How to Make More Money, Work Less, Stress Less, and Live in the Country

By Jed Diamond, PhD, LCSW

Something below a 9?” I stammered. “I’d have to change my whole life.”

“Yep!” said my inner doctor.

A few months after my consultation with my inner doctor, we started looking for a new place to live. We found our place in the hills outside the little town of Willits in Mendocino County. It was clear that it was really slow-paced, quiet, peaceful, relaxing, and healing. But I worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a living.

I’m a writer and counselor and I thought I needed the wealth and creative turmoil of life in the Marin in order to make a good living. In turned out I was wrong, wrong, wrong. It took me awhile, but I found out that I was even more creative in the peace and quiet of our home on Shimmins Ridge outside of Willits.

In 1994 my book The Warrior’s Journey Home: Healing Men, Healing the Planet was published. John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus called it “a must read for men and women who want to heal their wounds and find lasting love. It changes the way we look at ourselves, each other, and the world.”

As I reflected on life as I moved into my 50s and what men and women needed to live long and well, I wrote a series of books including:

• Male Menopause (1997)
• Surviving Male Menopause: A Guide for Women and Men (2000)
• The Whole Man Program: Reinvigorating Your Body, Mind, and Spirit After 40 (2002)
• The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression (2004)

What I learned about depression in men inspired me to do continuing research and to go back to school (which I could do on-line) and get a PhD in International Health, which I earned in 2008. I continued writing and offering my counseling services to people from all over the world. I was earning more, working less, and enjoying a life in the country. I continued to write books:

• Male vs. Female Depression: Why Men Act Out and Women Act In (2008)
• Mean: Saving Your Relationship from the Irritable Male Syndrome (2010)
• MenAlive: Stop Killer Stress with Simple Energy Healing Tools (2012)
• Composting Abbie: A Whale of a Story, my first children’s book (2014)
• Stress Relief for Men: How to Use the Revolutionary Tools of Energy Healing to Live Well (2014)

I’m working on a new book now to help men and their families deal with the hormonal changes that men experience as we age. It’s called The Low T Challenge: How to Raise Testosterone, Revitalize Sex, and Reclaim Your Power, Passion, and Purpose. I know it’s going to help a lot of people.

Life continues to unfold. After living on Shimmins Ridge for 24 years, enjoying the peace and quiet, beauty and serenity, of living on 22 acres of land in the country, we’ve decided to sell our place and move into town. It’s time for us to let go and for another family to move here. If you’d like to enjoy the benefits of this lifestyle, drop me a note and I’ll tell you all about it. This may just be the dream house and life you’ve been longing to have.

Jed Diamond, PhD, LCSW, is the Founder and Director of the MenAlive, a health program that helps men live well throughout their lives. Though focused on men’s health, MenAlive is also for women who care about the health of the men in their lives. Diamond’s new book, Stress Relief for Men: How to Use the Revolutionary Tools of Energy Healing to Live Well, brings together the wisdom accumulated in 40 years helping more than 20,000 men, women, and children.