Pros and Cons
A new year, 2019. At the start of January, I was living in sweatpants. No longer black; sweatpants that were faded and stretched and worn. Comfort came in the pieces of life we still had. We were in limbo living in California, under rainy skies, waiting for warmer weather up north. Malibu had mudslides.
“The pros outweigh the cons.”
I don’t know how many times I said it. We had three months to wait before we could do anything in Canada. Our focus turned to Felker Lake, British Columbia. The pros: fishing, boating, swimming, quad trails, and a short drive to Williams Lake and family. The cons: colder winters, no ocean views.
Mission Beach, San Diego
Felker Lake would give us the opportunity to build our own tiny home or renovate an existing outbuilding on an acreage. Moving wouldn’t be costly. We could move the boxes out of storage and drive them ourselves up north. A short 6-hour drive from Vancouver after BC Ferries took us from Victoria to the Mainland. As a bonus, we knew of a deal to get plywood at a significant discount in Williams Lake. I spent many hours searching out decorating and design ideas for small spaces.
Lake life was the answer. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t get back to Canada to make an offer on a property. This land was less than a half hour from family. While they worked out the details, we dreamed about the life we could create. It was very satisfying for a short time.
Without Felker Lake, we would have sunk even lower in muddy water. Every little thing felt like a mudslide, and we wanted an evacuation plan to leave the US. Every time I put those faded sweatpants on, I knew I wasn’t going outside my comfort zone.
I tried to minimize the stress Jamie felt at the beginning of January. Our exposed underbelly of the trailer meant our pipes could freeze, the high humidity meant we might have mould growing underneath our bed, and to heat our Coffee House overnight meant we could run out of propane before the next morning.
So Felker Lake became our focal point during the serge.
One thing we started doing while we were considering lake life was measuring the distance from the property to the nearest shopping. How far did we have to drive to stock our freezer and pantry? How far did we have to go for flat-packed Swedish furniture? Could we get good broadband or did we have to go with satellite internet? We muck through these factors with every property we take an interest in.
Part of living less burdened is having freedoms we didn’t have before. We want to be location independent. No more commuting to work! We want to own less, be debt-free, and disconnect from distractions and drama. We want space to enjoy life.
We had to cross Felker Lake off our list. In the end, there were too many obstacles to live with on the acreage. Next week I’ll walk you through the house in Coutts, AB that had it all.
What are you creating space for? I remind myself I wanted freedom from the clutter and chaos in my life. The space I made is for the freedom to be an author.
What are you working for? We worked to pay a mortgage. That isn’t essential for the life we are creating now. I have a choice. You have a choice. Eliminate what you don’t need.
What is your biggest distraction? Once I stopped hiding behind what I thought I should do, and where I thought I should be, I had no limitations, no fear.