As I debated canceling my therapy appointment, I thought back on the mixed week I had… and our big plans for this year.
If you didn’t read my last post on my 2022 word, definitely check that out. In it, I share why my 2022 word is possibility (and why I don’t do resolutions, but I do have intentions). In 2021, we declared we’d begin phase 2 of our big plans (the reason we uprooted our life and moved to this peaceful little mountain town). And, well, 2021 knocked us right in the gut and there was way too much going on to embark on that part of our journey.
This is the year to begin though, and unlike past versions of me, I’m not punishing myself or doubting that. If it’s one thing moving our lives to a small town and all the subsequent life events that followed have taught me, it’s this: nature does not rush and still everything gets done.
Opening Hygge House phase 1
We were SO genuinely happy to launch phase 1 of our dream: Hygge House. For those of you who don’t know, Hygge House is our dream business. We are at the very beginning stages, so right now it consists of two lovely vacation rentals here in Bryson City, NC. Our big-picture dream is to have more people experience this area. The mountains here are special and spending time in the Smokies is both therapeutic and a great adventure, two things that bring perspective, joy and transformation to our lives. I think the world needs this now more than ever.
This was always phase 1 of our project, to purchase a property that made sense for travelers and for us (we had a lot of criteria, you can read more here about it), and to immediately begin to rent out some part of that land and build up our savings to expand. This was the year we did that. It took us two and a half years since moving here to accomplish.
At times, it didn’t seem like we could pull it off. And then, in the midst of my doubt, I looked back on old travel notebooks of mine. This one was from five years ago in Spain when my biggest dream was to get out of the 9-5 regular job construct and find remote work so we could be location free. That seemed impossible for years, and yet, here I was living what once was a dream. It gave me renewed faith that our dreams do manifest, we need only trust, work towards it and patiently (optimistically) wait.
Hygge House phase 2
Which brings me to this year and our intention to break ground on the second more ambitious phase of our goal for what Hygge House will be. Hygge House (which is a Danish word for the concept of conscious coziness) will eventually become a campus where all kinds of people can come and experience the mountains, as well as a gathering space for experiences geared around transformation, retreat, adventure, good food and more. Phase 2 looks like the literal building out phase of more accommodations on our property. It’s nerve-racking and yet so exciting!
I took a walk down our property this week. It was during a “sun break” as I like to call them, a 15 minute walk outside to get fresh air, vitamin d and maybe even a little perspective. I walked down the hill from where our home is to the empty pasture of land, a good portion of which is ours. I looked back up to our house and all the things we know exist right now, our life in that dwelling, the two hygge vacation rentals, our fire pit.
From down the hill, it looked small, a physical reminder of the perspective we often need to remind ourselves of what’s possible. From down here, I saw all the space we needed to create tiny homes, a pool, a shared community space to gather, eat, connect. I saw the stream we will dig and redirect the water that runs off the mountain and onto our land. I saw it all. It didn’t seem impossible from this far away view. Certainly more possible than from inside my home with all my doubts swirling away in my brain.
Our family
I’ve shared about this at length, but starting a family was on the forefront of our minds and hearts in 2021. In fact, it was exactly there that most of our focus, intentionality and energy went. We were blessed in July to discover that we were having a baby. Read more here and watch this video if you’d like to know more about that journey. Right now, I’m 30 weeks pregnant, in my third trimester, and putting the final prep to our home (which we decided to completely redecorate before baby’s arrival!).
We are nothing if not ambitious hah! I’ve been slowly going through my third trimester check list, making sure we’ve got all the things we can prepare for done. Because there is, of course, so much we can’t prepare or plan for even if we tried, and that’s okay too. I’ve learned to plan for what I can and be open to that changing. In life, it rarely ever turns out exactly the way we envisioned it.
I plan to share more intimately about both our family and business journey here and in greater detail on our youtube channel. I’d love it if you subscribed and joined in this adventure with us.
Ps. If you liked this post, you may like my memior, Embrace That Girl.
Pss. If you’d like to follow our journey on Youtube, subscribe to my channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribeToTheGreeneHome
Psss. If you want to receive a letter from me about life, love and creativity delivered to your inbox with regular irregularity, pls subscribe below.