Making Physical and Mental Moves
Elaborating on our move across the country and the mental mindset that got us here.
Happy Wednesday, yall!
I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July holiday yesterday! Thankfully, the fireworks near us ended at 9:30 and didn’t go well into the night like I was used to in Florida. A nice change of pace although I still had to go to bed later than I would have liked. I was asked by a reader to elaborate on our moving journey and what our future goals are. I know I’ve touched a little on it before but wanted to go more in depth. Writing this was also a good reminder for me of the end goal since lately the news has been overwhelming at best and ridiculous at worst. Writing this was the reminder I needed to regroup and focus on what I do in this world, which is to build a strong family unit with strong family values and respectful, knowledgeable children to continue to pass the values on to their children, and so on.
I have recently joined Twitter again. I’m not sure how long it’s going to last. It seems to be a constant reminder of how crazy this world really is. But in between the crazies are smaller groups of people who are really supportive and compassionate people who just want others to succeed, be healthy, be fit and above all else, be happy. One of the people I follow tweeted yesterday and said something along the lines of, “I see so many people outside today in the sunshine, enjoying food, and smiling. Imagine if they were able to do that everyday”. That got me thinking. Life can so quickly just get out of control. Before you know it, your schedule is packed with sports, dates, friends, family. Driving all over, going to multiple scheduled events in a day. How can you take care of yourself, especially your mind, when you have no time to just…be?
Living intentionally and mindfully is important to me. It’s always a work in progress but it’s important no less. Including the outdoors, mindfulness, intentionality, nutritious food, exercise, and love into our daily routine is what keeps us going. It’s not always easy to check every box, but when you include the things that are important to you in a consistent routine, it no longer feels like work. I have people all the time ask me how I find time to write or read at night. It’s because I make time to do these things. Reading at night means less or no television after the kids go to bed. I make that decision because I feel reading offers me more than the TV does. Sometimes reading or writing requires waking up before the kids do. Yes, my children wake up early as hell. I wake up earlier – on most days anyway. I won’t sit here and tell you what to do. There’s plenty of that coming from…literally everywhere else. How to live, how to work, how to parent, how to eat, how to exercise, how to be happy, how to be sad, etc. I also won’t sit here and tell you it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. But it’s not impossible. And the more routine you become with it, the easier it is. This is coming from a mom of 3 with a mediocre level of self-discipline. Ha.
When we decided to move our family from Florida to Colorado, we did so with the intention of slowing our lives down. We wanted to be more connected to the outdoors, wildlife and each other. There were a lot of positives offered to us in Florida. We were surrounded by friends and family, we had access to the beach, and we received an abundance of sunshine. But it wasn’t offering us ALL we were looking for. Knowing there were places out there that did offer us everything we were looking for, we couldn’t just stay put. We had to seek out the adventure of a lifetime. We were looking to get outside everyday. We were looking for beautiful landscapes. We were looking for an extensive list of wildlife in our backyard. It was still scary to pack up 3 small kids, and move to another state away from everything we knew. To say we haven’t questioned our decision would be a lie. We value the relationship our children have with their grandparents so much and we were pulling the kids away from them. But we knew in our hearts, moving to Colorado was the right move for us. Honestly though, we have enjoyed almost every minute here in this beautiful state. It has almost everything we are looking for and our potential here feels limitless. Isn’t that what life is supposed to be? Limitless opportunities to live the life you want? The life you want your kids to grow up remembering? The life you want them to pass on to your grandchildren?
Somehow, in our search for the great outdoors, we settled into a townhouse in one of the most residential areas I’ve ever seen in my life. This is just a temporary house but it is so far from what we’re looking for. The opposite of what we’re looking for actually. That’s not to say this isn’t a nice home. This is a beautiful home in a fancy neighborhood surrounded by mountain views. Not much to complain about here, just not what we are looking for. But here we are, just hopping on a townhouse shaped stepping stone to our eventual wilderness homestead.
We still have a lot on our “to-do” list like finding a place to settle and purchasing a home (if they ever become affordable again). We’re looking for land and a house small enough to not require a lot of maintenance that sits on a ton of land filled with trees and green grass. The calmness that the outdoors offers cannot be matched. You won’t find the peace of the outdoors in a yoga studio. Nature is a constant reminder of all that has been, is, and will be. I want my children to grow up and respect the Earth, all her inhabitants, and everything she has yet to offer.
Our story isn’t special. There are plenty of people “waking up” and slowing down. There are plenty of people trading in their corporate jobs for farming or homesteading. There are plenty of people choosing home school over traditional school. There are plenty of people making a shift to keeping the family unit together and protecting it at all costs. Seeing these people on Twitter does give me hope that we’re starting to regain control over what’s important to us. They are offering help and insight on what they’re doing to make the world a better, healthier, safer place. There are certainly a lot of overstimulating and overwhelming things happening all over the world right now. Most of them, I can barely believe are real because they are so far out there. But the only way we survive all of this madness is to focus inward on ourselves and on our family. Raising the future leaders, engineers, farmers, and doctors. We do have a direct impact on the future our kids will see and have to raise their children in. It’s time to wake up and start to focus on what we find important instead of scrolling on autopilot. If you have time to sit down and scroll social media, you have time to put work into yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.
I understand a “wild life” isn’t for everyone. And just because we choose to move in that direction does not mean everyone should. The direction you should be moving in, though, is the direction that leads you to living the life of your dreams. Sacrifices will always have to be made in some way, but man, if you’re not working toward the life you want, what are you working toward? There are so many different ways to be intentional and mindful everyday. Being mindful yourself will help tremendously in getting others to start to think about their life more intentionally. Whatever kind of life you are searching for, find it. Work for it and work hard. We’re capable of so much when we just put the work in.
Keep working on yourselves,
-A