Real Stories Real People
Marcia
Brixey • Paulette
Ensign • Claire
Hegarty • Jennifer
Clare • Joyce
Zee • Michelle
Hill • Frank
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Saleme • SoccerKidsUSA
• Brigitte
Nadeau • Dinah
Chapman • Gail
Foley • Jim
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Cat
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T. Maier • Tamah
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Vining • Mark
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Rodriguez • Jan
Louthain • Mark
McMahon • Heather
and Murray Rand • Susan
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Williamson• Miriam
Benard• Kevin
McDonald • Dolores
Arste • Faith
Smith • Jennifer
Wright • Joe
Kasper • ArLyne
Diamond • Monica
Lee • Dan
Millman • Dana
Hall • Carl
Battiste • Shawn
Snyder • Roberta
Carasso • Colleen
Read • Cory
Johnson • Kevin
O'Neil • Craig
Barton • Peter
Bowers • Mike
Munter • Glen
Smith • Nancy
Ceridwyn • Deanna
Kim • Anasuya
Krishnaswamy • Hilton
Paoli
Former major league baseball executive
goes back to the roots of living!
 Mike
Munter got laid off 2 years ago. He spent the first 18 months
of it, waiting, hoping, thinking about various different careers,
buying a business, a franchise, starting a business. Mike was
hot on several different things and even hired Craig
Nathanson-The Vocational Coach for 3 months to help. Mike
discovered through this process that he no longer had the "energy"
to see new ventures through. He didn’t get cold feet,
Mike just didn’t feel it. He went to Peru with the intention
of finding his life purpose, his work.
Mike didn’t find it there.
During this 2 year layoff, Mike had this feeling of wanting
less and lightening his load. He decided to get rid of lots
of things and rely less on new material purchases.
After returning from Peru, the only thing Mike was certain of
was that he no longer wanted to have a mortgage. He remembered
a documentary he saw on cob houses so he found the guy who teaches
it and went to a workshop. Mike came back excited and started
to teach himself how to build such a garden. At the same time,
Mike expanded his garden ten fold and really got into learning
about food preservation and how to grow foods. Mike started
to develop this idea of living mostly off the land and building
his own house and dropping the mortgage.
Mike watched the zeitgeist movies and lo and behold he became
more and more informed (and jaded) toward what we have become.
We work to get money so we can pay our rent and buy our food
and whatever other junk is being marketed at us 24/7. So Mike
realized he likes his new work around the house. He likes being
home and seeing neighbors and working outside and he likes these
long slow mornings and not rushing around anymore. Mike thinks
to himself, maybe this IS the work he has been seeking and so
how can he keep this going? He thinks, "how did our great
grandparents do it before the industrial revolution made everything
easy for us?"
Mike has some money that ought to last 2-3 more years and then
he has a couple of houses to sell and hopefully get money out
of them to buy another 2-3. In the mean time, Mike wants to
build a beautiful house very cheap and grow a lot of the food
he will eat. Ultimately, Mike wants to be an example to show
others how to get off the treadmill and into living. He also
wants to erect a huge screen and show drive in movies in an
open field in the summer to generate a little bit of income
to cover things like car insurance.
Life is good now!
What can we learn from Mike’s story?
We tend to want more then we actually need. Going inside to
reflect what is truly important and how one needs to live can
change in mid-life. The possibilities are there for growth and
joy. In mid-life work can indeed take on various new shapes
and forms!
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