Less Joneses, More Focus

 The journey up at Top Knot has been a lifetime goal. (As I started typing this, oddly enough, the iTunes song that started playing was "My Way"- Frank Sinatra...fitting) I remember the first time I took my son up to see the very early stages of progress, he said, "Holy shit, Dad! You're really doing it." Not sure he realizes what that meant to me.

Forever, even long before we moved to Montana, I talked about moving to Montana, buying a bunch of land with lodgepole pines, and building my "Jeremiah Johnson" cabin. Most of the time it was meant with, "Okay....sure dude...whatever." As far back as I can remember, I have dreamed of living in Montana. And now, luckily, I am living that dream.

It's MY dream. Nobody else's. When I was younger, I struggled with seeing what the Joneses had...I THOUGHT I wanted the big house, the expensive cars (I can't fit in most of them anyhow), the big parties and all that jazz. The older I get, the more I am realizing was that my jealousy wasn't of the stuff, but of the idea that they had achieved THEIR dreams and I wasn't getting to mine. I know people now with significant wealth and accomplishment and possessions and I truly couldn't be happier for all of them, but I'm not the least bit jealous or feeling lesser than. I am so thankful for finally....FINALLY getting "there". I am swimming in my dreams and enjoying the peace that comes with it.

The green envy rage monster used to occupy a lot of my mind and heart. That dude is homeless now. I am blessed to have what I have and have worked for. Life has thrown a great many obstacles at me. Some I made and others were put upon me, but I am proud of the steadfastness I have maintained.

My daughter and I were having a conversation about the cabin one day...back when a Home Depot bucket was the bathroom. She told me her friends thought the cabin was super cool, but they had questions about the bucket. I told her I was living like others wouldn't, but I knew where I was headed. She paused and said, "Dad......I'm the other people...I couldn't live like that." After the chuckle I told her I would put her up in a hotel when she came to visit. I now have a flushable toilet and will complete the plumbing throughout this year. It is a continuous work in progress.

I have had friends say, "Man...you're living my dream!!" Or "THE dream". I'm really not. I am living MY dream. And I hope everyone will go after theirs. Some will say, "I just couldn't do that...be so remote and removed." And I tell them, "I'm not asking you to. It works for me, but you do you." Had an uber driver in San Diego go ballistic when I told him I lived in a cabin up on the mountain away from everyone. He asked me, "What are you gonna do if you have a heart attack up there?!?!?" I replied, "I'll probably die up there and it's exactly where I would like to draw my last breath." That set him off. Wanted me to know he intends to live in his condo building where his neighbors know if he alters his routine the least little bit and will go out kicking and screaming if he can. I told him how happy I was for him. But he was insistent that I was making a huge mistake.

The less I worry about what others think or have or what their opinions are of my decisions, the more I find my peace and enjoyment. Whatever your goals and dreams are, go after them...relentlessly and unapologetically. 

At my condo, in Ecuador, our saying is "Encuentra tu felicidad." "Find your happy." Same holds true up at Top Knot. To hell with the Joneses. Follow your heart.