Week 6: Life during “The Pause”
The thought of living on an island sounds very glamorous to many. One comment we get a lot as we explain our current adventure is “Wow, you are on a great year long vacation”! Yes, we live on a tremendously beautiful island, one we have loved to visit on vacations in the past. Yet, this experience is far from a year long vacation. Do we have the ability to head to the beach before and after our typical day… heck yes! Are our weekends spent exploring what this amazing island has to offer (outside of the current pause we are in)… most definitely!
We have also worked hard to establish solid routines here, develop a sense of normalcy for our children after removing them from everything they have known, continue to sustain and grow businesses and truly establish a life by design, not by default. We intentionally did not “take a vacation” as we arrived here, which most expected we would. We kept working as we were getting set up in our new life…simply because we didn’t want to start off with our minds primed that we are on vacation, and then have to turn the switch to the complete reality that we are not on vacation. Our first actual time off/vacation, where we disconnect is coming up over spring break.
Our hope is this video will give a glimpse into what a typical day looks like for us. It may come as a surprise to many, however, a typical day isn’t all that much different than it was previously. This life though is focused on experiences and taking the time to be present with one another. Gone is the hustle and bustle of moving from one thing to the next starting the minute of waking in the morning to your head hitting the pillow at night. We are becoming more and more intentional with our time, more present in our daily conversations and increasingly grateful for the little things in life. We are finding ourselves far more intentional about being connected to technology and disconnected from technology. Interestingly…it is making us far more present whenever we are in either zone.
What you won’t see this week that has also become our “norm” are making ice in ice trays, or the countless attempts at sweeping the floors whether it be to clean up sand, dust or food crumbs (thanks kids) to sweeping the endless small creatures back outside after they have found their way in the house yet again. We continue to be fascinated with lizards, frogs, snails (they are huge) and monkeys on a day-to-day basis. Hanging our clothes to dry and using our dishwasher only as a drying rack are amongst the others norms that we have established. The kids and Darren have also become excellent pool cleaners as they swim in the water and hand pick the leaves out of the pool.
We continue to love this country, the people of Barbados and the incredible warm welcome and warm wishes we have received from all of you across the world! We see you Barbados, UK, USA, Guyana, Canada, Netherlands and more…
Thanks for watching!
