Everything little thing is gonna be alright

Embrace struggle and mistakes. You can then learn anything.

I hear pretty regularly from friends and family, “It’s so cool you go to so many places, I wish I had time to do that,” or “I wish I had the money for that.”

I’m here to tell you, I am as busy as busy gets. It’s really all about priorities. We all have down time, it just depends on how we use it. Admittedly, we forego a lot of regular responsibilities to go on some of our adventures. By this I simply mean that we have a long list of household chores and projects on our list 24/7. There are always things you could be doing. Grocery shopping? Yeah, need to do that. Meal prep? Uh huh. Mow the lawn? Do the laundry? Schedule appointments? You name it, we have the same things to do! This isn’t all to say that we completely ignore our responsibilities, it simply means that we squeeze in our to-do list when we really have little to no time during our work week. Other things, well, they just wait for that rare time that we don’t go anywhere or do anything. Simple as that. The trade off is well worth it for us.

Adventures are our priority. Creating these experiences for our kids are so very important to us. I can’t stay in the city day after day, week after week without getting a little stir crazy. I NEED to breathe that wild air, be in those open spaces, feel the sand on my feet. It’s as much of a need as eating every day. No kidding. Of course, with that kind of traveling comes expense. As much as I would love to travel to Europe, THOSE kind of adventures are a little too much to put high on my priority list right now, but you’d better believe it is absolutely in the works! So for now, we compromise and go on trips within the United States, and even just as little as within our state. All you need to pay for then is gas and food. You can free camp in all kinds of places as long as you’re willing to do the research, cheap lodging is an option too. We often trade a weekly grocery trip with the food we need for a trip, no added expense there. We take our dogs to avoid boarding fees, etc… The list goes on as how we save money to afford our lifestyle.

So all I’m saying, is that you don’t have to have all the time in the world. You don’t have to have a luxurious bank account. And you certainly don’t have to live in the Pacific Northwest for fun local adventures! I’ve lived all over the US, and I guarantee there is more waiting a few hours from you than you may realize. It doesn’t have to be grand, it just has to be SOMETHING. An apple orchard? Historic site? Waterfront property? Mountains? State parks? A backroad country drive? It ALL has something to offer. I’m telling you my fiends, you can do this. You don’t have to go every week, but you can do it once a month (every few months?). Don’t worry about your kids getting dirty, don’t worry about three perfect meals a day… everything will be ok, and YOU will feel completely rejuvenated. It truly is good for the soul.

Need to shake it up even more? Get your kids ready the night before, carry them to the car before dawn, hold your loved ones hand and drive into the sunrise. It’s amazing. Be sure to grab a cup of coffee too, turn up the radio, roll down the windows (maybe just a little, it’s getting cold this time of year). The same can be done for sunset. Sometimes that change of pace and experiencing a different time of day can be a refresher too! So take some chances, break out of your comfort zone, and know that every little thing is going to be alright.

Thank you all for reading along. View Day 1 + Day 2 + Day 3 + Day 4. Serious fun in these little posts!