An 8×12 room that’s smaller than the storage unit I’m renting back in Ohio full of all the things that I’ve left behind. A twin bed where my feet hang off because they’re not built for big boys. A 40th-floor penthouse near downtown Honolulu with 25 housemates who all work remotely, each with their own unique and powerful personalities. Each day is the beginning of the new adventure from the moment you step out of your bedroom and turn right to look into the living room. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was cast on a reality TV show. After all, I did have to apply online to be here and interview with a casting director who is now our “house auntie.”

How did I get here? Similar to each and every one of our individual stories, it really feels like I blinked my eyes and life changed. One event leads to another, creating a chain reaction that brings us to where we are today. It can really feel magical when you think about the probability of living out the exact experience that is your life, since everything had to happen the way it did. Both the good events and the most painful ones.

The Catalyst

Picture that one day you’re wondering where you’re going to live because you’re fresh out of a long-term relationship with someone you committed over four years of your life to. You sold your dream house in the ideal suburban neighborhood with the prototypical, friendly neighbors next-door that wave and smile while you’re mowing the lawn. On top of that, you quit a side hustle you were passionate about because of the relationships that blossomed from it and the impact you made in each other’s lives.

You knew in your heart that the relationship didn’t feel right, so the house wasn’t meant to be, and therefore, the side hustle couldn’t be sustained through these major life events. This really is a moment where life as you know it changes in an instant and you’re provided with a blank slate to make what you want out of it.

It is an opportunity to re-create your life experience and make it however you ever dreamed it could be.

A second chance.

The Winding Road Ahead

Fast forward to what seems like days later. Except now you’re in San Diego instead of your home in Ohio. You’re there on Super Bowl Sunday, looking up Airbnb’s fresh off driving down the Pacific Coast Highway for the past 3 days. You scramble to find a 30-day rental near the beach and find yourself sharing a space with two homeowners and two travel nurses. At the same time, you stumble on a related link in your google search for a co-living opportunity in Hawaii. Who wouldn’t want to live in Hawaii? So you fill out the application because that sounds cool, too.

This calls for a drink on the beach with a friend you met in Nashville during your 18-state road trip before this new life required you to wake up at 6am PST for work. Surprisingly, this type of randomness and chaos becomes routine. You adapt to just going where the road leads through all of its twists and turns. You gracefully accept it, and most importantly, you don’t stress about it.

You take the good with the bad in every situation.

Dealing With Uncertainty

Let me ask you a question. How long does it take you to pack your bags for a vacation? Do you plan for it the entire week beforehand to make sure you have everything you need? Does it consume your mind until the moment your flight takes off, and often times, after? If you struggle with that stress, here’s an exercise for you.

Try driving from Las Vegas to Phoenix on a Thursday afternoon after work without any idea of where you’ll sleep. The next day, you have to log in to work, buy a suitcase, pack the things you need in that suitcase, send some things home and give away the rest. That way you can sell your car in the evening and catch a flight to Hawaii on Saturday morning. Except, the dealership won’t accept your car because it’s 2,000 miles over the reading you reported online two weeks earlier in San Diego before you drove through three states.

Challenge accepted.

Guess what?

You will find a place to sleep, you will pack your things, and you will be able to sell your car (through delicate negotiations). You might even have enough time to have a few drinks and ride electric scooters along the river in Tempe, Arizona, feeling the breeze against your face and the weight off your shoulders since you just accomplished the task at hand. You feel free.

Things really seem to work by magic if you learn to chill out, trust the process and accept what’s given to you. In fact, they work out better.

Going After What You Want

Stress is all relative. For example, I’ve learned that work and vacation do not have to be mutually exclusive. My job allows me to work from anywhere in the world, but here’s the catch. I have to work Eastern Time Zone hours. So, a typical 9-5 turned into 8-4 in Chicago, 7-3 in Colorado, 6 am-2 pm in San Diego. So now, in Hawaii, I wake up at 3 am, enjoy my lunch break with the sunrise, and log out of work by 11 am.

That’s not stressful for me. I think it’s a blessing to be off before noon.

Fortunately, I’m not alone. I live with 25 other people who think like me, work like me and live like me. They might not be as crazy as me (debatable), but they’re a handful in the best way. They like to live every day like it’s their last, exploring the island by foot, bike, car or moped and hopping to the neighboring islands of Hawaii by plane. No method of transportation is off-limits. They all have their passions whether it’s writing, music, diving, fitness or drinking beer. Most are actually talented at all of the above. They value sleep but realize that we don’t need a lot to function because there is a whole world out there for us to see instead of sleep. Sleep is vital – don’t get me wrong. We just don’t live to sleep. We sleep so that we can live.

You can have anything you want out of this experience in life, and it’s no different from wherever you’re reading this. The important thing is that you decide for yourself what you want, and you don’t let others decide for you. It’s important to be open to new experiences, but it’s important to set boundaries as well. Without boundaries, you will inevitably become a product of your environment. Don’t set too many, though, because you miss out on all of the magic.

The secret lies in balance. It always does.

Work hard, but enjoy your life too. Party hard, but don’t live for it. Workout, but do not become obsessive about your body. Start a blog, but don’t let it consume your everyday life. Read books, but don’t feel like you need to finish them in one sitting. Post on social media, but don’t let it take away from what’s in front of you right now.

Enjoy this life and make it exactly what you want it to be. Everything is possible as long as you know what you want, you take action and you have faith that things will work out. Don’t worry about the “how”, because this world somehow always operates to perfection.

Just do your best, trust the process and let go.