This was going to be the year! A year to celebrate milestones and new beginnings, minimize and travel more. I was ready to take my passion for nature and animals in a new direction by starting a new blog. We have years of experience – and amazing memories – traveling on a budget and especially enjoy camping, canoeing, snorkeling, hiking, searching for fossils and cooking over a fire – with our dogs. By sharing our favorite photographs and stories, travel tips and recipes, I hope to inspire and motivate others to do more of what they love. Determine what really matters – and what doesn’t.
“Be content. Be happy. Simplify. Enjoy more. Take the trip!”
2020 was on track to be one of the best yet! We spent every opportunity we had camping, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors with our three German shepherds. I was excited to practice living a more nomadic life and sharing our adventures along the way. Nature allows you to clear your head and hear yourself think and is the perfect place to reflect and get creative. It’s my happy place. I decided on the name, Awes & Paws, to encompass my two passions – Nature and Animals. I secured the domain www.awespaws.com, created an LLC, and designed a logo. I was on a roll!
By March, I was ready to buckle down and write my first blog. Around that same time, the virus started to peak and schools and businesses shut down. Suddenly, life as we knew it changed – and the reality is, it may never be the same. Given the magnitude of the times, starting a blog now seemed trivial. How do you promote travel and living life to the fullest during a global pandemic? How do you encourage people to be content, be happy and take risks in such difficult and uncertain times?
Not to mention… Creating a blog is a lot of work! WHY do I even want to do this?
Oh, and BTW, I’m not exactly a blogger. HOW am I going to do this??
Like many, due to the pandemic, I started working from home. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Not having to commute to an office and fewer social commitments requiring me to appear in person gave me an extra few hours a day. Win-win, right? But with it came an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs – with a lot of downs – and that roll I was on lost all momentum. I didn’t know how to move forward, so I didn’t. I was stuck. There are a number of reasons why I didn’t write a single thing in seven months. Lack of time isn’t one of them. Somehow puttering in the garden, feeding the birds and squirrels, taking a walk with my dogs or simply watching them sleep seemed more important. And in a way, it was. But really, I had more time than ever. The fact is, in the fog of 2020, I lost sight of my WHY.
Your WHY is what motivates you, what inspires you. It’s what keeps you going when you don’t want to keep going. It’s your purpose, your passion. It’s your North Star. And sometimes in the chaos of life, we can lose sight of it.
“If you ever lose sight of your WHY, it’s important to pause for a moment, take the time you need to get your bearings and adjust course if needed – just as you would the North Star.”
Somehow the summer (and spring and well, most of fall) flew by. Not a day passed that I didn’t think about writing something, anything, to move forward.
MY WHY
A very quick, and ever so slight, cool front reminded me it’s almost camping season here in Florida. Soon we’ll be back to camping in the woods, hiking with dogs, cooking over a campfire and waking up to the sound of birds – back to nature!
My ultimate goal, my dream, MY WHY… is to work and journal from the road and travel with our dogs. I visualize mountains reflecting on a still lake as we hike along a path made by wildlife. It reminds me of that special day in Yellowstone when it hit me, and I realized all that beauty is out there, just waiting to be explored – and it’s up to me to make it happen.
While it’s definitely not for everyone, I do believe it’s for us. How do I know? Because this crazy idea of living like nomads has been like a bright light at the end of this tunnel. And on days it seemed we lost our way, it was there to guide us and put us back on course — just like the North Star.
So, for me, my first blog post is a big deal. It means I’m no longer stuck – and it means I’m one step closer to my dream – and that’s exciting!
When you find your WHY, you’ll find your HOW. Then, just like everything else in life, set your course and keep moving forward — one step at a time, one day at a time – until you get there. And always, remember to enjoy the journey!
Have you discovered YOUR WHY? What is it? What are you doing about it?
