Today is moving day. Off to a new location, not far from Geneseo. I wake up before Keegan and start our coffee, make us a couple of sausage biscuits and enjoy his company before he heads off to make a life for us. Moving day is always an exciting day, at least for me. Curiosity killed the cat. What’s the RV campground like? How cute is the town (our expectations are HIGH after Geneseo! Cutest town ever!)? Wonder what they have to do in town? How nice is their grocery store (yes, this is literally the second thing I google after I find an RV campground LOL).

But I notice, especially on moving days, my expectation of time and things do far exceeds reality. When you have a home, there’s always something that needs to be organized, cleaned, decluttered, decorated, so on and so forth. Since our new life is….well….still new (yesterday was ONE MONTH since we have left the panhandle!), my mindset is still wired into our old life.

After Keegan left for work, I got to work cleaning up the house and getting ready to move. Master bedroom — done! Bed made, laundry put up, clutter thrown away and slide pulled in! One room down. Kitchen — cleaned! Fridge — cleaned out! Bathroom picked up! All within 20 minutes. But there’s no use in sliding the rest of the slides in until the kids wake up and Keegan’s almost here.

So now what?

I find myself outside, rocking in my chair, enjoying my coffee and just listening. Enjoying a moment to myself and actually being present in the moment. I hear birds waking up, leaves rustling in the trees due to a slight breeze and…..peace. Can you hear peace? I’m not so sure but I sure feel it.

I find myself thinking about how many books I have read in the last two months….twenty one! Yes. I know. That’s a lot. My husband laughs at me daily about it (but I could have worse problems!!). But the reason I have read so many is because I now have the time. I have made time for one of my favorite things and I love it. Which then brings a question to mind.

How much of our day to day life is useless, a waste of time or an unnecessary addition of stress?

I could maybe finish a book in a month MAYBE (unless it was really good!) when we lived in the panhandle. There was always something needed to get done. And looking back now, I can pinpoint so much that was unnecessary, whether that was in the value of time, stress, happiness or money.

We choose the unnecessary because of someone else’s expectation. We choose the unnecessary because of how easy it is when going through the motion. But most of it does (or did) not bring happiness.

Mentally, we know this. Physically, we know this. But we still choose it. Why?

Why don’t we choose something we love to do as a career? Oh, because we are conditioned to believe money brings happiness. Or we are in competition with someone else to have the best or what they have.

!!NEWSFLASH!! — IT WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH UNLESS IT IS EXACTLY WHAT BRINGS YOU HAPPINESS! A paycheck will never be good enough. Ever. There will always be someone who is better than you at something or that makes more money. So why compete? Why not do what makes YOU happy?

In the end, that’s how YOU win! By being HAPPY. Not rich, or successful, or famous. Plain and simple….happy.

And that is what we are! There have been a few bad moments in our adventure so far but the growth and the memories have far exceeded the negatives and I cannot wait to see what God has in store from this day forward! I want everyone to have this feeling everyday. The feeling of knowing they are on the right path. The feeling of true joy and happiness. We all deserve it!

Live your life based on your standards, don’t let anyone set the standards for you and choose happiness always!

God is great, y’all! See you in Sheridan, Illinois for the last leg of this job then who knows where! (Instead of “Where’s Waldo?” Let’s play “Where’s the Culver’s” LOL).