how to live the life you want

What if…

Posted by Elle on May 31, 2012 | 2 comments

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Our lovely beach weekend left husband and I alone with 7 hours in the car together. Perfect time for dreaming to our heart’s content. We played “what if” the whole way home. Here is our most recent dream:

What if…

We live on a sailboat in the Mediterranean half the year. We port up in a small French town and then travel throughout the isles whenever we want a change of scenery.

I know, I know, but hear me out! Here is where our lifestyle planning comes into the works. We have always been dreamers so when husband and I bought our dream home one year ago, we had a life plan in the works. We bought a home with the intention that we could 1) Pay it on one salary (in case disaster strikes- or we just decide to work less) and 2) We could pay it down super fast. We didn’t want to spend 30 years stressed about floating the bill so we bought a home that was way affordable, tacked a 15-year mortgage on it instead of the usual 30 (which even got us a lower rate!), and we double-up on our affordable payments with the goal of having it paid off by the time we are 35. It’s a little bit of a pipe dream considering we don’t know what will happen down the road (we won’t be able to double-up if one of us loses our job). But for now, the plan is to arrive at 35 with super low expenses so that we can work less and play more!

Enter our new dream: Once our house is paid off, we buy a sailboat with some other child-free couple friends and dock it in France. We spend 6-months out of the year in our dream home in California, the other 6 on board our sailboat chartering our way through the Mediterranean. We can trade housing with our new French friends whenever we want bouncing from Europe to California whenever life takes us there. We can either work 6 months in Cali to afford the next 6 months; Or we can take part-time gigs in both places. Or hey! Since I’m dreaming here, we might as well both have gigs that travel well. So in this scenario, I’m writing and Garret is chartering yachts for a living. Perfect!

Such a beautifully designed dream! The amazing thing about dreaming is that today’s life was a dream I had years ago! Our most recent story may change or evolve; and I will probably have an entirely different dream to share with you a few months from now- but the true beauty with this dream is that I have it. It’s mine to dream about! And just as I am living a dream now, I will get to continue to live one everyday! I’m so excited to see which dream will come alive tomorrow!

Is it the one where I become a yoga teacher and spend my days writing from a hammock? Or is it the one where we live on a boat in the Mediterranean? Or will it be so amazing that I can’t even see the possibility of it right now? No matter what, God has a gorgeous plan waiting for us just around the corner. I’m so excited to see our story unfold.