Our Artificial Lives (and how to Change Yours)

When was the last time you made a decision based on pure drive and joy? When was the last time you didn’t plan out every second of your week or vacation. Why do you hold the standards for life that you do?

All of these might seem like dumb questions, why WOULDN”T you plan out the whole vacay or week ahead, you want it to go well don’t you?! What do you mean standards I have for life?

We recently bought a big Cargo van from a friend that is already semi- built out to live in (bed frame, water tanks, battery, insulation, etc) it is my happy place. Most people would shudder at the thought of living in a van or wanting to grow their own food, or wanting more outdoor space than indoor space. But when you realize that each day, your calling pokes at you harder and harder, soon it becomes louder than any nay-sayers around you.

In the picture used for this blog post, I am hanging upside down reading a field guide about northern climate ferns….anyone who knows me is very confused right now. But anyone who really knows me isn’t.

The artificial rose tinted screens we put ourselves, our lives, and our visions behind, lead to moments of opportunity. Two years ago, I was back from NYC, I was deciding to leave the fashion industry, to get married the next week and move to rural northern WI.

We can either take that piece of critical time, embrace the change, suffer with it, let it reform us into the shape we were meant to become, or we can run and become complacent in the image we made for ourselves. Fighting the inevitable will only postpone the process.

The more time I spend here, camping, traveling, building our business, carving out the next few years of our lives to input the freedom we desire, the more and more content I am with a very imperfect life.

Get up and go. You are not stuck, you are just unwilling to quit what you are doing in fear of losing the high standard of life you are holding for yourself. Disconnect your joy from the stuff that fills your houses, no more relying on material distractions.

Spend time with people. Spend time in Nature, and do it barefoot. Marvel at the blue skies. Plant a flower, grow a garden, cultivate your own happiness.

You are always one decision away from a completely different life.

~Annalisa