Jim Stern Coaching

GOING FOR IT…

Have you ever had a bucket list or something you’ve been passionately interested in going for?  You know, that special something that keeps showing up in your thoughts. You keep toying with it and figuring that, hey, I have plenty of time to get to it… but do you?

Part 1 of My Buckets…

I know for me; I’ve always had this thing about truly simplifying my life.  Life seems easier to live without so much clutter in your home or downsizing to a smaller place, because, after all, the kids have moved out, I’m single, and, of course, why pay those high taxes for the space I just don’t need anymore?  Well, I’ve been working on this “want to” for the past ten years.  I’m not there yet, but I’m getting close. You see, there’s a second part to my “want to”.  Downsizing even more!

Even though I downsized from a large house to a condo life, I still feel I have way too much space for my needs. What’s stopping me? Well, good question (& thanks for asking), and I have a simple answer; I want to have space just in case one of my three kids need to stay with me for a while as they go through some sort of transition. Truth be told, all three have taken me up on that since they graduated college, and I love it!

Part 2…

There is more to part two, however, for downsizing even further. You see, I love cozy living, and small spaces can make that happen. The reality is that it would probably be in a tiny house, like the ones you’ve all heard about or seen on social media, HGTV, RV Living, or Tiny Living TV series, and, honestly, that might be just too small for me, and that’s what is holding me back. I’ve had some opportunities recently and never pursued them. So, I keep it in my fantasy bucket and it’s fun to think about it when the thought pops into my head.

Alice*

When I met Alice, it was almost like a wake-up call or a spirit guide for me (my next post touches on this topic).  Alice* had flown in from the Mexican Baja, which is located on the beach in Mexico bordering southern California and is a great place to watch the whales migrate from Alaska on their way to Hawaii each year.  Alice, as it turns out, had a similar “want to.”  She owned a house on Cape Anne along the northern coast of Massachusetts, just a house away from where she grew up and where her mother still lives. Two years earlier, Alice was diagnosed with Breast Cancer… a battle she has been winning so far, but it woke her up to the fact that things can change real fast. She and her partner (a wood worker) decided there was no time to waste and they should pursue their dream of living tiny and a nomadic lifestyle… no clutter and being absolutely free to go and live a life they had only fantasized about previously.

Living a nomadic life has been catching on ever since the Covid 19 lockdown, where many people decided that for them this was the time, and many were able to pull the trigger because they could now work remotely. Alice is an attorney and had been working for a large law firm… so how could she make this transition? She discovered she could shift her expertise in family law into being a mediator for couples going through divorce, and she could do this from anywhere. She told me that it’s been going great and how she will never go back to her former life. She and her man bought an RV camper that had a fire in it; they stripped it down to its shell, her partner went to work doing his woodworking art, and they finished it off together. They love the Baja so much that they bought a parcel of beach land for a mere $15,000 and are building a tiny home on it.

Something to Consider

Alice, I could tell, was living a blissful life, and she told me when she passed her old home on her way to her mom’s house how she just doesn’t miss her old lifestyle anymore. She encouraged me to combine my life coaching with mediation (it’s apparently quite easy to become a mediator, and it’s an unregulated career…  something to consider). For me, although nomadic living sounds intriguing, I’m just not sure I’m ready to make that move yet. In reality, I may just start out renting a tiny home for a weekend here and there. Turtle steps, ya know?

SO, what about you? Is there something you’ve always wanted to pursue, something that’s on your “want to” or bucket list? What’s holding you back? What are you waiting for to just GO FOR IT?

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*Names & any identifying information on people in this post have been changed for confidentiality.

© Jim Stern Coaching 2023. All Rights Reserved.

 

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