Dream BIG!

I am writing to you from the back of my car staring out at the milky way after an amazing day of climbing in Utah where I climbed the hardest route I’ve ever climbed! I have been dreaming of this moment and this lifestyle for years.

My heart was first drawn to living on the road around 5 years ago. I had heard of it before and was intrigued by it, but I remember the specific moment when I decided I would do that one day. I was home for the holidays and I watched a documentary called Expedition Happiness, that follows the journey of a German couple who flew to New York, bought a bus, converted it, and traveled all over the US, Canada, and Mexico, living in their tiny home. I can’t even explain how much watching their journey spoke to my heart.

After that, I knew I would do that one day, no matter what! I was intensely drawn to all of the #vanlife posts on Instagram and Pinterest and honestly could not get enough! It was a lifestyle that pulled on my heartstrings like nothing had ever done before. I knew that was where I was being drawn.

2020 was bringing one of my other dreams to life, spending a year backpacking through Europe. Unfortunately, covid sent me home from this expedition. However, as soon as I arrived home, I knew I would continue my adventures and finally try out life on the road (once it was safe to do so) since international travel wouldn’t be happening for a while.

After 71 days on the road, I can honestly say it has been more than I ever imagined it would be. This has by far been one of the most amazing, incredible, stressful, insane, and difficult, but most fulfilling adventures I’ve ever embarked on!

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that it is all sunshines and butterflies, because let’s be real, not a single thing in life actually is! But I can honestly sit here and tell you it is 100 billion times worth it! I have had some of the most fulfilling moments of my life so far on this trip, I have learned SO much about myself and what I genuinely need to be happy and fulfilled, I have learned how to be resourceful and figure stuff out when life kind of hits the fan, I have navigated my way through traveling over 5,000 miles on my own during a global pandemic, seeing some amazing places, always finding safe places to sleep, places to find water, and made some amazing connections along the way.

I have gained more self-confidence then I ever thought possible. I am so stinking proud of myself; I honestly don’t even know where to begin. I have learned so much of what I need for self-care and also how to love myself, despite what everyone else’s views of me are. I have learned to value my own self-approval far over other’s approval of me. Because of this trip, I have never felt more like myself or more comfortable in my own skin. Thank you solo travel!!

I have seen 25 states so far on this trip and honestly cannot wait to see more! As heartbroken as I was to have to end my European dreams, I am so blessed that I still have the opportunity to see my own amazing country.

What has given me the most confidence is knowing that I did this. I had the desire, I had the plan, I brought this dream of mine to life.

When I first decided I would convert my car into a little campervan to live out of for the next however many months, I literally had zero idea what I was doing. I watched countless YouTube videos on car conversion and read lots of blog posts of how to live on the road. If you watched any of my car conversion videos on YouTube, you’ll know that I literally didn’t even know what the names of most of the tools were when I first started… Yea, it was definitely entertaining. But through those videos and just jumping in and problem solving, with lots of help and encouragement from my mom, dad, and sister, I was able to turn my beloved Ford Escape, Jack, into a place I would call my home.

Unfortunately, it only took about 2 weeks into this trip to realize that I wish I had built it out in a different, more efficient way. But despite that, I’ve had to learn to adapt. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve changed the go-to location of certain things, how many times I’ve organized and re-organized my car for it to end up in an explosion only 20 minutes later, how many times I’ve wanted to finally bite the bullet and buy myself a stinking roof box to help be at least a little more organized, but also realizing that I can’t just drop a few hundred bucks right now for something like that…

But despite the frustrations and stressful times, I couldn’t even begin to describe how much this lifestyle just lights my heart on fire. At least ten times a week, I can recall saying to myself “this is my life!!!!”, like it is so good that I honestly feel like this isn’t real life sometimes.

Now that I’ve made it out west, I get to fall asleep to shooting stars every night, I get to wake up to the sun rising over the mountains or the desert every morning, I get to meditate every day, learning to become more present in the moment and learning to focus on the aspects of life that truly matter, I get to climb and hike and camp and explore and do things every day that truly light my soul on fire and help me find peace and meaning to my life.

I also get to take this time to work towards my dream of creating a successful travel blog and YouTube channel that will hopefully support me financially one day to allow me to travel full time (visit my Patreon if you want to support me)! This is something that I have been dreaming up for about a year and a half now and it brings me so much joy. The joy and fulfillment that I have discovered from traveling and chasing my dreams is something that I want every single person on this entire planet to experience. That is the whole purpose of my blog, to provide inspiration and encouragement to live the life of your dreams and remove anything from your life that is not bringing you true joy.

Traveling solo and living in a car with very few modern amenities is something that, yes I desired, but never thought I could actually do. I am directionally challenged, I honestly kind of despise cooking, I am a terrible planner and do basically everything last minute (which doesn’t always coincide with this lifestyle very well), and I’ve always seen myself as more of an extrovert and have never really enjoyed being alone for very long.

Despite all of these, I guess you could call them excuses, I still packed up my car and did it, and I am here to tell you honestly, I have loved loved loved this trip so far. Yes, I am directionally challenged and have gotten lost a few times, but found some amazing places from those experiences and have learned how to navigate not always using a GPS. Yes, I still genuinely don’t like cooking, but it has become part of my daily routine and I’m starting to eat healthier because of it. Yep, I still stink at planning, but have had some amazing experiences because of it and have gone on some incredible spontaneous adventures. Now the extroverted one is one I am still figuring out. I have surprised myself a million times on this trip of how much I have genuinely LOVED being on my own. Being on my own, I am able to learn about my own needs and not worrying about if everyone around me is happy or having a good time. If I want to sit at the sand dunes at the Pictured Rocks National Lakshore for 2 hours just playing with the sand and running/rolling down the hills, I can. If I want to have a chill day and spend the entire day reorganizing my car while blasting Hannah Montana, I can. If I want to wake up at 4am to drive an hour and a half to fight with 400 people to be one of the first people in the US to see the sunrise that day, I can.

I feel like you learn so much about yourself by seeing what you spend your free time doing. I have been trying to have daily tasks to better myself in multiple aspects of my life. I always try to have time for journaling and meditation to just work on my mental health and becoming more aware of myself and the world around me. I try to play either guitar or ukulele for a bit every day to get better. I spend time each day either editing videos or writing blog posts to help work towards my dream of turning this into a career.

While I know this lifestyle will not be sustainable forever, I am genuinely trying to live as simplistic and minimalistic as possible. During quarantine, I worked three different jobs and was able to save up a fair bit of money to allow me to embark on this journey. Sadly, I know in the next month or two, I will need to find some source of income to save up again and then hop back on the road again.

What I’m trying to get at is that dreams are possible if you have your heart set on them and you work every single day to make them a reality. Your life is whatever you make it to be. No one else in the world gets to decide where you work or what your dreams are or what you spend your free time doing. Your life is YOUR life, no one else’s. So, if you have a dream to compete in the Tour de France, start training today; if you have a dream to write a best-selling book, even if it’s a jumble of words, start writing today; if you have a dream to travel to every country in the world, start saving and planning today.

I’ve never been a good writer. I couldn’t stand English class all throughout elementary and high school and even college. And yet, I started a travel blog where all I do is write! I’ve never liked being on my own, but I’m on day 71 of a solo trip and loving it! I’ve never had much self-confidence, but I’ve put myself out there and become vulnerable to share my experiences and have grown an audience of almost 300 on YouTube, over 1,500 on Instagram, and over 5,000 on Pinterest! I also just had my first ever collaboration with a brand where I actually got paid to share a few photos and share some of my travel experiences!! Someone paid me for something I was already doing! I fell like that was the start of my crazy dream coming to life!

What I’m trying to tell yall is to ignore the negativity of the world and chase your freaking dreams!! Whether other people think they’re crazy or far-fetched or insane or absolutely impossible, they are YOUR dreams, no one else’s. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone else or explain yourself. All you need to do is figure out what ignites your soul on fire, and chase it. Chase it with your entire existence. Live your life in the most fulfilling way possible because before you know it, this time will pass right in front of you and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in regret of not pursuing my dreams.

When you’re done reading this, at some point today, I challenge you to start writing. Write down every dream you can possibly dream up for your life. Don’t worry about if they’re insane or you think you’ll never reach them. Just write down every single thing that your heart has ever desired for your life. From there, choose the ones that you want more than anything, the ones you know will help your life to feel more fulfilled. Next, write down a list of all of the things you will need to do to reach that goal. Then from there, use that list to create a calendar of all of the things you need to do each week to help make it a reality. But be realistic with yourself. If you’ve never been able to sit down and write for more than 30 minutes, don’t try to get yourself to write for 3 hours a day because it’s likely that it won’t happen and then you will just get discouraged. Create realistic achievements for yourself and then chase those with your whole heart. Honestly try to stick to your daily tasks and goals and before you know it, they will start to become habits and you will be that much closer to making your dreams a reality!

I love the beautiful variety and individuality of the world we live in and I genuinely love hearing what lights other dreamer’s souls on fire, so after your reflection time, comment below what your biggest dreams are! I would love to hear them and encourage you through it!