Everything You Know Is Wrong

Everything you know is wrong

Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter

Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong

 - Weird Al from “Everything You Know is Wrong”

Welcome to “Everything You Know is Wrong” or EYKIW for short.  You can say I-Q in your head – that jumble of letters looks menacing.  And as you can tell from the top – it was indeed named after a Weird Al song.  The runner up name was “White and Nerdy."

Let me first introduce myself.  I am Sven Edsson, and yes that is a pseudonym.  Although it may not yet be clear why I have a secret identity, you will find out soon enough.  I am married to a beautiful wife and have six kids.  I currently work as an actuary in an insurance company in the US of A.  I currently make a good income doing the actuary thing, which is our sole source of income.  Except for the six kids part, this sounds like the perfect American family with nothing to change.

Well, there is.  That is where this blog comes in.  Since I met my wife, we have slowly disposed of the conventional wisdom that was taught to us by our teachers and the world at large, one pillar at a time.  One by one we’ve knocked down these pillars and found that life without these conventional myths is not only possible, but incredibly rewarding.  And now we are about to embark on one of the last strongholds of conventional wisdom in our lives.

My job.

I have to admit, this is scary.  As I said, I make good money doing what I do, but I have come to a startling realization.  I am not happy doing it.  Not only that, but I really feel that I was built to do other work.  I do fine with actuarial work, but I have this artistic drive that I don’t believe was meant to be the sideshow of my life.  I believe that it was meant to be the driving force of my life’s work.

So,as a family, we are going to embark on what is colloquially known as “unjobbing”.  What is unjobbing?  Now in a literal sense it doesn’t mean much, but in the context of social norms it might mean work that doesn’t look like a job.  It isn’t very popular at the moment, but it is gaining.  Why?  I believe that there exists a growing dissatisfaction among people who’ve accepted a job solely for material security.  In short, even if you pull in a fat paycheck, that doesn’t mean you are happy (and often, you aren’t).

But what about providing for your needs or your family?  Isn’t it selfish to eschew a good income if you can’t provide security for yourself or your family?  Well, that brings about the second necessary part of this plan.  We are taught at a young age to consume and to want to have the nice house and nice car.  A good education for your kids can’t be cheap either.   All of this takes money.  But what if we didn’t need any of those things?  Not just not need, but what if you came out ahead?  I’m not talking about money or wealth, I am talking about quality of life.  What if you needed only a small income to live?  And notice, I said live not survive.  I believe that there is a beautiful and fulfilling life outside of material wealth. 

We are a Catholic family (as if you couldn’t have guessed with the six kids!) and take our faith seriously.  One aspect of the faith that is neglected in most pulpits is the concept of poverty.  “Blessed are the poor…”  Poor in this context is not the amorphous noun of all the destitute beggars and homeless, but the adjective applied to those that forego worldly possessions in order to gain true joy.  I don’t believe that this means living in a cardboard hut, but rather to have what you need to live (not just survive) and give all that you don’t need to those that can use it.  It sounds extreme, but it is only extreme relative to the current standard of wealth in the world today. 

What I have just said is simply a group of my belief statements.  They are not my personal autobiographical experiences, at least not yet.  As of right now, we still live in a standard suburban house that we rent, I still work as an actuary - I do not have any book deals, music contracts, or any other opportunity on the horizon that will make the transition to unjobbing and the simple life easy.  I see nothing at the moment.  The only thing that I have is hope that I will be able to transition to unjobbing in the near future doing work that I find fulfilling while providing for my family.  I believe that God has put this on our hearts, and in Him I put my trust.

Now, I am not going into this completely blind.  In my free time I record music and I have written novels.  But nothing has produced anything that could even be considered an acceptable income (less than $1,000 in total).  I’m going to start my journey there and see if by chance, I can make it as an author or as a musician.  This blog exists to document this “experiment” as we shift from the typical American family existence to a fulfilled simple life.

So, please do check in from time to time.  We’re still figuring this blog thing out, but I am sure we’ll settle into a routine eventually.  We’ll share with you what is happening in our journey as well as what we’ve learned along the way.  And if you are so inclined, feel free to play along at home!  I don’t want to keep any secrets from anyone who wants to learn and seek a truly fulfilled life.

God bless,

Sven