The Rural We: Kelly Kandra Hughes
This animal lover, writer, and former college psychology professor could also be your minimalist-lifestyle inspiration.
Dr. Kelly Kandra Hughes was a tenured professor of psychology at a suburban Chicago university when she decided to give up her job, get rid of 95% of her belongings, and marry the love of her life, Heath, who she’d known for three weeks. The pair began traveling the country as professional pet and house sitters. Three and a half years ago, they took a job in Norfolk, Conn. and have been there ever since. Heath volunteers with the local ambulance service, and Hughes works at the Norfolk Library, writes about minimalism, and has begun teaching others how to extricate themselves from too much stuff.
I grew up in Harrisburg, Penn. and got my Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I started a tenure track position at a college in the Chicago suburbs, and after 10 years I was granted a paid sabbatical. I did not miss my job for one second, of one minute, of one day of that sabbatical, and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m going to have to quit."
In the middle of the night, I had the thought, ‘I’m going to be a pet sitter — I love dogs." I wrote it down because I didn’t want to forget it. The next morning, I typed "pet and house sitter" into Google, and found out I can live my life doing this. I worked as a professor for one more year to fulfill my contract, and during that time I met Heath and we got married.
He was living in Nashville when we met and he gave up his job, his apartment and most of his belongings. I was living with friends because I knew I would be leaving. We really had to pare down.
We were on a three-month housesit in New York State and I was looking on houseitter.com for our next job. These four dogs popped up and I said "We need to go sit at this house." We met Mark and Bella in September, 2016 and have been housesitting for them ever since.
I work part time as an executive assistant at the Norfolk Library. The building is beautiful, but it’s more than just a library, it’s a cultural and musical center, a great hub of creativity, and they let dogs in, so you know they’re good. One of my jobs is to make sure the dog biscuit jars are full. I also read up on new releases and make recommendations as to what the Library should purchase. What a wonderful gift of a job!
I have a blog where I write about my experiences with minimalism. I wrote about how I used to have a really miserable life, in my opinion — I was sick, overworked, overstressed, I have narcolepsy, and it was not a joyful life at all. I was working in a job that paid a lot but one I shouldn’t have been in. I had tenure — that was the dream — but it wasn’t for me, and I had a hard time recognizing that. It took me a long time to build up the courage to leave my job. I write about the changes I made, and how I don’t think it’s ever too late.
People seem really interested in the minimalism aspect of it. I’m not a professional, but they ask about it and I enthusiastically answer. Since giving my talk about it at Scoville Library, three other places have reached out to have me come, and in March I will be giving a three-hour workshop at Scoville, with hands-on practical advice.
My personal brand of minimalism is kind of extreme, and I wouldn’t advocate people do that because our circumstances aren’t the same. But you can modify accordingly; there are many ways to embrace having less stuff. With my psychology background, I want people to understand why they’re making these choices, because it helps them maintain the minimalism lifestyle. If you don’t get to the root causes, you won’t be able to do it. It’s more about personal growth, where you realize what values are important in your life and weed out everything else that doesn’t serve the way you want to be living.
