs?

Well, we’ve already shown the diminishing correlation between income and happiness, and the futility of buying happiness through material possessions. Yes, time and effort diverted from LCs towards IAs may result in minor backsliding on LCs. Or maybe it won't (more on this later). What it will do, with scientific certainty, is significantly boost well-being. You might not get that promotion, but you’ll be happier than you would have been if you had. Because science.

Not only that, most of us aren’t 100% occupied all the time on work that directly affects our LCs. So, with a little discipline, we can find time for IAs when we’d otherwise be unproductive (you know, Candy Crush and Pinterest). If you’re focused on this as a trade-off, though, keep the Individual Premise in mind: maximizing your well-being is the point. LCs and IAs exist to serve this goal. So if a better blend between IAs and LCs means slightly lower income or a less flashy watch, you’re still #winning because, you know, happiness.