Six years of stumbling into a slow life
This is the third article in a series on how I set up a slow life I don’t need to escape.
It was an unexpected epiphany on a long escape weekend that launched my six-year journey to move to North Carolina.
A flatlander from Detroit, I fell head-over-heels in love when I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time in 2005, gobsmacked with awe and wonder. I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, but I knew where I wanted to be.
I rejected the usual career advice to go where the jobs are to go where the mountains are and figure out the job later.
Because like many, I knew exactly what I didn’t want.
Laser-like focus lights the path
I was done with windowless offices, fluorescent lights and long commutes. I was done with freeways, strip malls and suburbia that squeezed everything else out.
But now I had unshakeable clarity of focus: I was going to move to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. This singular point of light made me a woman possessed.
I created a vision board from my photos when I returned home and placed it next to my monitor. It anchored me as I was pulled deeper into a life I didn’t want with mediocre jobs to pay the mortgage.
But what if you’ve never done this before?
Let the experience open you to the possibilities
This quote from William Hutchison Murray kept me open to what could happen :
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
The first logical plan was to buy a place, rent it out and move when I was ready. That plan almost happened, but quickly collapsed when the mediocre soul-sucking job at the time disappeared and I was forced to pull out of the deal.
So when a cat-sitting “vacation” in the mountains appeared the following year, it was “providence” lending me a hand. I had a free place to stay for a couple weeks every year for what turned into the next six years.
I tried a lot of “What if…?” options. I accepted every invitation. I made friends. I applied for jobs.
Of course, most of those options didn’t pan out. But interestingly, the more I opened to what could be possible without setting expectations, the more possibilities providence handed me. So I kept asking “What if…?”
It was fuel.
Expect to be surprised by the unexpected
Over those six years my determination to move to the mountains was eventually acknowledged as “Marsha’s dream.”
Family and friends were supportive. But what was most surprising to me was finding lots of support on the other side of my current reality, from people in North Carolina who couldn’t wait for me to move there. They offered me their own serendipitous stories of how they landed in the mountains as well as advice, help and connections.
My future community grew as I leaned in.
I was doubtful and skeptical at first, like any smart person who’s followed conventional wisdom to manage their life. But, the more I learned not to fear the unknown, the more I came to expect to be surprised by unexpected support.
It’s one of those funny laws of the universe we miss in the chaos of our productivity-laced thoughts and uber-busy lives.
Getting there from here
How did I set up a saner, slower and more sustainable life? It’s actually not as wild and far-fetched as you may think. It’s done one small decision at a time.
I stumbled my way into what finally helped me shift my life from miles of urban concrete to miles of mountains. Not everyone needs or wants my lifestyle, but the journey of change to design the slow life you want is the same.
Six years and stumbling not required. ;-)
Tomorrow I’ll share what you can think about now to start crafting your personal escape plan.
P.S. If you missed the first two articles and want to catch up:
