“Fuck it, I’m going to the woods.”
I keep saying that’s THE VIBE of this decade, and now I’m laughing because I’m literally staying in a cabin in the woods, and I like it here so much, you know what I did?
Asked the owners on Airbnb how much they want for it.
They replied “Make us an offer!”
And now I am over here laughing my ass off, thinking about how this story would go for years to come. “How’d you get this place?” “Oh, you know, just asked!”
But, no, seriously: Airbnb needs to start a new division for selling Airbnbs that owners no longer want to manage. These folks are from Philadelphia and they hardly use it and their kids are grown up and in college and all I can see here is massive opportunity. Do you know how many English gardens I could have here??? SEVEN. That’s my calculation. SEVEN ENGLISH GARDENS. Maybe that should be the name of my driveway. There’s a looooong, windy driveway that twists itself through the woods, ever so romantically, and up a hill until you come to the cabin. Then, there’s a clearing, and all you see behind it is a dramatic view of a meadow and the mountains and the fog and a deer staring back at you at six o’clock in the morning. Beyond the meadow, there’s a pond and a canoe, and then more wooded land that leads down to a creek. God, there are probably so many ticks—but also! GOD, THERE IS SO MUCH SERENITY. And, I don’t even like the word “serenity.” Reminds me of a cheesy wall hanging someone named Cheryl put in their living room. Is that a cross-stitch, Cheryl?! And then Cheryl runs to bring out a box full of macrame, explaining how every strand stands for her grandchildren’s left nostril boogers throughout the years. But, only the left nostril, because the left nostril is sacred. “You wouldn’t want to keep the boogers,” she’d say matter-of-factly. “So we memorialize their life in another way: through macrame!”
And, this is the moment where I need to either get off the computer or get myself a strait jacket. What is happening to me? What am I even talking about? See, the internet’s getting us all.
Which is precisely why I want to buy cabins and buy country stores and take on projects like these: we need time outside of our own heads. When you only live inside your own head, your world gets small. Your thoughts get small. Your experiences get small. Your perspectives get small. And eventually, you know what else happens?
Your actions get small, too.
Small thoughts = small actions.
And, small actions = small thoughts.
A perpetual fuckery if there ever was one.
You forget that there’s a big world out there, ripe with inspiration, just waiting for you to discover your next new passion. Who says you need to do what you’ve always done for the rest of your life? Who says you can’t pull a 180 any time you’re being called to? It’s too easy to let your identity now become your identity forever.
Which is to say: PICTURE ME IN OVERALLS, BECAUSE THEY’RE COMING IN HOT.
Also picture me making a Hallmark movie, because anyone renovating an old country store AND wearing overalls is a dead ringer for that shit. But, what a lovely project. And, what a lovely thing, the luxury of getting to choose who you’re going to be every day when you wake up in the morning.
More and more, I’m convinced that the choices we need to be making are different than ever.
Before, we made decisions our bank account loved.
Before, we made decisions our ego loved.
Before, we made decisions our potential loved.
Before, we made decisions our ambition loved.
But now?
I want to live the kind of life my nervous system loves. If that were the first parameter, imagine what different kinds of choices you’d make tomorrow?
What would you do differently?
What would you stop doing right now?
What would you start?
It’s worth considering.
Not every decision in life needs to be about being the biggest or the richest or the bestest or the brightest.
Sometimes, it’s about being the happiest.
And sometimes, we need to remember what happy looks like, in order for us to remember how to chase it.
P.S. The reason why I’m able to do this is 100% because of what I teach in Selfish School: how to build an online income stream so you can chase your offline passions. There are three goals of Selfish School: create a $250K/year online income stream based on your existing knowledge, work 50% less using smart sales systems and technology, and travel & indulge in your passions 500% more—because now you’ll actually have the time. Join me now before enrollment closes!
