It’s morning in Denver. We slept in after a night celebrating our move out of Colorado with some of our dearest friends. Our room sits next to a stunning cherry oak tree, and the morning light is sprinkling in through the leaves— past our Juliet balcony and into our room. That moment right before our movers came is one I’ve documented in my memory to remember how special The Fort v5 was for us.

A note about The Fort: this became the name of our home when we lived in San Jose back in 2015. We had just moved to California for the first time and our apartment was really the only place we felt safe in—a refuge from the world—so we named it The Fort. And the name stuck.

Isaac and I are no strangers to moving. In the last eight years, we’ve moved six times. Some folks have asked me, “why do you move so much?” I don’t think I have a solid answer to that, other than we follow where our souls are leading us and sometimes that means moving. We’re really fortunate to own and operate a completely remote company so we have the freedom to move and travel as often as we want.

We moved to Denver after we had just started traveling abroad full-time and COVID-19 hit. It was a shock, having to completely pivot from long-term traveling to renting a home to stay safe in.

And that’s what our Denver experience was for us: a safe haven during a time when we had no plans to stay put. We really experienced The Fort v5. Being there every single day for the first ten months of renting it gifted us with the experience of getting to know a place and truly making it our own—our vibe, our essence, our lives, manifested in a space. I started my empowerment coaching in that home, we launched our podcast Empowered Human Academy in Isaac’s studio, skinny-dipped in our hot tub during a snowstorm, hosted socially-distanced hangouts on our porch, hosted an Instagram take-over for Whole30 in the kitchen, and I gave keynote speeches from my office. A lot of our personal and professional growth happened in that space.

Times of transition invite us to reflect back on moments that changed us. And even though we’re used to moving every few years, that doesn’t take away from the special opportunity to reflect and be grateful for the special times we’ve had in our homes. I think the opportunity to reflect never gets old because we intentionally build our homes and create spaces where we feel safe, peaceful, and expansive. A lot of life happens at home—it’s a sacred place where we dwell and love and make love and dream and argue and explore ideas and share meals with loved ones and heal and live. And that’s what happened in The Fort v5, even in the midst of such a chaotic time in human history. I’m grateful.

Why did we move? What’s next?

There are many reasons, but we’re moving primarily to have space to explore more. We wanted to become more nimble, physically, as we venture into more travel experiences. The last two years have really encouraged me to think about how I want to live my life, what’s important to me, and what adventures I want to embark on. So that’s where we are headed—a cozy little beach cottage in Laguna Beach, which we love dearly, and an open road. In a sense, we’re returning to the energy of when we were traveling full-time, but with a peaceful home base in beautiful Southern California to rest and recharge in.

I am really looking forward to seeing how our life unfolds both in California and on the road. We have friends and colleagues all over the world who we’re excited to visit and create more memories with. We’re alive and well and I’m so curious to see and experience what magic lies ahead.

Bye.

Reflections From The Road