When You Chase Your Dreams…

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Well over 7 years ago, before we had our kiddos, the hubby and I had big dreams of moving to Colorado.

We are native to San Diego, California, and although we love our hometown, something inside of us wanted to venture out and try something new. It was like this annoying itch that needed to be scratched! We almost had an opportunity to move to Colorado, about 5 years ago, but discovered that it just wasn’t the right time. We didn’t end up moving, and ever since that time, we constantly thought about and dreamed about moving to Colorado.

Fast forward to a year ago, when a perfect opportunity came for us. Our dreams were knocking, and we had to let them in! Hubby and I discussed our pros and cons in great length, and also considered how it might affect our girls leaving their friends and their Grandparents. Ultimately, we decided that they were young enough to have an adventure, and since we homeschool anyway, what a perfect time to take this journey. We had an extremely short timeframe to make the choice, so we seized the day, and accepted the challenge. We were fulfilling our dreams and moving to Colorado! Fortunately, we sold our house in California rather quickly, so we moved ourselves and our whole entire lives to the Springs. (you can find some moving tips here)

It’s hard not to love the great state of Colorado.

The mountainous scenery is picture perfect, and living in Colorado Springs is like living in the perfect medium sized town. Not too small, and not too large. In fact, I think it’s hilarious when people tell me that it’s too far of a drive from Falcon to the Monument area… when driving from one side of San Diego to the other can take up to two hours, depending on traffic.

We are also loving the seasons that Colorado has, even if the weather can be unpredictable and bi-polar at times. I could go on and on about why we love Colorado, but the year that we have had here, hasn’t exactly worked out like we planned.

You see, I am very much a type-A, organized planner, and I need to have my life as planned out as possible. I realized that moving here would throw a serious wrench in that, but I was very optimistic about starting this new adventure. The first few months were extremely challenging, mentally and physically, and I certainly wasn’t prepared for that. Over the next few months, certain things kept getting harder, not only for me, but for the rest of the family.

When things happen that are out of my control, it’s hard to accept the fact that I cannot change what was already predestined for my life. My dreams weren’t becoming my reality and I went into panic mode. Things were getting hard, and I really wondered why we ever took that leap out of our comfort zone to chase the unknown.

I took some time to think about our situation, and I realized that life isn’t worth living if you don’t take chances! I know that we would have always regretted our decision if we never took the chance to move here and experience this wonderful town.

Where do we go from here? What do we do now? We followed our dreams, and they didn’t turn out as we expected. It was time to make some decisions and form some plan B’s.

We researched a few of the other options that were available to us here in Colorado, but those choices didn’t work out for us either. With every closed door, a new one opens. So the new plan, although it wasn’t ever a part of the original dream, is to move back home.

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Now it’s time to form some new dreams. It’s hard not to feel like we somehow failed in this adventure, but I know that our whole experience here is just another chapter in our book. I realize now that there is nothing wrong with having a blank page to write a new chapter, even if it means that we are starting over. I have learned from our experiences and those experiences have changed me for the better. I guess in the end, it’s not about how I “expected” our dreams to turn out. It’s really about being open to new experiences, and being open to making some new dreams!

xoxo- Jenna