Here we are, our bus is parked in between Lincoln and Omaha Nebraska. A month ago, we would have never guessed that we would be here of all places. In fact, we were headed to New Orleans! While we were performing in New Ulm, MN, Joshua decided to take on an electrical job to help pay for our baby goal. However, just a week after arriving we discovered we no longer needed to raise money for the baby goal. Now what? Well, we had a hole in our band schedule, for about a month and a half, that was originally planned for me to recover from surgery and now I didn't need that either. Joshua decided he wanted to keep his commitment to the new job. Earning some really great money while I decided to focus on building our tour and planting seeds here in the Nebraska area. We decided this was just what we needed to start the year off in a good financial position. Shifting our focus to making repairs, bus maintenance and putting funds in our account will put us on a very strong start for the new year! Heck we may even get the opportunity to write some music while we are here! The weather was super nice when we arrived and that made it easy to believe his work days would be fairly tolerable and soon we would be on our way again. Well, you know what they say "make a plan and watch God laugh" lol. Joshua's first week of training was a dream, a really nice hotel, 8 hour days, it was still fairly warm, he had a ride to training and it was indoors with awesome lunch provided by the company, then happy hour with his new work buddies after work. All this, while I had the mini van and the freedom to do errands, meet with venue prospects, use the beautiful exercise facilities, swim in the pool, make calls from a very comfortable hotel room and practice my guitar. That week was spectacular!!! Training is over now, we head back to the bus to prepare for cold weather as the RV park has warned they will shut off our water if we do not prepare our bus to their specifications. Oh boy!! Joshua literally finished the cold weather preparations just in time!!! A major cold front moved in, we were scrambling to do everything we could inside the bus to keep it insulated and warm. As many of you may know, our bus is not really set up for cold temperatures because our original plan was to follow the sun in 75 - 80 degree temps all year around!!! So, we improvised with what we had on the bus and purchased cheap pillows to block cold air from seeping into our return air vents. Blankets and pillows on the floor, it looks as if we have created our very own fort and it collapsed LOL! WOW!! I am so grateful Joshua is so handy and hard working, we have running water and enough heat to get us through this!!! So much for writing new music, long 10 hour days in the cold is very exhausting....there will be more time for this soon!
So, here comes the motivation part. While Joshua is bundled up in warm clothes, getting up at 4am to leave for the job site by 5am. He is reminded of why he chose to leave the electrical field three years ago once again. For the past three years we have been living our best life, doing what we love. It hasn't always been a bed of roses and we love what we do. Joshua and I have been sharing lots of conversations around lessons in life lately. I was sharing with him and others recently, that I believe we will be presented with the same opportunities to learn over and over again until we learn the lesson and choose to do something different. I believe this shows up in faith, trust, scarcity thinking....whatever it is, situations will show up to test us. There have been many times since we left the trade three years ago that Joshua has been offered construction and electrical job opportunities. Joshua keeps telling me and others that he doesn't want to return to the trades. He explains it is hard on his body, it doesn't bring him joy, he feels that he loses momentum and focus on what he really wants. And yet, when offered the opportunity to do it again, here we are. However, I can tell you this, this time "feels" different. Over the past week, Joshua has been sharing with me how grateful he is for the life that we have created when we are traveling and performing together. He feels and is sharing that he is excited to focus more on writing books, telling stories, writing music and performing. I feel the shift in his energy and can hear the difference when he talks about our future!!! He shares with me that this experience, although he is grateful for the funds it is putting into our bank account, is also motivating him to build "his" future instead of building a future for someone else.
During this experience, I have chosen to support Joshua in this journey and his decision to go back to work. Now, I was also very honest with him too. I was not thrilled to be going to Nebraska in November or that he was choosing to return to a trade I know it doesn't make him happy. However, I will be here to love on him, cook hot, healthy meals, do whatever errands need to be done, make his lunches, book more tour dates and do whatever it takes to be by his side while he works his butt off for us! I know in my heart his intentions are good, he is not trying to make us suffer and we are still learning life's lessons together.
I too, have used the cold conditions here as motivation! While he is working in the cold, I am working to build our future. I am dreaming and creating a vision for where we will be next year at this time. I see warm beaches, big audiences, lots of dancing, sleeping in, quiet mornings with coffee and great conversations, supported by a wonderful team of visionaries and friends!!! These dreams get me up in the cold morning and motivate me to make cold calls, send emails, research, more marketing and promotions!!! Through it all, I have learned, how can you use what you have right now to change your future?!?! For now, I am using the cold winter weather as motivation to get me to the beach!!! Time to make more calls ;)