Life on a Homestead: Part 2 - Leaping into the Unknown
Where did we leave off?? Oh yeah, I had just gotten my apprenticeship with Zad at chapel hill forge and started helping with all of the homestead chores! Things were going awesome right up until the winter of 22'. This was the time that I learned me and the guys I shared a house with were about to be evicted for no reason 3 months before our 1 year lease was up. Now my gears were turning, where would I live? Would it be close to work? And would I be moving into my own place potentially sealing me into a long lease that I didn't want? Thankfully we all had about 2-3 months to figure all this out. So until then, I figured I would keep on working and saving for whatever life change came my way!
I'd say it was about a month or so before the eviction date that Zad had approached me while we were forging. Asked me if I had found anywhere new to live and how that whole situation was going. So I told him that I still hadn't found anything yet and tension between us roommates was getting even more uncomfortable. Well now he went on to say that they had also been looking for a new home and that they found a couple places that they were gonna check out that weekend. My natural thought was, "Great, now I'm out a place to live and my blacksmithing apprenticeship". I was genuinely happy for them and hoping they could find something really neat! But if I said I wasn't a bit sad, I'd 100% be lying. It wasn't long until they texted me on the victory of finding a place and told me it was close to a 2 hour drive north. My heart sank knowing that I definitely couldn't swing driving 4 hours twice or even once a week for that matter. The move day was a ways off still so I still had time to apprentice a little bit longer.
Upon my next visit, Zad and I had a talk about everything that was happening and moving forward. To my great surprise, he asked if I'd like a new adventure. I wasn't sure where this conversation was leading but I liked what I was hearing! So I asked what the adventure was. Prior to my visit, him and Mandy had a discussion about me and the new place and how I could still be a part of the goings on of the homestead. There solution was to invite me to live with them at the new house helping, learning, and building the company with them. In return I got free room & board with the ability to take time off for my hiking and occasionally going back to york to work and earn some spending money. It was literally the perfect opportunity!
To some this would have been a very difficult choice. Because leaving meant giving up a life of comforts as I would not be making consistent paychecks. I would have to live off what I had for as long as I could. If I wanted certain snacks, I'd have to buy them. If I wanted to buy new hiking gear, car repairs, gas, and food while out on trail. I had to learn how to be thrifty like my new roommates! I could usually make 1 month of work last me 5-6 months! In the end this turned out to be the best decision I could have made for the time that I was in! I learned so many new skills and adopted better work habits! Now I can never stay still! We were constantly improving ourselves and the homestead, every day from morning to night. It's exhausting for sure! But now I can't see myself living any differently! I love the crazy of always doing something! Now I of course if I feel completely worn out I'll take part of a day to relax or take a nap. But usually I'll still get antsy so I'll go for a couple mile walk or work on editing video content (or a blog article!).
So my challenge to all of you reading this is what are you doing about the leap into your unknown territory? Do you feel it resonate deep down in your spirit? I want to challenge you to just jump all in and have faith that the details will work themselves out! Where that adventure leads will always surprise you. It will be good and bad, but through both you will grow and become a better version of yourself than you were the day before! You'll never move forward if you don't turn that fear into courage! I wouldn't be who and where I am if I didn't say yes and go all in. I wouldn't have half the new networking contacts either, some of which are key to moving into my next phase of life and discovering my next adventure!
Just Do It! You Got This!
Lionheart Signing Off,
7/12/24