Brook Falls into Fallbrook
So, it seemed like a totally great idea. Move onto eight glorious acres of land in Southern California with your whole family, right? Hang out with your new nephew, your brother and his wife, and see your mom and dad in their happy retirement daily. We can grow a garden and live off the grid, learn how to build a house, have a well, get some solar, and do it right. All so damn good in theory, but this is a lot more work than any of us even could begin to dream.
view of our Yurt on the land during the beginning stages.
Here is a list of things I had NO IDEA was going to happen
1. We don’t even move in for a month when we arrive. Ramon and I share a two bedroom condo with my parents, their two dogs, our dog and cat, and for a week Ramon’s mom.
2. 100 degree October days and no AC
3. Trenching the whole land for a month for El Nino (which never came- also not expected)
4. Old triggers of teenager behavior and family roles come back into play in a huge and scary way… I mean I think I even stomped my foot at the beginning of our first arguments… truthfully, still learning the release of old habits with family- I think that is a long one requiring its very own blog.
5. Our husky never got her 2nd coat of fur after the third month here
6. We live in a Yurt (Yup, thought the yurt was going to be a temporary home while we built our bigger home, but we love living tiny!)
7. That I still wouldn’t have a kitchen by February
8. That my old roommate was going to come move on our land too!
9. I was going to buy a Prius within the first week (saving on gas in a big way!)
10. Building massage clients in farmland is really frackin’ hard!
My brother and nephew (everyone's favorite on the land)
So the truth is, we really didn’t know anything! Reminding ourselves of our misconceptions and our lack of foresight is a truly humbling experience. The one constant with being a lifelong learner is being dropped into many experiences I either know nothing or little about. It keeps a sort of positivity when we remind our self hey, I am new at this and I am not afraid of change! I am hardly in a rut because of the passion to learn and try new things even if sometimes the new stuff can be frustrating, I have so much to bounce back to for therapy and guidance.
Things that have helped the sanity in the mix of all the chaos and newness:
1. Playing the ukulele and singing loudly
2. Writing this blog!
3. My wonderful sweet fox Ramon
4. My cat and dog cuddles
5. Meditation
6. Comedy
8. Getting massages
9. The ocean visits
10. Friends coming
11. Meeting new friends
12. Sharing a good meal.
13. Learning how to build stuff and making a beautiful home.
I think it is forgotten that change can be scary if you don’t have a good support system or knowledge of what to do when everything becomes new. Reminding ourselves that we have all these tools that are readily available for us to bring us back to sanity.
So, here I am. Back with my family somehow! I don’t know exactly how it happened but Ramon and I planned on travelling and thought this space would be a great hub for us while we travel the world. So let’s see! Come take the journey with me.
ENROLL IN OUR FREE CLARIFYING YOUR PURPOSE BOOT-CAMP!