Doing a touch of Spring cleaning the other day, I found an old journal. In its pages was the description of our Homestead. Interestingly, it was written over twelve years ago, seven years before we even set eyes on the place. You can manifest your dreams, including manifesting your dream Homestead. This is how we did it.
Manifesting Our Dream
It does not matter where you are right now, how much money you have or earn, or where you live; you can manifest your dream (Homesteading or otherwise).
I started visualizing our Homestead during the last recession, an event that devastated our family finances. It was a pretty horrible time. If you looked at where we were objectively? It wasn’t visualizing a new goal but living in Lala land. Daydreaming of a far-off place was way more enjoyable than dealing with our reality.
If you want to skip the what and get to the basic steps, Open your Free Printable.
I wrote a description of the life we were looking for
- Simplicity: Less complicated, less stuff, less stress. Sitting by a fire and eating a good meal is a simple pleasure for us and the children. Walking in the woods, telling stories, and reading books. Disconnecting from the pointless noise
- Connection: With each other, a community, a place. We were feeling adrift and alone, looking for a place to belong. We were searching for a Home that was beyond a house.
- Freedom: Freedom means different things to different people. What we were looking for was freedom of choice. We felt we had few choices and fewer options. Our existing life had us feeling trapped, and it was suffocating.
- Abundance
I wrote down what simplicity, connection, freedom, and abundance would look like
- Financial Independence
- Self-reliance
- A larger property
- A simple home
- A smaller community
- Access to farms and farmers
- Access to plenty of natural spaces for hiking and outdoor recreation
- Space to grow
Then I described the town, the farm, the farmhouse, and what we would do once we found it. I drew pictures, had lists of possible income-earning opportunities, and even had a list of names for this place I had never seen. I had the numbers, what financial independence looked like, what the home and land would cost, and how many people were in the nearest town. The town had to have a Hospital, a decent school, a Main Street, and less than 10,000 people.
The only thing I had not written down was a date.
What happened next
We thought about our maybe-one-day Homestead and talked about it even when we could not earn the money to make it happen. It was a dream.
Ultimately, we had to move, and because it was on our minds so much, the possibility of moving to the country was considered. As we searched for a place to rent in areas close to family, we also made a road trip to some small country towns we thought would have enough employment opportunities and be decent places to raise kids. On our way home, we were hungry and stopped in a random little town in South West Wisconsin. It was the Town.
The Town had a Hospital, multiple schools, an excellent park with a huge kid’s playground, a Main Street with stores, a fantastic second-hand bookstore, and less than 10,000 people. Could we make this work?
The Compromise or Staying Open to Opportunities
The only way to move to the Town, with no money and no local job opportunities, was by renting in town, Danny staying in Illinois and working, driving up to us on weekends. It was a huge sacrifice and compromise, but we did it. Thankfully, those years allowed us to stabilize our finances and get to know the town and people.
Eventually, we found The Farm, which cost more than my visualization but still way less than usual for the area. Again, more compromise, but we found 16 acres, it had outbuildings and a Farmhouse we could work with.
The Steps to Manifesting Your Dream
The steps are simple:
- Build the Picture
- Determine What You Want – What do you want your life to be? Simple, peaceful, filled with abundance. How does that feel?
- What Does That Look Like? – Define it first and then make it specific. For example, Financial Independence means an income of $$$$$ with our own business doing $$$$$$. The Homestead will be 5-plus acres with a small pasture and woods but manageable without large equipment. We’ll raise chickens for meat and eggs, use goats to keep weeds in check, have a small garden, cut our grass for hay for feed, and have access to fresh water. The Farmhouse will have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a covered porch out the back.
- Plan How You Make It Happen – Do you need to increase your income; save more; find a place to move to; what compromises are you willing to make to get there? What is non-negotiable?
- Write It All Down
- Visualize it – find photographs, articles, websites, YouTube Channels, or TV shows where people are doing what you want, living how you want, or building what you want.
- Make it Happen – keep your mind open for opportunities and start taking steps to make it happen. Look for properties, drive to communities, get the job, build the network. Take your How and make it into actionable steps to get there.
I know you can manifest your dream Homestead. Dream it, find it, build it, and make it happen for you.
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