Why would anyone want to leave such a beautiful place?
After I published last month’s Life Lately post I got an email from a reader asking me, why would anyone want to leave such a beautiful place?
I wondered, how does my life look from the outside? The funny thing is that I have been here before.
If you have been following me for a while you know that we used to live in the Caribbean. I’ve had the same exact question asked to me many times during the time we left Virgin Gorda.
The truth is that it is hard to live in these remote and touristic towns. While they are beautiful with gorgeous scenery, resources are limited, the cost of living is expensive and if you haven’t grown up here it is really hard to get used to the weather conditions.
In other words, living and vacationing in these places are hugely different from one another.
Don’t get me wrong, there is no way anyone would know this without going through it. But I have and believe me, it is not easy.
We are leaving Vermont in the second week of October for good and I am counting days. This is not to say I won’t miss it, but luckily I can always come back and visit whenever I wanted.
What worked in September 2020?
- Being outside & taking time to soak it all in: I made an intentional decision to make sure that I took the time to enjoy Vermont’s beautiful foliage. This year was one of the best I have ever seen. Dwight and I took daily walks, ate way more apple cider donuts than anyone should ever eat, and visited our favorite pumpkin patch in town. If you ever visit New England around this time of the year, be sure to visit pumpkin patches and apple orchards. They are so much fun.
- Batch creating recipes: Knowing that I won’t be able to photograph and film until we get the keys to our new house in November, I have been recipe testing and photographing nonstop. I don’t remember the last time I have been this productive. Almost all recipes for the month of October and November are ready and I cannot wait to share them with you.
- Letting go of the things that no longer bring me joy: I am not going to lie, I have a hard time letting things go, even if I haven’t used them for years. However, after watching several episodes of Marie Kondo, I felt inspired to take a look at the cupboards in my closet and kitchen. We donated the unused stuff that no longer brings us joy. At first, I felt guilty but now I feel lighter.
What did not work in September 2020?
- Showing up on social media: It blows my mind how much information people share about themselves on social media. There are times I feel like I am just not cut out for being an online business owner who needs to be active on social media.
Most of the time I feel like whatever I share is not enough.
Watch this interview on YouTube. Carolina Herrera (at the 6th-minute mark), the fashion mogul, did a great job of explaining how a woman should be.
Mysterious.
This is exactly how I was raised. After such an upbringing, I find it so hard to be an open book and to share my life on a daily basis. It feels like it is never enough. I am never enough.
- Planning ahead & feeling overwhelmed: Ask any food blogger. They will tell you. October through the end of December (aka Q4) is the busiest time of the year for us. This is when people search for recipes.
Moving in Q4 is the worst idea for a food blogger. So, I have been in nonstop creating mode to close the gap but I am overworked and tired.
And Q4 has just started.
Notable Books & Movies from This Month:
Book – The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday (Affiliate Link):
I started reading this book as a way to keep myself grounded in this chaotic time. Between moving, the political climate we are currently in, and a few other personal challenges I needed someone to tell me what to do.
With daily bite-sized stoic philosophies, this book has been so helpful for me to keep myself grounded in the actual facts of my life. I learned that more often than not the thing that worries me is bigger and more dramatic in mind than it actually is in reality.
“It is not things that upset us, it is our judgment about things.”
Epictetus
Therefore, having a source like The Daily Stoic providing me with meditations on wisdom and perseverance has been so helpful.
The book is divided into 366 one-page Stoic quotes with additional commentary from the author, which helps you think further. It’s about a 5-minute read a day but it is just full of actionable wisdom to live a better more grounded life.
If you are new to Stoicism and want to learn more about it, The Daily Stoic is a great YouTube channel to watch. The video below is one of my favorites and I watch it whenever I need a reminder to stay the course of the trajectory of my life.
Movie – The Secret – Dare to Dream:
When I first watched “The Secret” when it came out years ago, like a lot of people, I found it to be life-changing. In time, I continued reading on the subject and realized that there were fundamentals that were not covered in the documentary.
After reading life-changing books like Gary Zukav’s “The Seat of The Soul” (affiliate link) and Michael Alen Singer’s “The Surrender Experiment” (affiliate link), I learned that being aware of and in line with the frequency of your calling and believing in yourself were the missing fundamentals that the Secret failed to cover.
I hoped that this movie would go deeper into those principles and take me through someone’s journey through finding his/her calling. Sadly, it was nothing more than a love story around the same message they initially shared in the documentary version many years ago: “Our thoughts become our reality.”
If you have nothing to do or are new to the concept, give it a watch but otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Selena Gomez’s Cooking Show on HBO MAX:
I love watching cooking shows when I am doing the dishes after hours of testing recipes. This month, I watched Selena Gomez’s new cooking show on HBO Max.
I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of her, but the show was pretty entertaining and fun to watch. She cooked her way through the pandemic with the help of famous chefs around LA.
The recipes that they made together were way above her skill level but she pulled them off pretty well. To me, this was yet another reminder that with a little bit of help (and following directions) anyone can cook.
It is a fun show to watch if you have time. It is great to watch when you are doing the dishes.
The next time I will share one of these life updates I will be in Atlanta. We will probably be opening boxes and putting things away. However, between now and then there is so much that needs to be done. Packing, moving, traveling… SO. MUCH.
Wish me luck friends!
Until next time…
