The process that led us to where we are now.

Why would anyone sell everything they own, including their home, vehicles, and all of their possessions intentionally?  When asked why I did it, I had to think about the answer.   The answer is simple.  Because I found something better that was worth sacrificing those things for.  Before this journey began I had a simple vision about what I wanted out of life.  It was like seeing to the other side of a canyon and then realizing that I had to figure out how to build a bridge across the gap.  Prior to this realization I felt like my life was very linear, I had only a few limited paths that I was expected to go down.  There was path A, path B, and path C.  Rather than accepting these limited options I decided to choose another path, a path of my own creation.   

I went through a creation process for my ideal situation.  I started in my imagination, and using the unlimited resources that reside there, created the perfect scenario, environment, infrastructure, vehicles, and even culture.  I understood from the beginning that these concepts may never materialize into reality exactly as I envisioned them.  One of the reasons why the concepts wouldn't be exactly as I envisioned them is because I began to share them with others.  Every person I shared with had their own interpretation of what I would describe.  Sometimes the other person's interpretation was much better and more detailed then my own, or the other person just had a better alternative for that particular concept.  The more I shared the ideas, the more they took form, in my own mind and in others minds.  After sharing the concepts with others, I began to look at what was already in existence that matched my ideas.  I found out about the Marianas islands because I wanted minimal weather variation.  I found out about CNG vehicles and producing your own methane from your livestock because I wanted a  renewable fuel source.  These solutions may not have been what I originally envisioned, but they are interchangeable alternatives.  The next stage of the process is to take inventory of what tangible resources are available to develop the concept into a reality.  This stage led me to the realization that I would have to sacrifice everything I owned in order to make the dream tangible.  Then came a detailed planning of the execution, with all the practical questions like where are we going to live while this dream is being constructed, how are we going to get there, what type of budget will we have to live off of?  After suitable answers were found to these questions I was ready for the final stage, execution, or as I like to call it, pulling the trigger.  I became well aware of the dangers of planning in a vacuum.  You can't see every detail of the future and some failures and unforeseeable things will come up.  If this happens, first thing I do is take a moment to breathe.  I purge myself of disappointment and emotion, recognize where the failure originated from, and go right back to the Dream Big stage, then I cycle, rinse, and repeat. : )

To summarize, the steps are...

-DREAM BIG (like resources and budgets don't exist).

-SHARE (with others who offer positive reinforcement/criticism/shaping of the idea).

-RECONCILE (with reality, do research).

-INVENTORY (resources and budget).

-ORGANIZE (details and logistics).

-PULL THE TRIGGER.

            In the event of failure

            -PURGE emotion/reaction.

            -IDENTIFY the problem.

-Return to DREAMING BIG!

I hope that this is helpful, it is how my mind works to make things become tangible.