Slower, Wealthier, Happier

Good morning, beautiful ☀️✨

I have a pretty massive vision for my life. And when I say massive, I mean MASSIVE. I can see this beautiful family compound where my siblings have homes, where we gather and live life together, where there is land and a stable because my sister and niece love horses, and somewhere on this beautiful property there is either a vineyard or a whiskey distillery because, well, you already know I’m a whiskey girl. LOL. I can see the dinners, the gatherings, the community, the beautiful spaces, and all the little details that make it feel like us. The vision is so clear and so yummy to me. But sometimes when I look at where I am today compared to that enormous vision, my brain immediately starts calculating everything that would have to happen between here and there. And if I’m not careful, the dream can start feeling really far away.

But lately I’ve been realizing something: I don’t have to wait for the whole dream to start living pieces of it. When I first started learning about whiskey, I met a gentleman who owns a package store here in Georgia, and during one of our conversations he told me that he had a collection of more than 12,000 bottles. TWELVE THOUSAND. Meanwhile, I was standing there at the very beginning of my little whiskey journey thinking about my first few bottles. LOL. Initially, I had decided that every time I received a new business contract, I would celebrate by buying a bottle for my collection. But contracts don’t necessarily arrive neatly every month, and eventually I thought, why am I making myself wait? So I changed the rule. I created a list of bottles I would love to own and decided I could add one to my collection each month. Recently, I placed another bottle with the others, looked at my little collection growing, and felt so much joy. Because you know what? A collection of 12,000 bottles had to start with bottle number one.

I’ve realized I do this in other areas of my life too. Years ago, I stayed in a beautiful luxury cabin for business and fell in love with the simple white dishes they had there. Months later, sitting at home drinking coffee, I remembered those dishes and decided I wanted that feeling in my own home. So one of my best friends and I went on one of our infamous hunts until I found my beautiful white dishes. Then another season came, and I wanted blue and white dishes. Then summer came, and I found the cutest dishes with lemons on them. Somewhere along the way, I realized I wanted seasonal dishes. I love hosting. I love having my girlfriends over. I love creating beautiful little experiences around a table. And while my future home may have some fabulous space filled with every beautiful dish my heart could imagine, I don’t need that house before I can set a beautiful table today.

I think sometimes we make our dreams all or nothing. We tell ourselves that when we have the house, the money, the business, the land, the relationship, the freedom, or whatever the big vision requires, then we will start living that life. But what if the dream isn’t only the final picture? What if pieces of it are available right now? My whiskey collection is a piece. My seasonal dishes are a piece. Hosting my girlfriends is a piece. Learning about things that fascinate me is a piece. Creating community is a piece. Every one of those little things carries something from the life I see for myself, even though the entire vision hasn’t arrived yet.

And maybe that’s what I’m learning in this season. I don’t have to shrink the massive vision. I don’t have to convince myself that I don’t want the compound, the land, the beautiful spaces, the stable, the vineyard or whiskey distillery, or any of the other delicious things I can imagine. I can want ALLLLLL of it. But I also don’t have to spend my life waiting to arrive there before I let myself experience the yummy. I can ask myself, What piece of that life is available to me now? Maybe I can’t have 12,000 bottles today, but I can lovingly choose the next one. Maybe I don’t have the enormous gathering space yet, but I can invite my girlfriends over and pull out my lemon dishes. Maybe the big dream is still becoming, but so am I.

So I’m giving myself permission to live inside the dream while I’m still building it. To collect the pieces. To create the experiences. To enjoy what is available now without believing that enjoying now means I’ve stopped reaching for more. I can be grateful for this version and still desire the massive one. I can build toward there while creating beautiful here. Because maybe the dream life isn’t something that suddenly begins one magical day when everything finally comes together. Maybe it starts every time I look at something I’ve been saving for someday and ask myself, How can I have a little bit of that yummy right now?

Love,
Your Most Magical Self ✨