We all have dreams, and to manifest our dreams we need goals. These are the markers on the path towards those dreams.

My dream is to live a sustainable life with the woman I love.

My goal is to purchase a smallholding where self-sufficiency, while living within our means from the land, does not take from the earth but rather supports it.

Our relationship is somewhat unusual. I am in the UK and she is in Australia. 2020 was the year for our adventure to begin, but as you know it has not been the year we thought it would be.

This year for health reasons, I decided to quit my job. I began realising, even though my job was making me unwell in the physical and emotional realm. It was also distracting me from tasks I desired to accomplish.

Between quitting work, ordering books and these few weeks of pottering around, I can clearly see the scale of the tasks in front of me. Moving to Australia and how to live sustainably.

There are so many first steps we all can take towards every dream we desire. Through the admittance of what I lack in knowledge and understanding, helps leapfrog me to realities I need to learn from those who know and have walked this same desire before me. 

Even here in the city there are ways to start the journey. Stepping away from the convenience of the prepackaged and plastic wrapped and utilising the ‘local’ butcher and greengrocer.

My end goal of the smallholding will be far from convenient, so to start now being ‘local’ brings me back to an appreciation of the true value of food. 

And here I stand, mid point in my life. Leaning on lessons learnt in my young adult life to guide me through what is before me in the coming second half.

The happiest memories were when I was in the wilderness, listening to the sounds of the wild. Sensing the earth beneath me, surrounding my being. In the silence of writing this, I reflect on how much it’s equipped my inner dream.

As my life kept moving, choices seemed to remove me further from nature, my life full of the noise of work and bills, and the flotsum and jetsum of the modem world.

It’s quite funny how timing mixed with significant events collide life and people together. My lil Aussie, from the moment we first spoke, challenged me, stopped me in my tracks. She awoke something which had been long dormant in me.

Even this subtle shift was unclear to me, my life went on as it always had. It was only after a personal tragedy did I stop to see the signs, forced to acknowledge my awakening and embrace our worth in my life.

Within all this, the 10,768 miles no longer holds a gap. It ignited and guided my happiness. I know, I want to live a sustainable life. I know who I want to live it with. Through this deeper understanding of nature, from my youth, my dream is sustained. 

Thank you so much.