A lot has happened since I wrote, “I’m Moving to Montana and You Can Too” on March 1, 2020…namely, the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a year of dreaming and planning, I was just six weeks away from moving to Montana for the summer. My calendar was booked with clients. I was in the process of selling my stuff. I had given my landlord notice to move out. I had secured a job at a resort and found a potential apartment in Montana. Everything was falling into place.
When COVID hit, I stopped everything. My plans were shattered. My business offering in-home tidying and organization services was shut down. I didn’t know what to do next. I live alone so I felt isolated and lonely. I had all the time in the world to pivot my business, but honestly I was already so exhausted and my brain was foggy that diving into some new business direction felt forced and inauthentic. Everyone in the world was going through their own personal grieving process; life as we know it was turned upside-down by some pretty scary sh*t.
The point of my original blog post was essentially to say: it’s possible to live the life you want to live but it takes some focus and editing. ‘Rona has really forced us all to edit and make tough choices in our lives. And I don’t know about you, but I’m doing wayyy less then I used to, and I’m still exhausted every day.
I’m here to say, focus on what matters to you. Pay close attention to how you actually feel and let that be your guide for making choices, even if your dreams seem impossible. Edit out what doesn’t actually matter to you. Don’t pay attention to what you think you ‘should do’, how you ‘should be,’ or allow assumed judgements from others define your choices. It sounds cheesy but it’s true…if you’re not honest with yourself about what you really want, you’ll never get it.
After many changes to my original plans, I’m now taking a six week solo road trip…here’s a rundown of how my plans evolved:
Plan A was selling most of my stuff, moving out of my apartment, working at a resort from May-September, and hiking and exploring on days off. Obviously the pandemic shut everything down…
Plan B was “wait and see,” maybe Plan A can still happen, just a little later then expected. My friends and family kept saying, “well, maybe next year,” but that didn’t feel right to me. I believe that the pandemic is real and limiting interactions and activities is important, but I felt like if I didn’t do this now, I never would and I’d always regret not trying. During this time my landlord found a new tenant, (ah! that was so scary!) I had to decide if I was going to be homeless and couch surf during a pandemic or re-sign my lease and stay in my apartment for another year. I decided to re-sign my lease and hope that I could have the best of both worlds…
Plan C evolved through a whirlwind romantic relationship. I had no intention of meeting anyone new during a pandemic and was about to delete my dating apps when I met Joe. We had entertaining text convos, that led to FaceTime dates, that led to a socially distanced walk-in-the-park. Our virtual conversations were great, but we had a lot of differences. I felt like I needed to meet him so I could weed him out, but the opposite happened. I thought Joe could be my person so I let him into my life, and after a few weeks of dating, I asked him if he wanted to do a road trip with me. He had a large van and we could build it out to camp in. He said yes and we started making plans. But as time went on, it was clear that Joe only said yes to make me happy and the trip wasn’t really in alignment with what he wanted for his life right now. Joe and I eventually went our separate ways. Which led to…
Plan D is a six week solo road trip. After splitting up with Joe I felt like there was a fire lit underneath me to either make something happen or give up altogether. I got on AirBnB and looked for places to stay near Glacier National Park - the place I had felt most drawn a year ago when this idea first came to my mind. This plan felt exhilarating, so I booked an apartment for a month near the park and decided to sleep in the back of my Subaru along the way. Serendipitously, my neighbor asked her landlord if he would renovate her apartment while she was living in it. He said he would only renovate if she could move out for 6 weeks…and the timing happened to line up with my road trip, so she is subletting my place while I’m gone (see above when I was hoping for the best of both worlds.)
After all of the highs and lows, twists and turns, I think Plan D is actually the plan most aligned with what I wanted and needed in the first place. Who knew it would take a pandemic to get me there.
Now it may seem crazy to go out into the world right now, but the reality of my trip is that I will be pretty isolated and doing things I would normally be doing if I were still at home in Columbus.
I’ll be alone.
I’ll be driving my car, refilling my gas tank, going to the grocery store, getting takeout meals.
I’m traveling during the off season, so there will be few other travelers.
I’ll be staying in an apartment or camping at a campground.
My activities will be mainly outdoors - hiking, sitting on a mountain, staring at the sky, finding inner peace and such.
And of course, I’ll be wearing a mask, hand washing, using hand sanitizer, and keeping social distance.
My goal has always been to clear my mind, refresh my spirit, ground myself in my own point of view, deeply connect with what matters to me, and share that point of view and experience with people who feel stuck and want a change in their lives too.
I want to encourage you to follow what you desire as well. There will always be obstacles, but if you can clear out the clutter in life and focus your attention on what matters, you’ll eventually get there. (Not that there is really an end point to get to, but that’s another blog post.)
If you’re ready to clear out the clutter in your life and need help getting started, you can book a virtual session with me. You can follow along with my journey on Instagram at @michelldomkeorganizer and if you want to hear more about how I came up with this crazy idea, you can read my original post titled, “I’m Moving to Montana and You Can Too.”
Photo by Hannah Wallace on Unsplash