Change is GOOD

I've always loved change. Changing my hair, my clothes, my friends, my lifestyle, I LOVE CHANGE!! Moving to this tiny house has been one of the biggest changes I've ever made, and not only am I living in a tiny house in the woods, I'm living on an island which is SO different from the suburbs or the city, which I am used to. Honestly, thugs, drug addicts, and city allies don't scare me, but get me out in the woods at night and I'm shaking like a leaf. It's getting easier though, I'm toughening up and each experience that I face head on I become stronger because of it.

Here are just a few of the changes I've had to make living out here:

1) The Bathroom- There are two houses on the farm property I live on- the big, main house with a kitchen and bathroom and everything a normal house would have, then my tiny house, about a 5 minute walk through the woods on the property. When I am at my tiny house, especially if its at night or I just have to go really bad, I'm either squatting in the woods, or using the outhouse. Strangely enough, I REALLY like peeing in the wilderness haha!

2) Heat- My tiny house uses a wood burning stove to heat. I've never built fires before this experience. Nuff said.

3) Transportation- Well, since I live on an island, to get off the island I have to take a ferry. The ferry is about $20 round trip each time. But I honestly LOVE the ferry, and I just love watching the scenery as we cross the water. But it not just as easy as getting in my car and just driving somewhere now. At a certain point at night, the ferries stop running and I am stuck until the morning if I need to get across.

Another aspect of transportation, that amuses me greatly, is the 4 wheeler I drive to and from the tiny house each night. If its daytime, I usually just walk to my tiny house. Its great exercise and I get to commune with the trees. But, if I am carrying a lot of stuff or it's dark out, I take the gator. It's loud, and doesn't drive fast, but it gets the job done ;)

4) Time with boyfriend- In the 2 years we have been together, we have pretty much lived together from day one. We have been connected at the hip. This change has been hard for both of us but so necessary for our growth. We now see each other at least once a week and it actually has helped us to appreciate each other more!

5) Diet- I do NOT have the convenience of just driving across the street to get take out or to just order pizza. And the grocery store isn't right across the street like is usually has been for me in the suburbs. Plus, I live on a farm, so needless to say I'm eating WAY healthier than I was. Also, the grocery stores out here are spendy. You are paying almost double sometimes because it all has to be shipped across the water. Gas is more expensive too, so driving to the store a lot can be spendy as well. I've been learning to make due with what I already have for groceries, which is actually saving me a lot of money in the long run :)

6) Convenience- Like I said before, I can't just drive across the street to the store or to a take out place. I'm much more limited on what I can do here, which is actually a really nice change. I've kind of developed a disdain towards convenience and the "American way". I think we've actually become a little spoiled and have lost the art of working for what we want.

7) Media- Instead of scrolling Facebook mindlessly like I did before, I would rather read a book, or draw, or make my jewelry. I don't get great reception at my tiny house so while I still do spend some time on FB, its gone way down and I'm actually putting my energy towards being creative which it truly what I love to do! I am also not watching movies or TV at night and staying up until some ungodly hour. I go to my tiny house and I read or do something else since I don't have Internet. Its been a HUGE blessing to be able to disconnect.

8) Activity level- When I lived in a normal house, in the suburbs, I sat, like ALL day. I work from home as a health and fitness coach so I would literally have no reason to leave the house! Now, I am walking all the time, to and from my tiny house, and I work for a few hours in the morning and then I go about my day! I also help on the farm here and there so whether I'm doing house chores or fetching chicken eggs, I'm doing something! I feel more energetic, I've lost weight, and being outside is actually nice, even in the rain!!

9) Scenery- Best of all!! No more traffic, stores, strip malls, city lights, concrete... I see trees, I see water, I see beauty all around me!

I'm going through many changes here, and they are all strengthening me and helping me become the strong woman I am meant to be in this world. Each segment of our lives has purpose. Each thing we go through makes us stronger. We are here for a reason and we are called to grow to our highest potential. This is done through change. Some people embrace it easier than others, but not matter what, it should always be embraced.

Finally home

Not too many adventurous people I know stay in one spot for too long. I've always considered myself adventurous but it always baffled me how I could be born in one place and remain there for 32 years (my entire life). Even though I've lived in the same area my whole life, I did make sure I had variety by changing high schools 3 times (just because I wanted a new scene and new people), and I sure had my fair share of adventure during my drug days.

As long as I can remember I've always loved change. I experimented with different crowds in Jr High and High School: skater, gangster, preppy, hippie, druggie. In my 20's I went from druggie to straight and narrow Christian. I attended church for 9 years and was married for 5 of those years. After my marriage ended I found my inner hippie again and started dreaming of the gypsy life- never settling, just going from one grand adventure to the next. I've lived in the city, the country, the suburbs and now on an island. But even with all this "change", I've lived in Western Washington my ENTIRE life.

In the last 2 years I've had dreams of moving to Maui, or traveling the country in an RV OR moving to Whidbey Island. I love dreaming, but I HATE not acting on my dreams. It was starting to wear on me, only dreaming and not acting. And more than that, being in the same environment day in and day out was starting to kill my soul.

In the last 2 years, I have gone through one of the biggest inner transformations I have ever been through, and I've been through a couple. As I have been changing so has my idea of where I want to call home. All I've been able to think about it being somewhere beautiful, in nature, surrounded by like minded people, who just want a simple hippie life. Needless to say, my tolerance of the suburbs and people in it was getting very small. I would watch everyone, in their nice cars, sitting in traffic to get to jobs they hate, crowding the malls, buying things they didn't need, waiting in god-forsaken lines to get their Starbucks and caring too much about keeping up with the unhappy person next to them.

All I could think was, "This is NOT my home. These are NOT my people. This is NOT where I belong."

I was unhappy every day with my environment, with this lifestyle. I was ESTATIC at the idea of moving to an island with nature everywhere and like minded people.

When my moving day came, I was scared, but so excited. I knew I was going home. And now that I am here, I TRULY feel home. I feel happy, I feel like I can breathe!

I really believe that if someone is miserable in their environment, whether at a job or their house or where they live or whatever it is, they need to change it!! Why spend our lives miserable? For money? For security? What is worth being that miserable for? Your family? Let me tell you that your family is not benefitting from you being miserable every day.

Change is NEVER impossible. Most people feel stuck, like they can't escape their current situation. Well let me tell you that you CAN. I've learned that I am never stuck. I've freed myself from things that seem impossible to most people, but I've done it, and I know you can too.

Find your home, find your happiness, no matter what it takes, DO IT!!!

Just a Few Pictures!

Inside the tiny house!! Two stories. The loft is the bedroom!

View from the ferry.

View from my loft window :)

Farm fresh food and goats!!!

I drive this thing to and from my tiny house at night. The walk is about 5 minutes through the forest and when its dark it just a little creepy ;)

Following my Heart

For the last 2 years my heart has been wanting to do something crazy. I've craved adventure, change of scenery, and nature. I spent most of my 20's as a house wife in the suburbs, going to church and being a "good" woman. But after my divorce, it was like the real me woke up. The real me who craved adventure, who had a spark in her eyes, and who was ready to just a leap of faith. For 2 years I went back and forth on ideas. Living in Maui was my first idea, I even bought one way tickets for my boyfriend and I. But it never materialized and it turned into a two week trip instead. After our trip to Maui, we vowed to save up for a year and return there to live, but half way through the year we decided we would rather get an RV and travel. But just a few months later that plan was abandoned as well when my boyfriend got a new job. We also knew we would need to find a new place to live also, so that became a factor in the planning.

One month before we had to move, my boyfriend decided that he was going to move back in with his old roommates, and it was at that moment, I decided I was going to do my own thing too! That night I stumbled upon a Craigslist add for a Tiny House up north that was completely off grid. It looked incredibly intriguing, especially since my boyfriend and I became very obsessed with tiny living. I loved the idea of living off the land, being unplugged, and fending for myself. But two weeks after I made the decision to go, I cancelled the whole thing. I just couldn't shake the terrible feeling I got whenever I thought of the place. And I have never been one to ignore my intuition. So I called it off.

Immediately I started looking for the backup plan. And really it found me very quickly. A tiny house, on a farm, with goats and chickens, on Whidbey Island. It was PERFECT. In the last two years I have visited Whidbey Island a lot and every time I would always think of how amazing it would be to live here. I felt that I would fit in perfectly with these creative, simple hippies and the island always spoke to my heart.

When I came to visit the farm and the tiny house and meet the owners, I felt at home immediately. I loved it so much and new instantly this is where I needed to be! PLUS the tiny house had electricity! A HUGE bonus ;) Within two weeks I was moved in and now here I am!!!

One of the things I would like to note was how miserable I became at home. I was not happy in the suburbs (where I have spent my entire life in) and I CRAVED something different. There is something in me that just feels like we aren't meant to live in these big houses with all our toys and TV's and games, work a 9-5 job that we are miserable at just to come home and veg until we go to bed and do it all over again. There are SO many people on depression and anxiety meds because of this lifestyle that we have created. We have forgot how to follow our hearts. We have forgot how to be outdoors and breathe fresh air. We don't know how to grow our own food anymore and get our hands dirty in the soil. We have no idea what it feels like to be free from a life of monotony. And MAYBE, that's just not the lifestyle for me. Maybe some people are happy living that way. But I really just cant seem to believe it.

So that's why I'm here. I'm called to this, whatever all of this is. My heart is happy and even though I'm still adjusting, I'm happy... like really truly happy.