Life on the Move: Lessons from 30 Places in 3 Years and a Big Announcement for 2024

Happy Monday! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I wanted to use todays newsletter to give a couple life updates as well as discuss how I am navigating change in my life during this time.

For those who don't know, My wife and I sold our house in northern Illinois in February of 2021, put our stuff in storage and hit the road for a few months of travel. The plan at the time was for an epic road trip before returning home for the summer and settling down and moving into a new place.

The plan took a slight change when we got home that summer and decided to hit the road again. 

With nothing but basically a packed car of our clothes and computers we hit the road again. We've ventured from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, North Carolina, Illinois, South Carolina, all the way to the UK and Scotland during this time. 

In total we estimate we've "lived" in over 30 different places during that time.

In 2021 we spent a short time in Taos, NM and went back in August of 2022. We've lived there the bulk of the time since then. Recently we moved out of our furnished rental in Taos and have returned back to IL for the holidays.

In mid January we will move again, this time more permanent, to Asheville, North Carolina. 

This will be the first time since we sold our house in IL in 2021 that we will get our stuff out of storage and finally put in some roots somewhere. Though we LOVE Taos, it was simply time to go and we couldn't be more excited to be going back to Asheville ( we spent some time there in 2022 before going to Taos.)

All of this to say, life was been an amazing adventure the last 3 years!

To say I've learned some things would be an understatement. I don't feel like I am the same person I was 3 years ago.

But if I had to pick a few of the biggest lessons during this time they'd be the following.

1. Home is wherever you are. It took me a bit to acclimate to moving every 5-10 days and then every few months. Life always felt a little chaotic and at times felt like we were flying by the seat of our pants. But after a while we really embraced the uncertainty and realized that home is wherever we are in the present moment. Its not a set of walls, building, things, etc. It is a state of mind and state of being. We were able to learn how to love being anywhere we were without wishing we were somewhere else. This was big for us, who were always looking towards the next thing.

2. Routines are great, but being a slave to them does you no good. I talk about habits, routines, etc to exhaustion with my clients. They are truly the backbone and structure that we need as humans to guide us.  Having what I call "anchors" were the key to helping me stay organized and focused with so much change going on on in my life.

Walking
Protein/Nutrient dense food
Exercise

These things were and are the backbone to my day. They are the most important things and take precedent over everything else. I make sure I put in time and effort into each, everyday, no matter what.  

However, with life being so on-the-go I had to be flexible as well. Sometimes these things would look different each day. Sometimes they'd happen in different order, different time of day. The point was I learned to not be a slave to them, just let them be important. It's easy when you are traveling a lot and your environment is changing all of the time to stay discipline or motivated. But the truth is over time I was able to craft the few things that I could manage NO MATTER WHAT that always made me feel accomplished, healthy and that was aligned with the best version of myself. This is a lifelong process, by the way. It never stops.

 3. Nothing Last Forever. When we are born the clock on our life starts ticking. I don't mean this to sound cryptic, rather to be a reminder that life is short and we must be willing to examine our choices, actions and efforts through the lens of a life well lived.  This time has allowed me to really embrace and be grateful for who I am, how I was raised, who I share my time with, who I give to, who I support. The list goes on. 

It has allowed me to be more intentional with everything in my life because when you are moving that much, and you are in a new town, state, time zone, country, etc...your actions must be meaningful.

You have a unique ability as a human being, to create a wonderful and meaningful life. Any life you can imagine, is a life that you can have and live.

As the new year approaches I will encourage you think BIGGER than you ever have. Want BIGGER than you ever have. Will it be easy? Hell No! Will it be uncomfortable? YES! 

But here is your "cheat code"

Your ability to say, who cares and do it anyway will set you apart from 99% of other people.

Whether its with your fitness, diet and exercise, and putting your head down and doing these things to alignment or starting a new business or even living a life that wasn't expected of you or that is not the "norm"

If you can learn to do it anyway, despite the judgement and self-doubt, I promise that you will learn, grown and evolve in ways you never thought possible.

I am really rooting for you!

I am rooting for you to have the most transformative year of your life in 2024.

And i'd love to help you!