Three weeks ago I was house hunting in my city, just trying to find a home near my kiddo’s preschool and our awesome friends. Keeping life as status quo as possible.
Now we’re selling everything and moving to a mobile life in the mountains, renting vacation homes on a month-to-month basis and saving up for our own TinyHome.
I’m still trying to figure out how that happened.
I think the answer lies in how trees reproduce.
Let me explain… inside the seed of any given tree, there is an embryo. A new lil baby tree waiting to be born. This embryo grows. When the seed falls – or gets knocked – to the ground, the growing embryo splits the seed open. The root tip, pulled by gravity, finds its way to the soil. Once that tip makes contact with the soil, the tree is rooted to the ground. It begins absorbing nutrients and water, fueling the continued growth, as leaves unfurl and cells divide and the tree begins its upward growth.
That’s sort of what happened with us. This idea, this radical lifestyle shift, was first uttered as a frustrated, unrealistic wish. “Let’s just get rid of all this STUFF and move to the mountains and free up our lives and our schedules and have more time and energy for our family, for enjoying life, for exploring the world together.”
Yeah, right. Who does that? Turns out, lots of people – once I looked.
So that seed dropped. And over the next 24 hours, it cracked open.
We were on to something. Something big. We could either increase the hours we worked, increase our income, and have LESS time together to afford a life that wasn’t even all that we wanted, or we could reduce our living expenses, reduce the hours worked, live wherever we want, and have time and space to enjoy it fully.
We could wake up to mist creeping over the mountains, go for a hike, play in the river, and move on to a new place in a month. We could trade in home and office rent, utility bills, home insurance, and school tuition for a monthly vacation home rental fee. Reducing our expenses means reducing how much we have to earn, which means less pressure to pay all the bills all the time, which in turn makes space for more fun and enjoyment. Mark and I are lucky to do work that we absolutely love, but that doesn’t mean we don’t feel the pressure of needing a certain income flow every month. We’re also fortunate to have mobile work options – we can do our work pretty much anywhere, thanks to the power of technology and our own ability and willingness to travel as needed.
Once we looked at all this, and researched/internet stalked other families who have made this big shift, we realized our initial wish wasn’t that impractical after all – still not totally mainstream, but when you look at both the numbers AND our personal wants and needs, it actually was a very practical and almost completely obvious decision.
The seed took root.
As soon as we shared our plans with others, we realized our baby tree of a radical new life had found root in very rich soil. The water and nutrients presented themselves in those around us – support rushed in. Friends came over and helped me figure out how to drastically downsize and start sorting/getting rid of our copious amounts of stuff. People pointed us to cabin options, my parents offered their mountain house as a starting point, we started getting emails with campers for purchase, renovation ideas, and more. Wow! Not only could we do this, but we could do this with the support of our community!
That’s a really great feeling, let me tell you.
It doesn’t mean this is all smooth sailing – we’ve got our fears and doubts and snags to get through, for sure. I’m so sad to be taking Jonah out of the wonderful preschool he loves, away from his sweet friends. I’m sad I won’t be as geographically close to our friends and family in town. But we’ll have more time with other members of family now, and we live in a day and age where it’s easy to stay in touch via technology. I’m worried about this big change in our work lives, and how it will affect our income. We have no idea how this will really go! We could end up back in the city in a few months with nothing but our few bags of stuff and have to start all over.
But that’s part of the adventure, right? We don’t know what kind of tree we’re growing. It could be a big, sturdy one we end up building an awesome treehouse in. Or it might just be a pretty little one that blooms for a season and then dies. But I know that whatever tree this is, it’ll reproduce. And then we’ll start another new adventure.
I know we’re rooted in rich soil. I’m so thankful for that. For you.
We’re doing this!!
Leah
Latest posts by Leah (see all)
- Own Your Life - July 1, 2015
- For My Mom on Her Retirement - May 27, 2015
- How To Sell All of Your Stuff - May 20, 2015
Excited for you, envious of you! Looking forward to following you along on your adventures. XO!