Why We Decided To Live In Hawaii For a Month

Every year Ben and I spend a chilly evening in January next to our fireplace with a glass of wine within reach and write down our goals. We write down our individual and team goals for both the year and long term. In January 2016, I wrote down that one of my long term goals was to live one month of every year somewhere else. I had no clue how we were going to achieve it at that point, where we would go or how we could make it happen. But I believe that when you write goals down and keep them at the top of your mind, God does some amazing work to make them happen.

So, this coming January, Ben and I are jetting off to Hawaii to live, work and rest for a whole month.

Here are the three main reasons why we decided to live in Hawaii for a month:

ONE:We stopped believing the norm that two weeks a year is sufficient for a vacation. 

As Ben and I have both walked along this entrepreneurial journey, we have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people who think differently. People who create the life they want to live. People who travel the world 100% of the time. And people who believe that the exciting things in life (like travel) shouldn’t be left until we’re retired and old. Ben and I have always been passionate about a wheels-up adventure and we finally created a way that we could travel more. Now, don’t get me wrong. We are going to be working while we are out there. We are not going to be going out to gourmet seafood dinners every night. But, we are at least doing jobs that we love in a place that is new and exciting to explore.

TWO: The best way to learn about a place is to live there. 

I have a heart for learning about new places and cultures. Every time I have the opportunity to stretch my biases and judgments the world becomes a little smaller (in the “I’m not as afraid of the world” sort of way). And from my experience studying abroad and living in Florence, Italy for four months, I have found the value in slowing down in a place. Because when you start to live, shop, cook and eat like locals you begin to have a greater appreciation and understanding. Even though Hawaii is not foreign by any crazy means, we are living in an area of Oahu that is 100% devoid of tourism (our AirBnB host made sure we knew that!). So we are going to be waking up, sleeping, shopping, cooking and eating like locals there. I can’t wait to learn how to cook some mean fish dishes for dinner!

THREE: We need rest and re-connection. 

This is probably our biggest reason for planning this trip. Ben and I have been working tirelessly for the past year and a half to make our businesses sustainable and able to help support our family. With that comes workaholic tendencies and quite a bit of exhaustion. Because we’ve put a lot of focus on our businesses we realized we haven’t been giving enough time to each other. I am using this time to learn what it actually means to slow down, to enjoy the things I never seem to have time for here (like reading and hiking), and to spend every second that I can with Ben. We just might put Costco out of wine with how much we plan to watch sunsets on the beach with a glass of wine in hand!

This whole month in Hawaii idea seems artificial. Like how in the world are we actually doing it? But, with a dream in mind and a plan in place this big dream of ours is less than two months away. I hope that this can inspire you to think outside of your box. What would you do if you could do anything? Would you travel like me? Would you be a stay at home mom? Would you start your own business? Write that dream down and tape it to your bathroom mirror – now look at it every day so you can start taking steps in that direction. Your crazy, Hawaii-sized dreams totally deserve to become reality!