Self Imposed Exile

When we first thought up the plan to leave Colorado and go have an adventure in small town midwest living, I honestly believe that we had a romantic view of this type of lifestyle. Much like the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm things did not necessarily turn out the way we would have idealized. The whole thought process was to move up here, be close to our niece and nephews while enjoying the cheap cost of living and getting completely out of debt. Note, no wiggle room for life, karma or the universes sense of humor. Rather than give a chronilogical throw-down of what happened when and what we felt (boring), I would rather like to highlight some lessons we have been forced to learn. So, without further ado, our lessons from exile.

Dear Wisconsin,

Let me start by thanking you for all that you have given us throughout the last four and a half years. While we may not have seen eye to eye on numerous things, I want to write you this thank you letter to express my gratitude for where I am now and what I am now. I could never have anticipated the volume of lessons I/we would be forced to learn and appreciate.  While we tried to integrate into the local way of life we quickly found that would mean becoming something we both knew we were not. It is through this failed integration and subsequent months (and years) of exile I have found who I really am. What my non-negotiable are & most importantly what I want out of this lifetime.

It has been through hours and hours of solitude, professionally and personally, I have learned to love and value me. To appreciate what surrounds me, so thank you Wisconsin for sending so many wonderful examples of wildlife for me to appreciate. For the thunderstorms I watched in awe. For the snow that keeps everything looking so, well, white. (sorry that is the most decent I can be about WI winters, talk to me in June and I may have something more articulate to report).

It is through this adventure in learning that I found my passion for health & wellness because of, or in spite of (not really clear on which fits better) living in a high obesity area. Yet another example that the Universe is one cheeky bastard. Ha ha.. super funny. But still thankful, it has shown me to have conviction in what I know and believe is true regardless of how much I am mocked for eating & living healthily and working to help others find their wellness. Now looking back at all the times I felt the need to defend my self, my lifestyle, my choices or my beliefs and how much it hurt at the time, I am glad for those opportunities to be tested. Thank you WI for teaching me how to just be me, unapologetically me.

Adding in a dash of sap, thank you WI for showing me the things which are truly valuable in this life, things I genuinely feel I had lost site of before moving out of Colorado. The partnership I have with Dan is something akin to female urban myth. I did not know it was possible to be so in tune with another human being. To know that no matter what life crisis has befallen us (from appendix to work) that I will have someone there to walk with me through it all, is an amazing feeling that leaves me with a loss of words. Who knew it was possible to be in a relationship that is easy, ok so ya it takes some work but is still easy even when there is work to be done. We received so much support from my family when we moved, this has not wavered in the slightest, it seems illogical that having moved away from them I actually grew closer with them. It is through our exile that friends became family, and our family has become friends. To my extended non-blood related family, you know who you are and you know what you have done for us (me), and for that I am grateful.

In closing, I am every day filled with gratitude for my experience with this move and our new life, currently located in Wisconsin, the state I have grown to love. And, thank you to all the people who have shown me kindness both here and far away when I needed someone to listen to me bitch or to just give a little pep talk.

Respectfully,

Jen