Is it possible to move from the complicated life to the simple life?

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Everybody knows that we're living in a world where time moves super-fast, where expectations keep on rising due to continuous technological breakthroughs and improvisations, a world that requires quick-fixes for new challenges. Productivity, speed and efficiency are key words for survival; the motto: adapt or die! We all would like to think that we are able to exit this race at any time we wish - we convince ourselves that we are in control. At least that is what I thought - until our family went through that door that reads "exit". When we got married my husband and I enthusiastically jumped into the corporate world - boots and all. We were exited because we took the first step on the "dream road" that so many people expected us to take. As time went by we bought a house, a car and we opened the necessary accounts to be able to live up to the standard of the other people "on the dream road". We even complied with the avarage rate of two point one children per household. Thirteen years later, exhausted from the incredible pace, the metamorphic changes at all levels of society, economic transformations and its consequent stresses, we paused and evaluated our situation. We realized that we yearned for something else - to be content / at peace; to experience life as a journey and not as a rat race. We needed to exit the fast lane, we needed to exchange our complicated life with the simple life. We got the opportunity of moving out of the city to a farm in the countryside. The move implied that I had to give up my full-time job, the children had to give up public schools for home schooling and my husband was ready to tackle the bull by the horns as he took up his new post as farmer. The honeymoon period of the simple life was exiting, with days filled with milking the cow, feeding the pigs and chickens, preparing and working in the vegetable garden, taking long strolls in the fields and spending quality time with each other. The simple life also implied that we distanced ourselves from external elements that could hold us back in fully living the simple life. We paid off all our debts (property; vehicles etc); closed all our accounts and further reduced our financial commitments in terms of medical aid and investments. We soon realized that living from the land (only for survival - not for a profit) required not only exessive physical input, but also financial input. Although we did not have expenses in terms of vehicles, mortgage, medical aid etc, we still had to buy electricity, fuel, food and airtime for cell phone and internet connection - which are all very expensive commodities. Aditionally, finances were required for animal feed, labor, maintenance and of course miscellaneous expenses. The land did not provide the finances and ours eventually ran out. There is a thin line between living the simple life and living a poor life. After having being on the road of the simple life for two years, it is sad to say that we were forced to take the off-ramp leading to the complicated life again. Not because we wanted to - believe me, we tasted the incredible advantages which the simple life offers - no, because you can not live without money. The complicated life was not eager to welcome us back. Being out of circulation for a while and taking into account the pace of technological development, it is difficult for me to gain access to the corporate world again. The children find it hard to adapt to the formal school structure and making new friends. Without a credit record and debt (its so ironic!)my husband found it almost impossible to secure a loan. It will take us years to recover and get back to the place we were when we left the complicated life. Yes, we have good memories and we learned a lot, but was it worth it? Complicated or simple life - money makes the world go 'round