We are now down to less than two weeks to take off and live the life we’ve been working toward for many years. People are very intrigued with what we are about to do because it is not the norm. We have been asked lots and lots of questions and received some interesting comments about how and why we are moving to Puerto Rico. The below are a few of them along with our responses.
Why are you leaving? And why Puerto Rico?
For short conversations in which we have just a few moments to boil it down, we say simply: a lifestyle change. For longer conversations we talk about all the reasons that led us to Puerto Rico, as I have written here. In essence we basically say we have never lived anywhere other than Colorado so we want to experience a new climate, area and culture. We want to have new adventures and life experiences. For three quick reasons about how Puerto Rico fits us in particular I say: 1) Puerto Rico is a tropical island 2) It is Spanish and English speaking 3) It is part of the U.S. but distinct culturally.
Invariably, the next questions make me laugh a little inside.
So, when are you moving to Costa Rica?
Ok, I get it. Puerto Rico and Costa Rica kind of sound the same with the whole Rico/Rica thing. But come on! They are two entirely different places. There are some similarities, just as there are some similarities of America and Australia including that they both begin and end with the letter “A” but they are very distinct and different places. For a quick geography lesson, Costa Rica is in Central America. Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean. Oh and we are moving on September 23!
Similarly, we hear:
I bet it’s going to be hard to leave the U.S.
Again, this just shows most Americans’ complete lack of understanding of geography of even American territory. Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. It is considered a commonwealth or a “free associated state”. It is still much more “foreign” than I assume moving to Idaho or Illinois would be, but it really is still American soil.
It may very well be difficult to adjust, but that discomfort is part of the reason we are doing it. Comfort only keeps you comfortable. That is not where memories and good stories are made (or blog fodder! 🙂 ). We are completely ready to try out this new lifestyle. We are soooo excited actually.
Will you have jobs there? What will you do?
This is one of the most common questions we get. No. We are leaving our paid jobs in Colorado and moving there job-free. We may, or may not, get traditional “jobs” there.
We are challenging the notion of “jobs” just as we challenge the concept of “retirement“. Jobs, in our world, will be whatever we decide to do that day.
It may entail fixing up the cabana or wood house -like painting, remodeling kitchens and bathrooms, building a deck and new roof, hiring contractors, removing killer bees and rats and bats from the walls. It may involve gardening and farming activities -clearing the ground, planting food crops like pineapples, avocado trees, banana trees, citrus trees, dragon fruit, peppers, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc or raising animals like chickens, goats, bees or even ostriches. Our “job” may be to rent out space on our property in the cabana or maybe even in a treehouse. Our job may be to take food to the farmer’s markets around or just park our truck on the side of the road and sell stuff. Our job on some days may be to just play in the ocean, swimming, paddleboarding, surfing, snorkeling, diving, fishing, boating. Our job on some other days may be to set up a computer server or teach English or Spanish or volunteer for some of the various great causes. Or it could be to just go to a party or throw one!
Basically, our job will be to create daily the life we love to live!
Wow, you’re lucky!
We love to hear this one. It feels good to think of yourself as a “lucky” person. And there are some aspects of luck to this. We lucked out being born to our great, supportive families. We lucked out finding each other. We lucked out having a nice, steady career. We lucked out in finding our specific property in Rincon. And we appreciate so much all of these and other great random chance things.
But really, this isn’t about luck. We didn’t just randomly stumble upon this life we are living. We have chosen very carefully all along the way. We have jumped upon and taken advantage of the random, lucky shots we have been given. In our garden of life, we have nurtured the aspects we wanted to grow bigger and weeded out the parts we didn’t. We didn’t win the lottery or get any sort of inheritance money or property. We did this, are doing this, because we had the goal to do it! We have never let go of the end goal even when sometimes it was tough going. With determination and persistance, much more than luck, we have helped to cultivate our life the way we want to live it. We firmly believe the life you are in right this instant, for better or worse, is the one you ultimately created.
Oh, I couldn’t do this. You’re much braver than me. (Or) You can only do this because you don’t have kids.
Now, I think this is more of a reflection on the people that say this than on the ability to actually do this. They haven’t probably worked the dream-to-reality manifestation muscle in a while or they are so ingrained with what is currently in their lives they think it is actually holding them back. The truth is, the only thing holding you back from whatever you want to create is: YOU!
Having kids can certainly change your choices because you now have someone besides yourself to look after and think after, but people live all over the world in all sorts of circumstances with kids! Why are you limiting yourself? If we had kids we would still be doing this. In fact, I would love to raise a kid in this type of environment where anything is possible instead of the standard game. If you have a dream, go after it! After all, isn’t this what we want to teach our kids? And the best way for them to learn this is from our example. Don’t let kids, or jobs, or health insurance or whatever block you have hold you back from getting out there and playing in this crazy game of life. These are convenient excuses and nothing more. Make a plan. Get buy-in from the other players. Work towards it. But do it! Give it a go! We always say, what’s the worse that can happen? We come back and get jobs and do it all again. But at least we dreamed and we did it! You CAN too!