Living the Dream Life Part 2: Tuscany in Orlando
It has been a year since I asked myself the question: “what is it that Tuscany has to offer that is so appealing to you?” and “how can you live this life in Orlando?”.
As I attempted to create this dream life for myself now, in Orlando where I currently live, I had to first overcome my saboteur that told me that “I could only live my dream life at a later time, once I have worked hard enough and saved enough money and had the courage to pack up and leave almost everyone that I loved behind. Opening myself up to creative possibilities that could happen now, I began to strategize.
I began with looking at ways that I could begin gardening and with that focus I realized that I had a perfect place in my backyard to garden! Years ago, when our children were teenagers, we built an addition to our screened in porch with an outdoor pool table so that the kids would have a place to use with friends. It had been at least 4 years since anyone had played pool and we had spent the past year trying to get rid of the table, but we couldn’t even find a place to pick it up for donation! We had all of this wasted space that we would complain about, asking each other What are we going to fill it with? How are we going to get rid of the pool table? Why did we even do the renovation? But suddenly that space became the PERFECT place to begin a garden! We ordered two planters, got a bunch of medium sized pots and picked out vegetable seeds of things that we would love to grow. Getting my hands in the soil was so fun. Planting each seed and learning how to care for them to optimize growth was exciting, experimenting between types of soil, containers, amount of water, types of fertilizer, all became an adventure, and every tomato, pepper, leaf of lettuce was a celebration.
Next, I looked at ways I could drive less and walk/bike to places. It isn’t easy to do living in a suburban area with a lot of traffic and regular incidents of pedestrians/cyclists being hit by cars so I was feeling a bit discouraged. I did find one powerful way that I could transition from driving to walking, and that has had a huge impact in my life. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays I work with a strength building trainer. For over a year I would get in my car and drive during rush hour traffic to her facility. The distance between us is less than 2 miles, but this trip would often take ten+ minutes due to traffic. By taking the time to analyze the ways I could get away from driving I realized that I could take a short-cut between my house and her facility by walking across the golf course that is between us. The distance by foot is about half a mile and the walk is beautiful! I get to and from my workouts in less time than it took me to drive, and with much more peace and satisfaction than being in the car. It is a small tweak that has had a huge impact on my daily experience in a beautiful way!
This year has reinforced my appreciation of how sometimes we need to get out of our own way in order to find the joy and fulfillment that we are longing for. I had to get past the fixed mindset that I had to make drastic changes in order to create joyful and fulfilling experiences. I had to break down Tuscany into what the experience of Tuscany would provide for me, and then find ways to create that experience in my life now. The possibilities that have surfaced for me so far are just the beginning and represent much more than changes in my daily experiences. They represent the abundance of opportunities that I have before me at all times to make conscious choices to use what I have to create experiences that I am longing for. These shifts also remind me of the deep power of being intentional about being the creator of my own reality and that when I begin to feel like I am stuck in a situation, or that there is no way to achieve a goal, that I just need to give myself the time to find clarity on the things that really matter, free myself of noisy chatter about the way things are "supposed" to look, and be creative in ways that I can make empowered choices that fulfill me and make a difference in my daily experiences.
SO, what situations in life are you feeling stuck in? How would some creative brainstorming help you reframe the way you see them? Are you ready to make empowered choices to make today a GRAZI-day?
