there is no final destination.

So I've officially moved to the middle of nowhere Michigan. I have three incredible acres, a small, well built, super ugly house, a black bear in my backyard, and dreams that quite literally will cost close to a million dollars to turn this into paradise. The best part, it already is my paradise. There's still trash in the yard from the previous owner, weeds, dead trees, half painted walls, upside down cabinets, holes in the wall, the list goes on but I FUCKING LOVE IT HERE. My soul has been here before and I can feel it. There's a certain sense of peace when you know you are in the right place at the right time. There is also a certain sense of chaos and horror you feel when you see the bazillion projects and things to do on top of normal every day life and ya know, work, if I want to pay for my millions of projects.

I am the type of person who will stay up for days to unpack because I can't handle things not in their spot. I don't like unfinished projects. I will work late or pay extra to expedite something because I just want it done. Now. And after 3 weeks of working my ass off to get projects done, things ordered, stuff put in it's place all I really have to show for it are some seriously dark circles under my eyes, half painted walls, mismatched furniture, and a backlog of work emails. What I realized yesterday is everything I've been doing since moving in goes completely against my intentions for moving here. The idea was to be extremely intentional with everything I do to the home or bring in so I could focus on aligning with my values of suitability, eco-friendly, high quality, supporting local and when I'm able, minority owned businesses and contractors.

I have very long term plans for this place, not just as one of my homes (I'll go into all that later), but a place for others too and I want it done right. What I needed to understand was that will take time. Even if I had the millions to drop right now, I wouldn't want to. I want to make sure I'm doing what feels good and that takes time. That takes time to sit outside, to walk the property, to feel how I use the indoor space, to simply sit in silence, to research brands and contractors and make sure that where I'm spending money aligns with my values.

The words that came to me while drinking coffee and journaling this morning were simply, there is no destination. The physical manifestation of that lesson is this house. There is likely no end point. The vision I have will keep growing and expanding and when we reach one milestone, something new will pop up and what a beautiful, tangible way to relate to life. There's so much we miss along the way when we're just trying to get somewhere or achieve something or wanting the next level. There's nothing wrong with goals and plans and dreams, we just can't lose sight of all the magic unfolding along the way.

The best stories are rarely about the final destination. They're about the blunders and fun and laughter and tears that happened trying to get there. And what an adventure it is when you don't even know where "there" happens to be. In my life it seems like "there" is always so much greater when I have no clue where I'm going but trust the path unfolding before me.

xoxo,

Ali