Author: Holly

Full time wanderer
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My Wishes Come True

In this post I’m going to tell you how my dreams came true. I’m going to explain it in a couple different ways.

Let me note, my dreams were not really out of reach. They were simple. I wasn’t wishing for a million dollars or a certain amount of anything and my dreams changed a lot through time.

I’m a dreamer, always have been. I have vivid dreams at night and get easily distracted with day dreams during the day.

It’s not that I’m thinking bigger and better, my ideas are always changing just like how this world is always changing.

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I worked in retail for six years. There were boring days and no brainer days. I worked without ever thinking about what I was doing.

I took advantage of this and just day dreamed. I would picture my life how I wanted it. I pictured what I wanted to do for work, how I wanted to help people, how I would make money, how my ideal comfort zone would be, what I wanted to do in my free time, it goes on and on…

I would picture everything in details. For example, I would imagine my ideal van. I would picture living in it and how the inside would look.

I actually thought out my life as it is now. I pictured living in a tiny home somewhere sitting in the woods. I pictured taking a second home, a van, out for the weekends. I imagined having a loving boyfriend and two dogs. Everything I have going for me now are all things I dreamed about in the past.

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While working, or late at night when my mind wouldn’t settle I would find a piece of paper and write lists. I would write lists of things I want in life. I would write in list form and as journal entries. I would write my ideas of how to get where I wanted to go in life.

I would go on sites like Pinterest and search for interior designs of vans and tiny homes. I would dream for hours. Pinterest and Instagram really help visualize what you want.

It was probably over a course of six years that my dreams came true.

I believe the secret of making my dreams come true was thinking and dreaming about it constantly in great detail.

Then, just as I thought about my dreams constantly I would lose my care a little, I would settle down and stop thinking about my dreams so much. (that is the secret. to stop caring!)

Once I stopped caring and obsessing, all those things I wanted started to fall together slowly. My dreams started to come true.

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If you read my personal story you’d see it wasn’t all easy. Some of the things that happened that lead me to  my dreams  coming true were sad times. I had to go down to go up.

This isn’t a magic trick or anything like that. It’s about energy and balance. Once I balanced out my feelings toward my dreams they started to come.

I believe you can apply this idea to anything in life. You feel strongly and then you settle it down.

When you settle down on your strong feelings toward something, you give it room to come to you.

When I was in my lows I started to see things I already had and began to feel gratitude.

The trials and errors that came to my life humbled me in a way. (being humble is a huge secret and tip I feel no one talks about)

I realize now that when you have a horrible time in your life and it seems like you’re at your low, you will spring back up to your high in life.

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But also, you shouldn’t obsess about the lows in your life. You should not dwell on things and be stuck in your thoughts.

You need to let the bad feelings and thoughts pass through.

So let me go over this again, in a different way.

I would dream, obsess and fantasize about what I wanted in life.

I would research, visualize and write about my goals or things I wanted.

Then I would let it go.

I would stop thinking about it.

I would kind of just go forward with a free-spirited attitude and almost forgot about my dreams. I started to live in the present moment. I stepped into life with a grateful and positive attitude.

When things wouldn’t work out for me I would let it be horrible and tragic. Sometimes the bad days would eat at me.  I had doubts and lots of negative energy. It happens, its life.

But then just like my dreams I would let all those bad feelings go. Letting go is hard and can be confusing. It’s an interesting practice for sure. It’s hard because we feel like we can’t control the energy around and in us.

But we can. Practicing gratitude, whether it feels sincere or not can turn hard feelings around. I’ll get more in detail on this in another post.

Anyways, I would be thankful and grateful for everything I had. Being thankful and grateful is a good practice to let go of feelings.

It’s being present. You’re r living in the moment and being thankful for what you already have. It brings you to the ground, to reality.

Then slowly over time, my dreams came true.

Even though I let my dreams go, I actually knew these dreams came true because at times I would be cleaning my room or going through my desk and find the lists and journal entries I wrote. Most of those things on those lists and journal entries are now my reality.

The lists I found from a year ago, I finished the list without even thinking about it.

My journal of wishes, more than half the wishes came true.

So I believe this simple formula of thinking about it a lot planted a seed in my mind of everything I wanted from life.

By letting everything go, like hard feelings and obsessive dreams, I would be present. I was living in the now and going on with my life rolling with the ups and downs.

My dreams came true because I let them. You have to get to the point of balance.

Balance really is key here.

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I went from one extreme of caring so much, to the other, being just about care free.

So again one more time, think about your dreams in detail. Look at pictures, make a scrapbook or pin pictures to a cork board to visualize if you have to. Write lists, write journal entries, do something to help you remember your detailed dreams.

Then forget them, let them go and stop thinking about them and ride the wave of life.

The idea is that you’ll be in a more relaxed state but your dreams are still in the back of your mind, manifesting without you realizing it.

Be careful what you wish for because it might just come true!

Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts below and thank you for reading, now back to da woods!

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How to Kick the Winter Blues

The winter blues is a battle. Its cold out, we get grumpy. We need more clothes to wear, we get weighted down. But we don’t need to let any of those factors control us.

We can over come the battle by going with it and letting it pass through us.

Let the winter blues smack you and then power charge you.

Be sad, be upset and then see the other side. See it wasn’t so bad. Don’t brace yourself, don’t try to control or fight it. Be flexible, go with all the feelings.

The hard part is letting yourself feel . we don’t like these bad feelings so why would we let ourselves feel this way?

Well its natural and normal since life is waves so when we have ups we have downs and vise versa.

When we let ourselves feel, it’s also giving space and room for peace. The peace of mind we get from letting go can teach you as well. We can learn and grow by watching our own feelings.

My favorite way to go through the winter blues is to do things, such as outdoor activities and treating myself.

I love to drink warm yummy drinks like tea hot coco, coffee, broth. Taking a warm bath, use or Save up for a hot tub, take a warm shower, run your fingers and hands under warm water, I love warm things. Anything warm can really help kick the winter blues.

After you warm yourself up and gain energy, you can bundle up and find the kid in you again by sledding or building a snowman and other ecotherapy activities.

I love to put on a full body snow suit and just send it down the hill with no worries of snow in my pants or up my jacket. I always find myself in uncontrollable laughter when sledding.

You can read more ways to treat yourself when you have the winter blues in this ecotherapy post.

I say this a lot but don’t dwell on the blues feelings. Go with them like the wind or a wave. Like I talk about a million gazillion times. Life is waves! Which is great and exciting because once the wave crashes, once the winter blues battles is over we will feel better .

Our motivation will come back and our lives will have a little sense on purpose again.

Hope this post helps a little bit.

Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to think about yourself and treat yourself once in a while.

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Ecotherapy Exercises. Things to do in the Winter

This earth we call home is so good to us.

It seems that we’re always looking for things outside of ourselves to make us feel better and a lot of times we forget this earth is here all the time to help us better ourselves. We just need a few tools or just our feet to embrace the ecotherapy this world can give us.

Below are some activities I really enjoy. If I’m ever feeling the winter blues, bored have some cabin fever or any kind of negative energy I keep myself motivated and moving using the land we all share. I do these activities no matter how I’m feeling, through the positives and negatives life throws us.

This is a personal experience post and I hope you can relate or want to try some of these yourself!

Skiing and snowboarding

If you live in an area with a mountain, I highly suggest skiing or snowboarding. Seriously, I absolutely love skiing. My boyfriend loves snowboarding.

There is just something about gravity pulling you down a mountain. Its challenging and refreshing at the same time. The wind in your face is a wonderful ecotherapy and your also getting a full body workout at the same time.

The interesting part about this sport is how you can be relaxed while drifting down the mountain but getting a workout at the same time. So if you’re a little lazy you can delazify yourself (I made that word up, read it really really slow).

Don’t get me wrong it is totally challenging but you’re still floating on a board or skies and just steering with your legs. Its amazing.

Dont forget the scenery! You get mountain views and forest scenery for some wonderful ecotherapy.

Sledding

The best way to bring your little kid self back is finding a hill or two and sending it on a sled.

i talked about in another post dressing up in a full body retro snow suit when you go out on your sledding quest.

I highly recommend these suits because you can fully submerge yourself in any snow condition without getting that powder in your pants or jacket.

You have to really get into this sport to feel the full ecotherapy effect. I also highly recommend wearing a helmet for safety since this is an extreme sport.

Snowman building

If you live somewhere in the snow, snowman building will bring you a smile and a challenge.

It honestly kind of blows my mind how the snow can collect and build awesome things. It has to be the perfect snow, nice and sticky. So you can’t always up and build a snowman, but if you have that special day with sticky snow,challenge yourself to make the biggest, most detailed snowman ever.

Snow sculptures, forts, walls or igloos

After you get a bunch of snow and you have to shovel yourself out of your own home you can have a little fun with it.

Shovel all the snow in a giant, tall pile. You may have to wait for the weather to warm up so will have nice sticky snow.

Then get creative and make something. I like using mittens so I can make details with my hands while its warm. Again I like to wear my full body suit so I can get down and dirty in the snow.

The easiest thing to make and most fun for all in my opinion is making walls around a fire pit. It keeps your mind stimulated and focused, you’re getting exercise and in the end your rewarded with an awesome fort that will last until the snow melts.

Fat biking

A more challenging ecotherapy exercise would be fat biking. If you like mountain biking i bet you’ll like fat biking and if you’ve never tried either I think you should give it a shot just because of how fun it is.

There are many groomed trails around for fat biking. There’s actually a pretty big fat bike culture so when you get out on some trails you may even meet new friends.

Fat biking gives you a challenge, gets your body moving and gives you visual, mental and physical stimulation. If I’m feeling down in the winter months and i pull myself together enough to get on some trails I feel like a brand new person ready to take on anything.

Snow shoeing and hiking

If you’re low-key and want simple ecotherapy but there’s too much snow, grab yourself some snowshoes and hit up your local nature and hiking trails! Bring a friend, your dog, your camera or just go by yourself. (always tell someone before hiking)

Snowshoeing is totally different from normal hiking its a little more challenging a little more exercising but that’s what makes it so wonderful. It’ll take your focus away from the winter blues and help you to appreciate this amazing earth we call home.

When your moving in the cold your body will warm up fast and you’ll forget the cold and feel better.

Photography

This can be included in any activity above. Its my all time favorite ecotherapy activity in any season.

You can use any camera from your phone to a point and shoot to a dslr. My personal favorite is a point and shoot . Its light weight, you can keep your gloves or mittens on when you turn the camera on and hit the shutter button so your hands don’t get cold. I noticed my battery lasts longer in a point and shoot in colder months.

You could get into your car, drive to a scenic lookout if it’s too cold and shoot outside and still enjoy the day in some warmth but out of the house.

Snowflake catching and photographing

On a snow day you can have some fun
If you have a good camera like a dslr, some phones and point and shoots that can handle macro mode.

You can use black fabric like a hat mitten or sweater or use black construction paper. Leave the paper or fabric outside for a half hour or more so it’s at the same temperature as outside. Once its cold catch some snowflakes on the fabric, don’t overload it just a little bit, then get under a roof that is still cold and outside and use your camera’s macro mode and take photos of the snow! It’s an amazing little activity. You get to see how beautiful and unique snow is. It’s kind of mind-blowing!!

Star gazing or cloud watching

Last but not least. The cold winter months seems to make the stars brighter. Sometimes if we’re lucky we will get a night of meteor showers or the aurora .

my boyfriend and I have a slider door facing an open field. One night we put down some pillows and blankets on the floor and watched the stars until our eyes got heavy and we fell asleep.

The next day I felt so good. It just is a great feeling falling asleep to the sight of stars. Another time my brother had a pickup truck and after a couple of hours of night sledding we made a snow bed in the bed of his pickup truck and we had a group of friends and we all packed ourselves in the back of the truck and gazed at the stars for a few hours until we were cold. We shared stories and laughter all while looking at the amazing universe. It’s so simple and great therapy. If the stars are covered by clouds it’s still just as much fun to watch.

Those are just some of my favorite ecotherapy activities. Hope you enjoyed reading these activities and hope you go out to the woods to enjoy this world we live in.

Leave us a comment and tell us some stories about your ecotherapy activities. Thank you for reading!

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How to Heat an off grid home

How to heat your off grid home

Now you’ve picked a place to live, getting all settled in or maybe you’re planning to live off grid and you want to efficiently heat your home.

Well, this post will talk about the sources and fuel we’ve decided to use and how it has worked for us.

This is an honest opinion post and everything we will talk about are things we have done, tried and figured out already for ourselves.

I’ll tell you how you can think about different factors to figure out how you want to heat your home.

Take these as ideas and let this post lead you to your goals.

To figure out the best way to heat your home, you need to figure out the square footage of your house. This will allow you to determine the amount of BTU’s needed. Then you will know what heat source size you will need.

You need to think about where you live, how the climate is, where you will get fuel, how much it costs and how much you want to spend.

For us, we live in a wooded area, live off grid, and the temperatures drop below freezing for long periods of time so we decided the easiest and most efficient way is to use a wood stove and propane heater.

The propane heater is a convection heater sold by Mr. Heater. The model name is called “big buddy.”

It can be run on two one pound propane bottles. Making it very portable.

We run ours on a 30 pound propane tank with a 6 foot long hose and regulator .

We only use this heater when the wood stove is warming up. When you use this heater to just raise the temperature in the room. It is very efficient and a 30 pound tank lasts for months.

With this type of heater you will always want a carbon monoxide detector and proper ventilation.

Our favorite way to heat the tiny house is with our wood stove. We went with the cheapest stove. It’s really not a bad stove for the price we paid.

It’s small, doesn’t take up much room in our tiny house. Being small it’s also not too heavy so we can move it easily to clean or rearrange.

Again, when deciding your heat source think about factors. Think about the materials your home is made of. Learn all the options you can heat your home with. Like using a wood stove is dry and using a propane heater actually raises the humidity level.

I suggest doing your own research when you are trying to heat your home to get it just the way you want.

You also need to think about the fuel you will use.

For the wood stove we use cut wood found around our property from dead trees.

We use fire logs and blocks mainly. One type of fire log we use is called the envirolog.

These burn for about 3 hours. They are super easy to light and made from recycled materials that are eco-friendly.

We also use kiln-dried compressed saw dust blocks. These burn slower, from around 4-8 hours depending on how hot you burn your fire. It takes a little skill and practice to master these.

We figured out it is best to start a little twig or kinlin fire first, let them turn to hot coals and then put your block on.

We light both of these up for when we hang out in the house during the day when its freezing out. We like to light them before bed throughout the night too.

We don’t light them at the same time. We change it up here and there.

It is certainly work which ever way you choose to heat your home. We are constantly chopping wood, gathering our blocks, collecting kindling, emptying the ashes, stoking the stove and building fires.

But this is the type of work that is rewarding in the end. You are nice and toasty warm.

There’s also just something nice about a wood stove, it really sets a good cozy atmosphere.

I also find some ecotherapy in collecting, gathering, chopping and lighting fires. So the work is rewarding too!!

Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment and tell us how you chose to heat your home. Tell us about the structure of your home and the climate you live in. We love hearing stories.

This post also contains affiliate links that leads you to the products we use everyday. If you buy from these links you give this website a small commission at no extra cost to you and you can be nice and warm in your tiny home.

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How to Save Money Working a Low Wage Job

How to save money while working a low wage job.

There is no real easy way to save money when you feel like you’re barely making any, especially with no help. But maybe these tips and tricks can help get you one step closer to freedom from money worries.

We’re going to go over these four topics:

Your budget
Savings accounts
Making your money grow. feelings toward money

First thing you need to do is figure out how much you spend every month, your monthly budget. Add all of the things you pay for. Food, phone, car, gas, rent, everything. Next you need to figure out how much money you make every month then subtract from the money you make every month.

Here is an example (totally made up)
you pay
$200 a month for food,
$80 for phone,
$200 for gas,
$600 rent.
You make $1300 a month after taxes. You pay $1,008 a month in expenses.
Take that away from what you make and you are left with $292.

If you stick to the plan of just putting aside $100 a month you will have $1,200.

That’s enough money to keep you afloat in small emergencies and it really could be a milestone for some people. It will give you a sense of relief. You don’t need to feel like you’re drowning. You don’t need to feel like your living pay check to pay check.

So back on track, that $292 you have left might not seem like a lot to you. But now you can take $100 from that and put it aside and the other $192 is for you to spend or save or do whatever you want with it.

The $100 you set aside can grow while you still have enough to get you by and have fun.

Here is what I would do with that spare $100:

Open a savings account!
I think it’s a safe place to put your cash. Especially living off grid. You don’t need to worry about it getting stolen, most banks have insurance on your money and the best part, they pay you interest. Do a lot of research and find the right bank that suits your needs. I personally use Discover because they give you a fairly higher percent of interest than others. They have really good customer service, if you have any questions they have an instant messenger and they get back to you in minutes. I’ve been with them for two years, so far so good.

Now you need to dedicate yourself to feeding this savings account. I put 200 in each month automatically. I set up a direct deposit at my work place. See if you can set up a direct deposit. If not you can set yourself little reminders in the calendar. I use a calendar on my phone and it’s my best friend when it comes to paying my bills and feeding my bank accounts.

Once your bank account begins to grow, you can come up with ways to make this money work for you even more. You can invest in stocks, you can buy things for a low price at a thrift store or in bulk and resell, buy bonds. There are so many ways to make your money work for you.

I personally use the app Acorns to help make my money work for me. Now this is a risky app and it is not going to make you rich. But I get free money out of it in little amounts every month.

This app connects to your bank account. It will say it needs to be a checking but I actually connected to my savings account. You also need to connect any credit or debit card you are using because it actually rounds up everything you buy to the nearest dollar on your cards and then takes the money from your savings account and invests this money into a diverse profile of stocks and bonds. You can withdraw whenever you want. I plan to withdraw every time I get $40 of free money and I’ll be putting it right in my savings account.

Another way to make your money work for you could be to have some kind of resell store. This is a fun and great way to grow your savings account. Be mindful that it usually takes money to make money. Keep your thoughts forward, see the outcome of your goals. You can have a resell shop with so many companies like ebay, etsy, poshmark, amazon and so many other platforms. You could also just go all out by renting a building nearby (research before building your own business) or buying a domain name and building a website. You could start with your own stuff you have like I talk about in my planning and letting go post.

I have other little saving tactics I like to call free money. I use apps like Ibotta to get cash back from receipts and I use reward credit cards. My favorite rewards credit card is my Discover Rewards credit card. I’ve been using my card for almost 3 years now. I get about $10-$25 in rewards money from making purchases I would be making anyways. You just need to be smart with a credit card to get all the benefits. Check out my free money post for a little more tips and advise or read about it on their website. if you sign up for this card using my referral you will get a $50 bonus on your first purchase within 3 months. That’s a simple way to get a savings boost if you want a credit card

There may be times when something happens and you need to use the money you set aside. But that is okay! Try to set your feelings away from your little stash of money. Don’t be attached to it. Be disconnected. This is your money and you have free will to spend it. But don’t forget the whole idea is to save. You want a solid backdrop behind your actual spending money. You are building a money wall that keeps you safe and warm.

Another good thing to think about is that money comes in waves. Like everything else in this universe, money is an energy and it moves in waves. Its up and down but it always comes back and we can get ourselves a float for long periods of time. Always know there are programs to help you as well if you feel like you’re sinking.

Life is too short to worry about money!

When you change your views on money in a creative and positive way you can come up with ways to make money come to you.

Now you can let these little strategies help you to a free and creative mindset for saving money with a small wage.

Feel free to comment or contact me with any other topics, tips and personal stories.

Thank you for reading, now practice some ecotherapy and go to da woods!

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