What Dreams May Come

Have you ever had a decision to make that’s so big, so life-changing, that you weren’t even sure how to go about starting to make it?  One that involved so many smaller steps that it was almost impossible to wrap your head around?

That’s what’s happening to us right now.  Our dream is to live in a shipping container, off-grid micro-home somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.  I would blog full-time and do freelance copywriting work.  My husband would pursue his dreams.  And somehow, we’d have enough money to live simply and eat and be happy.

We are so ready for this to happen we can almost taste it.

Our reality? Our reality is that we live in Michigan.  We’re contemplating putting our lovely little house up for sale in one of the worst real estate markets in the country.  We’re contemplating selling or donating all of our possessions, quitting jobs, leaving our families behind, and moving across the country in order to pursue this dream.

And yet we’re stuck.  We can’t decide whether we should do this now or not.  Should we call the realtor, or stay here another year until the market improves?  Should I be trying to find more copywriting work, or use this time to start fixing up the house?  Should we skip the compost pile I’ve been planning on because it won’t look good to potential buyers, or resolve to stay and do what we want?

I wish I could go into all the factors that are involved with this decision; there’s so much more to it.  But, let me just say this: I know I’m not the only one grappling with major decisions like this.  Thousands, perhaps millions, of others are doing the same thing.

Just today I found a lovely blog, Living the Rural Dream, written by a woman who is in almost the same boat as me.  She’s a commercial copywriter who recently lost all her clients due to the economy (yes, Alice, I so feel your pain!).  She and her husband are currently traveling across Europe with their young daughter, living out of a little trailer, and trying to find a place to call home.  Right now she’s facing her own major decision that she’s stuck on too.

And, there are countless others.  People who have lost their jobs and are trying to decide if they should start their own business or go back to being an employee for someone else.  People who are facing foreclosure and are trying to decide if they should move to a new place for a fresh start, or stay with what they know.

How do you decide?  How do you know if now is the right time to jump?  How do you know if, in the face of so much craziness, it’s your time to place your bets and risk it all?

I wish I knew.  I’m almost at the point where consulting one of those “Magic 8-Ball” toys seems like a good idea.

Anyway, I know this post is a bit rambling, and not about anything in particular.  I really did sit here for hours trying to write something green and very informative.  But all I kept coming back to was this decision we’re trying to make.  We’ve been over and over it, and still can’t seem to come to resolution.  So, I decided to just write about that instead.

So, I’m putting this out there: if you’re grappling with a major decision and need to vent or work it out, leave a comment!  I’ll read it as I sit here trying to decide what we we should do.  Again.