When I look around my life I see more responsibility than I've even held before. I'm manifesting a BIG dream with my partner, Wren, and am whole heartedly putting myself into it. All of me.

But what am I losing in the process? Does taking on the adult responsibilities required of certain lifestyles mean I can't live in that childlike state anymore? Do I still give myself permission to play? Why have I become so serious?

As I woke up this morning I was reflecting on these thoughts. If you're familiar with our content, you'll know how much we love living our dream manifesting abundance through homesteading, permaculture, natural building and herbalism.

You've seen just how fired up we get about sharing the beauty of the Earth and how to live an Earth-centered life. But.... There are also days when the workload and unfinished projects weigh heavily and the burden of taking on so much responsibility bogs me down.

Working towards dreams is fulfilling, but not always easy.

We got into this homesteading lifestyle knowing that it requires a lot of work, commitment and perseverance.

Most days are exciting, connected and diverse and we give thanks for being our own bosses and co-creating our life.

The dream and vision of creating a thriving human influenced ecosystem that overflows with abundance, demonstrates a healthy paradigm and reminds us of what is possible through allying with nature fuels our souls on a deep level.

We want to share the beauty and awe that we experience living with the land with others and support the human-earth connection. This never goes away, but sometimes other realities creep in. The never ending projects, the unexpected events, the maintenance, the scale and scope of homesteading and overwhelm all are a part of it.

This too is a part of living the dream!

Focus on Fun

Just as important as time management and prioritization is having FUN! We committed this year to More Fun, and I have been slacking in this department. Yes our life is fun, but we have realized that getting out of the regular routine of work on the homestead is crucial to our overall health and wellbeing as much as it is for productivity.

Permission to Let Go

Let go of expectation for a minute, let go of ideas, let go of patterns, let go of the lists...

We all have dreams and visions we're working towards, but need to keep in context the scope of this human experience.

When we are striving for a goal, when do we let the reigns go slack? When do we surrender to rest and let things go?

I for one have been hyper driven to get the groundwork done on the homestead (which is a behemoth amount considering it was a raw piece of land) and have neglected the subtler nature of reality. I have been letting go a little lately and realized how tightly I have been clinging to productivity, achievements and expansion. But when I let go a little, I allow in thoughts, feelings and emotions that were waiting to be felt and witnessed.

Redefining Work

I have recently been appreciating the newly blooming roses Wren planted 2 years ago and through this have been reevaluating my relationship to work. Is appreciation of the fine things in life like roses work? What makes me believe that work is the most important thing? Our needs are met, no one is coming to take our land away and we are debt free. So what the heck am I working so hard for?

These are the dreams and visions that Wren and I believe in; an abundant life that we are working towards. We're the ones creating this reality though and if our work stresses us out and is imbalanced, then we are not embodying the very core of why we sought a land based lifestyle. Work is important to all beings, although I hardly think birds relate to foraging the way we do to office jobs. Work must be done for survival, if not by us than by another on our behalf.

I have gotten trapped in a belief system that I have to keep working to get somewhere. That there's never enough.

I am redifining work to include recreation. Making the time to recreate can seem like work to me, but it is paramount for long terms success.

Wren reminded me of the meaning behind the word to re-create:
To make make new again.

Websters defined recreation as:

Refreshment of strength and spirits after work.

Somehow I had missed this in my definition of work. This seems painfully obvious, but in my drive I had blinded myself not only to the importance of recreation, but also to the need for including it into my ideas surrounding work.

Living the dream while working too much.

Overwork is an all too common experience for humans in a modern context.

With a capitalistic system that essentially requires participation to meet our basic needs of survival paired with an unjust culture of consumption, so many humans find themselves in that space of overwork.

No matter what dream we are working toward there must be time for refreshing the body and spirits. There may be some larger humanitarian dreams that are worth getting way out of balance for (perhaps in an effort to correct that severe imbalance that exists in the world), but even in those examples hitting the refresh button can be useful.

In what ways do you like the re-create your life while living out your dreams?

Today we are taking some adventure time to get out onto a new patch of land with loved ones and explore movement landscapes unknown to us. Taking time to listen to the birds' songs and give thanks for the the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. To me, having the ability to reflect upon my life and change direction at times toward a healthier balance is such a blessing! Thanks for reading.

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