Your best lifestyle — designed for you, by you

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” — Stephen Covey

I nervously walked in the house, knowing what I was about to say. I knew it would sound crazy. I knew it didn’t make sense. I knew it was too expensive and right smack dab in the middle of our busiest time of the year. I knew all of these things, but yet, something deep in my gut (you know the feeling) told me to say it anyway.

“Phil, I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but hear me out. I think we should go to Spain for a month in October.” That’s it. That’s all the “hearing me out” I had. I hadn’t thought about it much more than that! Queue the nervous belly waiting for a response.

[Long pause for Phil’s contemplation]

“Ok! Let’s do it. Why not?”

And that’s the moment we know we’re meant to do something. When my big dreamy brain thinks up something ideal and Phil’s big creative brain knows exactly how we can make it work. That’s when we align and the magic happens.

Do you have those moments in your own life? How often do you stop at the idea? How many times have you doubted the possibility before even talking to anyone about it?

All the time, right? That happens to us constantly, too. We’re always coming up with ideas. Not all of them come to fruition or even take-off. But some, the ones that are meant to be, they take flight. Most of the time, they change our lives.

The truth is, this idea of traveling somewhere and staying for a month had been in planning mode since 2016. At that time, during our annual family strategic planning, we said we wanted to travel the world. We initially thought we wanted to travel for at least a year without breaks. You know, like all the Instagramers. We thought we were those people.

(Side note: We ultimately learned that we are NOT those people. We are the people who like to travel and then come back to our sanctuary, our home base. We knew we would enjoy traveling in small bursts throughout our grand life adventure all while we built a business and a family.)

And that’s where we started designing. From there, we made very strategic moves to align our lives with that vision. We started a business. We got pregnant and had Oryn. We transitioned our careers. There was a lot to do in 2016.

Over time, the puzzle pieces started to fit into place. They certainly didn’t just “fall” into place. Because here’s the thing — with every idea, you have to test it. You have to execute on it. You have to figure out how (and more importantly IF) that puzzle piece actually fits within your vision.

We may believe that we know how we want our lives to change. But how many times have you made a big life shift and then come to find that it wasn’t what you desired?

That’s the scary part about doing something new — the unknown. You never know what’s on the other side. You never know how the pieces are going to fit together.

We worked our way through the unknown — transitioning careers, building a business and starting a family. Not everything worked out as planned. In fact, we had many failures and lots of changes to our vision. Some of those changes, while heartbreaking, were gifts from the Universe. They didn’t work out as we had imagined, but that gave us space for things like big travel.

We eventually got to a point where we could even think about testing a longer, international trip.

Spain was our test. It was an exploration in what it was actually like to live and work abroad for an extended period of time.

We’d been saying for years: “We’ve built a business that allows us to live and work from anywhere.” This was our opportunity to test the validity of that and to also see if we even liked it.

Think about it — what have you been saying you want to do for years, but you just haven’t tested it yet? Whether it be a new idea at work, a new hobby, your health, a new relationship, etc. What if you set aside true time to build momentum on that thing just to test it? Just to see what the unknown actually feels like?

The hardest part is getting started.

Ultimately for us, Spain felt just like every other new endeavor. It was exciting and challenging. It was beautiful and anxiety-filled. We had many highs and certainly several lows.

We learned a lot. We became much wiser about traveling with a toddler internationally. We learned what we needed to set up shop in another house oversees. We worked to find balance between our desires to explore and our work responsibilities.

And then there were the clear surprises — the things we didn’t realize we would learn. First, we confirmed that we LOVE to share experiences with others. My parents and Phil’s brother and a friend came to visit for a week. We had the best time hosting and exploring with them. Many beautiful memories were made, and we cried real, hard tears when they all left. It was truly magical sharing that time together.

Second, we confirmed just how much we love our home and our community in Columbus, Ohio. We were so grateful to return to our community, our home and all the little things that we previously took for granted before we left. The extended travel provided amazing perspective.

The comment we hear a lot is, “Your lifestyle is my goal. I want to travel with my family and work/run my business remotely.”

And my response is always, “You can. You just have to be willing to put in the work to test it and then to live it.”

If you’re reading this, we know you are one of those people who doesn’t shy away from hard work. You are likely hugely accomplished in your life. And yet, you likely have a ton of thoughts like, “I”d love to try x, y or z.”

Well, you’re being called in that direction for a reason. If something keeps coming up, try it! Test it out. Even if it’s expensive. Even if it seems crazy. Even if it doesn’t make sense.

My tip? Make it make sense. Build out a budget to make sure you can practically do what you want to do. Talk to your accountant. Discuss it with your strategic coach and your financial advisor.

Design the test into your life so that it makes sense for YOU.

Now here’s the trick. You have to work. You have to build momentum. You have to be passionate and focused. BUT, this is a huge but….you also have to know when something doesn’t fit. You have to accept when your test isn’t what you actually want. You have to modify when it doesn’t work out exactly as you planned.

Because here’s the thing — it’s not all supposed to work out. And life certainly doesn’t go to plan. But if you are willing to test. And if you are willing to ask the question, “How is this happening FOR me and not TO me?,” you can find purpose in everything you try.

There are lessons everywhere. The greatest ones are those lying just beyond your deepest desires.

Our lives are our own beautiful puzzles. It’s our job to put the pieces together. Be the person who does the work and spends the time to find the pieces that fit into YOUR puzzle.

You only get one life— so design it in a way that you can be damn proud of in the end.

Sending inspiration your way, friend.

Krista