Be honest. Do you feel trapped?

It’s okay. You’re not alone.

You have the good job, the nice house, the family you love … but you truly believe that life is supposed to be better.

You’ve done all the right things, and yet, here you are, feeling both overwhelmed and underwhelmed with life.

Unhappy.

Busy, but bored.

Is life simply whizzing by?

Are those relentless Monday Morning Panic Attacks becoming the norm?

Have you ever wondered, even for a moment, what it would be like to hit the reset button? Take what you know now and start over?

Do you wonder how much better your life would be if you could change careers, spend your time and money on the things you love, on the things you dream about?

Do you ever wish you could get rid of all the “stuff” that you bought in those mindless moments of weakness at the mall, the outlet store, the garage sale, that now fills your house, basement, garage and tool shed to the rafters?

Does it exhaust you, just looking at it? Never mind insuring it, maintaining it or just finding a proper place to store it.

Do you remember the last time you had some time just for you?

Again, you’re not alone.

Have you ever caught yourself day dreaming of just walking away from it all, moving to a tropical island to live in a hut, play in the sun and sand, sell coconuts and grass skirts—anything—so long as it is simple?

You know what I’m talking about.

It’s the stuff, the debt, the honey-do list, the incomplete projects, the over commitments, the hectic schedule … everything that is preventing you from daring to live your dreams.

Imagine what it would be like to just start over …

To use the experience and knowledge that you have acquired to live your life … on your terms. So that you can live your life free from judgement, society’s expectations and the futile pursuit of “keeping up with the Jones’”.

What if you could discover a way to write your own life script, rather than relentlessly pursue the one that was handed to you?

We did.

Truth be told, we were living a good life.

By all measures, we had achieved society’s scripted goals:

• the estate home,
• thriving businesses,
• successful careers,
• the three cars,
• good schools,
• most important, we had a close and loving family.

But as happy as our family was, we were still spending too much time apart.

Life was FULL of:

• volunteer commitments,
• extra-curricular activities,
• a garage filled with every tool (with scarce room for the cars to park),
• a yard that required hours of upkeep each week,
• a calendar that would keep ups flat out running all week, right through Saturday and an exhausted Sunday

… all just in time to succumb to those nasty MMPAs (Monday Morning Panic Attacks!).

Dad’s in an office tower downtown working far more than 40 hours per week.

Mom’s working from her home office, between shuttling the kids throughout the day.

The kids are spending their days studying hard in their respective schools.

… this is all probably sounding very familiar to you.

However, these were supposed to be some of the most precious years our family would ever have together, and the time was just slipping away.

A closer look revealed that everything we had accumulated in our lives as a family was coming at a hefty price.

And then there were friends.

Yes, we would gather with our closest friends—not often enough because we all live similarly demanding lives—and yet, without fail, after the updates on family, kids and work, the conversations would always lead to our shared fantasy of the island retreat. A place where our families could live simply, spend time with the people we enjoyed, do only what we loved to do … and just BE!

It’s always fun to dream, right?

Then, invariably, we would say our collective goodbyes and run off back to our crazy lives, until the next time we met (often several long months later) to laugh and dream of “the island” once again.

I’ll never forget that late June afternoon when my husband was spending yet another Sunday on yard work.

We looked around and watched all of our “successful” neighbors doing the exact same thing, with their boats and sports cars parked sitting scarcely used in their driveways. Or returning home from a weekend spent opening up the cabin … just in time to start the week all over again.

And so the rat wheel spins and spins …

Our oldest child was turning 13 that year. How could that be?

Where was the time going?

Was this all there was to look forward too? 

As we shared our conversation that night, a few things became very clear:

• time was ticking away,
• the children were growing up fast,
• we were maintaining a life of stuff that didn’t matter and schedules packed with commitments that no longer inspired us; and,
• we had created a life that required my husband to be away from the family more than he was with the family.

… none of this made sense!

This was not part of the dream.

Was this really what we wanted in life?

Good question.

What DID we want?

We had always dreamed of travel and adventure.

• Our children hungered to explore the world.
• We all craved more time as a family.
• And, what about that gripping thriller my husband always wanted to write?

So many things sitting in the dare-not-to-dream pile suddenly rose to the top of our minds.

We were on course to continue living a good life. But, if we wanted to create a GREAT life, we needed a change in thinking, in strategy, in our approach to life—we needed a material shift.

It became clear that we had the drive to make this happen. The question was:

How?

So many options, so many things anchoring us to the lifestyle we had worked so hard to create.

How could we just step away from all the time, money, blood, sweat and tears, that we had invested into this life?

Why were we even considering this?

Because we wanted more.

To experience more—an up-level in the quality of life we lived as a family.

We recognized that the script we had been told our whole lives that we had to achieve to be considered successful wasn’t actually what we wanted.

OUR script needed some rewrites in order to reflect who and how we wanted to be in life.

After three days of deep contemplation, relentless mind-chatter, fear and doubt demons haunting our dreams, telling us all the reasons why we couldn’t do this, why we shouldn’t leave the safety of what we know—even if it’s uninspiring—we decided that if we looked back 15 years from now … we would regret NOT doing it!

Our decision was made. 

We would take our family on an extended world travel adventure.

The kids were onboard (no, the kids were ecstatic). We had accumulated all of the property, belongings and lifestyle debt that comes with “success” along with the overabundance of commitments that would make this endeavor very challenging.

Crazy even.

It didn’t matter. We were committed.

Now, what are the options to make this happen?

How would we finance this adventure?

What about the scariest question of all?

What to do with our beloved home, our “forever house”, the property in which we had invested so much time and money?

As the discussion evolved, and we went through some very deep and honest family introspection, we realized that we could always buy another house. It’s not the building, the structure, the dirt … it’s our family, together, that makes our house a home.

Okay, let’s sell it!

Oh … but what do we do with all of our precious belongings?

More deliberate discussion … Let’s just store it!

I cannot overemphasize the monumental task this can be. Daunting to say the least.

However, when you take the time—and permit yourself to take an honest look at what you have that truly has meaning to you and / or improves your life—the list of what to put in storage (because now storage comes with a price) can be astonishing …

… and by that I mean short.

To our surprise, by doing exactly what I stated above, our list of what to store was so small compared to the mass of stuff we owned, that we decided to delve further and realized that we, surprisingly, had no real attachment to most of what we owned or the life we had created for ourselves..

So the question became: Could we just sell it ALL?

We had been fooled into believing that we should be afraid to let go … lose it all. That’s an illusion that just holds you back.

Days earlier, we could never have imagined what we were now proposing as a very viable option:

Sell it all, store only what we truly loved, and embark upon a one-year world travel adventure!

Suddenly trading all “the stuff” for what we really wanted to experience in life was a very simple decision.

Talk about empowering!

Imagine casting aside your consumption-fed shackles and embracing a dream adventure that leaves most terrified out of their minds.

Yeah, I know!

We spent the next three months purging twenty years of material accumulation. Shedding our lives of a home (and basement and garage and shed) full of STUFF!

It was an equally exciting and intimidating time of online classifieds, family, friends and neighbors eyeing valuables to add to their expansive collections.

The money we made from all of the stuff that had been sitting in our garage, our basement and storage was astonishing. We hadn’t even started selling our furniture yet, and already we were converting our things into possibilities for the future.

We listed the house and prepared for our first-ever yard sale (that was an adventure in of itself).

The house sold with a very short 3-week possession. The power of intention was hard at work for us. We had three weeks to sell off everything else we had remaining (we still had to live in the house day-to-day, so there was a lot).

Then we had to pack up our few beloved items to put into storage, and give notice to schools and business clients.

On that final day, when we turned over our keys to the realtor, we realized that we were without a home, free of debt, with no physical ties to the city that we had called home for nearly twenty years.

We were HOME FREE!!! (Both figuratively and literally)

I cannot put into words the excitement that we felt. And what’s better, is that excitement continued to perpetuate, rather than diminish, over time—and up until this day.

With our newfound agility, and clarity on what was truly important, the world has finally become our oyster. That dream, my friends, is not a myth.

It’s a path, shadowed by the fog of fear and obligation, that only the light of clarity can illuminate.

We were finally liberated from our scripted life.

We had let our dreams out of the bottle again and, now, every option out there was an option for us.

So now it was time to Pack ‘n Go!

Everyone has a dream. Everyone. Many just relinquish it to the realm of the impossible.

Positioning ourselves in this way allowed us to fulfill our dream of a year-long travel adventure because of the freedom we had created.

Yes, really.

Just imagine what you could do with that sort of freedom.

It was astonishing. Exploring with who we love and just what we needed … felt so ABUNDANT!

Life became rich beyond measure.

Our year-long travel adventure, which turned into a full 18 months, because we had that freedom, was not a vacation.

Instead, we:

• lived abroad,
• “world-schooled” our children,
• carried our entire belongings in one 19-inch carryon suitcase each,
• used planes, trains and local transportation,
• left a light footprint,
• lived like the locals and gained an understanding of culture, food, architecture and travel,

while we lived our life one day at a time, only on our terms now, while living the thrill of an adventure, and embarked on a wholesale lifestyle redesign.

And, Lifestyle 2.0 was born.

The results of this adventure were eye opening. We confirmed that all the “things” and crazy schedules of life didn’t make us happy.

The time we gained from not having to manage our stuff or unnecessary commitments—and the money we saved or could redirect to what was really important to us—was unbelievable.

The exchange of simplifying our material footprint (read: “stuff”) and reclaiming our schedules, by consciously redesigning our life, allowed all five of us to:

• savor life,
• follow our passions,
• write a novel,
• kick start a music career,
• and, learn the importance of location, location, location.

In addition to expanding our children’s education, they have the freedom to develop the skills they are most passionate about.

Watching our children achieve and flourish by creating this experience for our family has been priceless.

We now know how we can continue to live an unscripted life, with less stuff, more time, and a greater level of freedom than we ever thought possible for all of us.

Being successful and achieving freedom doesn’t mean doing it all yourself.

We have truly shifted our old script—our outdated way of living—thinking we had to have everything that everyone else had … just because everyone else had it.

Instead, we have come into a new life of possibilities and agility that all that “stuff” could never provide.

Of course, we still have to work, learn and live life wherever we choose to be. But that just takes implementing systems and steps in our life that makes it all possible.

The bottom line is faith in yourself and having the wherewithal to make the decision and go for it.

Your dream could be to build a business, start a family, move to warmer shores, change careers … find your true love.

It doesn’t matter what your dream is. You can be here, too.

For us, we now know that every purchase must support us in our desired lifestyle, or it is not necessary. Our decisions and actions must align with our goals—and our goals must align, or adapt, to our heart’s desires.

We also learned that in order to be successful, you shouldn’t do it all by yourself—that’s taking the hard way (trust me, we know).

You need support.

Through this adventure we have inspired, coached and consulted couples just starting families, families big and small, empty-nesters and single parents who have all shifted their perspective, lives and possessions in order to create this freedom in their lives, too.

They were once where you are, each with their own pain-point …

• They had to deal with more stuff than they could manage
• More time commitments than they could handle
• Had no time for themselves to pursue passions
• Lived in a house bursting at the seams
• No time to truly enjoy travel
• Deprioritized their health and their bodies were suffering for it
• Often felt both overwhelmed, and underwhelmed, by life
• In debt, with not nearly as much money left over at the end of the month as they had expected
• Had a schedule filled with obligatory commitments to everyone else’s expectations

Ultimately they felt trapped in some way by the life they had created.

But they decided to create a Lifestyle Redesign.

Look where they are now …

• They’ve created more time to build a business or follow dreams
• Realized healthier eating and fitness for their families, reclaiming their active lifestyles
• Streamlined their home and stuff so that it is more supportive to their daily activities
• Right-sized their houses
• Created more travel opportunities
• Reclaimed their closets and their properly aligned wardrobes with clothing that they love to wear
• Prepared their home for an extended travel away, creating turn-key rental opportunities
• Spending more quality time with their kids
• Super moms have found more time for themselves
• Dads are working less and playing more
• They have found the right way to nourish themselves and take care of their families

We quickly realized that this way of living isn’t just for long term travelers, it can work to empower everyday life, as well!

The freedom to travel can be replaced by:

• the desire to study,
• the choice to change careers,
• the ability to spend more time with loved ones,
• the freedom to follow passionate pursuits;

whatever excites your soul.

They’re YOUR dreams. This just helps make them attainable.

You may desire a shift so that YOU can:

• travel more
• improve or change your work life
• find the time to create a healthy body
• find the time to create a happier mind
• create a fulfilling family life
• spend more quality time with your kids
• spend more quality time with the love of your life
• find time for romance
• streamline your home and “stuff” so that they work to support you rather than against you

Or you may want more agility purely to have more options, work less and spend more time doing what you love.

For us, clearing out the old was a way to start with a clean slate.

For YOU, it might be getting clarity on what your true goals are. Then discovering what is necessary to make them happen.

Experiencing life living out of a carryon suitcase for 18 months with three young children in tow really makes it very clear:

• what you need,
• what you want,
• what little you miss …

… and do NOT miss!

The surprise that came to us, living so light, was how abundant we felt every day with just the possessions that we loved and served us, and the experiences that thrilled us.

Through this experience, we discovered that we can still have nice things; the quality treasures and conveniences that make life enjoyable. However, it must align with how we want to live our life, NOT just because it was available to buy.

Previously, like so many others, our mindless obsession with the quick-fix purchasing of stuff to satiate a mediocre life was sabotaging any possibility of living the life we truly wanted.

We now know that the status quo is not a MUST for everyone.

We don’t have to keep up with the Jones’ just because everyone else is. That having “the right stuff” can create more time, happiness, agility and freedom than we could have imagined.

AND the people, experiences and things we do have are only those things that we love, that support our desires, that are of good quality and that fuel us, rather than weigh us down.

Being anchored to our old ideals of owning a house has shifted as we discovered a love to travel and new experiences, so leasing amazing furnished rentals in different locations supports that desire. Yet three years ago we would have thought it utterly irresponsible to not own our own home. Because that’s what we were told we were supposed to do.

I have developed a 5-step process to create A Material Shift™ in your life on a level that supports you and your family to have the freedom and agility to shift to an unscripted life.

Remember, the most common mistakes people make are:

• Not knowing what we want in life, or being so distracted by life’s minutia and urgency of others, that we forget our dreams.

• No clarity to stay focused on what we want. If you were asked right now, on the spot, what your best life, day or year would be, could you answer it?

• We allow others people’s fears and judgments of our dreams to keep us small.

The first thing you need to do is to decide if the life you’re living right now is in alignment with the dreams you keep tucked away for some unnamed day in the distant future.

What if you, too, lived the thrill of an unscripted life? Where you are in charge of what you want.

The question is: Do YOU want change?

A shift, big or small, can make a significant difference.

So, what shift would change YOUR life?

• Right-sizing your house
• Reviewing your accumulations of things
• Adjusting your calendar of commitments
• Owning only what you love and need
• Eating more quality meals at home
• Shifting your relationship with food and fitness
• Creating more time for what your truly love to do
• Creating more wealth and abundance in your life
• Finding more time for love

Please remember: This gift of life is yours. It’s YOUR LIFE to lead. Just ask yourself if you are living your life, or LEADING your life?

You are free to write your own script.

The decision rests with you.

A lifestyle redesign, big or small, is not a simple task. There was a lot of new learning and personal introspection involved to get our family, first, to the decision, and then to implementation.

You’d be surprised by the demons you have to battle. The dragons that must be slain.

Are you ready for the adventure?

If you are, I’d love to help.

My 90-Day Lifestyle Redesign Coaching Package gives you:

• Private One-on-One Coaching

• Welcome Package

• One 3-Hour Intensive coaching session plus you can choose …

• Six bi-weekly 90-Minute coaching sessions (for a total of 12 hours of dedicated coaching); or

• Twelve weekly 90-Minute coaching sessions (for a total of 21 hours of dedicated coaching)

• and, Free Audio Recordings of each session for your future review

Imagine creating your own lifestyle redesign, working with a coach who has:

• Coached families, big and small, couples just starting out, empty-nesters right-sizing their life, corporate professionals with kids, and single parents.

• Consulted to families to create these shifts and solutions in everyday living at home, and even for short- and long-term travel.

• Personally created a lifestyle redesign for her own family.

• Been where you are and knows it’s not only possible, but also HOW to make it happen.

• Developed a 90-day coaching package that allows you the time to properly integrate and implement the transformation that you will create in your life.

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