following the feel-good path

{This is a guest blog by Hillary Boucher that I first shared here back in February. Since that time, I have frequently found myself coming back to this beautiful post and in particular these words:

The more we talked about those early years, and the dreams we shared, the more the world seemed to smile on us. People started mentioning opportunities to us and books fell into our hands that inspired us…

The more we followed this hopeful, feel-good path, the more the world smiled. And like magic, the steps continued to unfold effortlessly in front of us.

Thank you so much my friend for this. Inspired by you, I have been consciously seeking out the “hopeful, feel-good path” and oh do I feel the world smiling!!!   

In fact, I am now off to follow the feel-good path to NYC for the Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms Book Launch Party. Have a wonderful weekend friends! See you back here next week!}

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Believing in Dreams :: by Hillary Boucher

We’ve always lived “outside the box.” Since meeting in high school, my husband and I have dreamed of a life free of jobs that were routine, dull or dissatisfying. People would tell us, “It only gets worse from here!” which horrified us in our youthful excitement about life and its possibilities. We wanted to live out our dreams on our own terms.

We were married in 2003 and immediately went to live on an organic medicinal herb farm, hoping to find our alternative lifestyle there. We learned a lot about ourselves and met many great friends and inspirational teachers. But it didn’t quite fit.

We returned to our hometown afterwards, a bit lost as to where and how we were going to find our niche, we started to question our dreams. Life was starting to seem a bit more like “the hard work” we had been lectured about in our school years. We didn’t want to “get ahead” or “climb the ladder” so to speak. We wanted to live within the rhythm of Nature; celebrating the change of seasons and staying aware of the cycles of the moon. We wanted to wake up and decide how our days would be, not be strapped to a paycheck, debt and a boss. But we had tried and it didn’t work. So we rented a regular house, in a regular town, and got regular jobs.

We had fun hosting full-moon potlucks and drumming by the fireside in our backyard, and we enjoyed living near our families who celebrated the arrival of our two boys. On the surface it was wonderful, but we both knew there was something else for us. We knew we could be better fulfilled. I had turned into a disgruntled stay-at-home mother, burnt out from endless care-giving and no intellectual outlet. He had turned proud business owner, giving his customers what they wanted: 60 hours a week, complaining about taxes and how little he saw his family. We rubbed our eyes and looked at each other: Is this really how our life turned out?

We asked ourselves hard questions and offered honest answers as we assessed our life. Did we even have a choice in the matter? Did life create us or did we create our life? We felt a bit lost and even stuck in our present situation, and yet there was something that kept us pressing on. There was that seed we had planted when we had met at age 17, when the world had seemed full of magic and possibility. Returning to those feelings – that anything was possible – kept us plugging along, reaching for better.

The more we talked about those early years, and the dreams we shared, the more the world seemed to smile on us. People started mentioning opportunities to us and books fell into our hands that inspired us. Without much effort we came across a town that sounded too good to be true, and after camping and exploring the area we found it to be a perfect match for us.

The more we followed this hopeful, feel-good path, the more the world smiled. And like magic, the steps continued to unfold effortlessly in front of us. We bought our first home in this new town with ease and almost instantly made more money on our purchase than we had ever had. Upon arrival my husband was easily able to support us by working fewer hours and doing more of the craft he loved. We sold our car because we could walk everywhere and soon our bodies became lean and strong. Our walks led us to wooded paths, hidden fruit trees and fairy gardens. We gifted each other instruments and started learning to play music together. We met friends in our neighborhood to share dinners and childcare, and we started buying and eating our food fresh from local farmers, supporting our local economy and our family’s health. Too good to be true? Or exactly the way we wanted!

This month marks our one year anniversary of our leap of faith into a new town, a new home and a new community, and we find ourselves continuing to fulfill our dreams. The craft my husband shares with our community works best in summer so he is home for the winter and I now have time for my interests. He is blossoming as a stay-at-home father and I am blissfully enjoying the space to explore my passions outside of mothering. We will switch back in the Spring, finding balance amongst family and personal interest, and continuing to dream big. Here I am: living a dream and fully awake.

Hillary is busy co-creating with her family and recently launched a family blog documenting their exciting adventures as urban homesteaders, do-it-yourself-ers, paradigm shifters and infinite learners. Bookmark them or subscribe at www.infinitelearners.com and watch the story unfold.