Sometimes it shows up early. You want something that does not match the script, and you can feel it in your body even when you cannot explain it. From the outside, it can look like confidence. From the inside, it can feel like standing alone with a belief that no one around you shares. Family and friends often respond in their own love language. They warn, question, joke, or get quiet, and the message underneath is the same: stay close, stay safe, stay familiar. That pressure does not just create doubt. It can create guilt, because choosing a harder path can feel like rejecting the people who chose the safer one. And there is another layer most people do not say out loud. When someone around them changes the rules, it forces a mirror, and that mirror is uncomfortable. What did the people closest to you say the first time you hinted you wanted a life that looks different?

Many people want a life they can take anywhere. Most stay put because old fears still hold weight. Which one resonates with you? (if I missed one - please add in Comments)

Most advice about change assumes it has to be dramatic!!!! You either go all in or you do nothing. That framing makes many reasonable desires feel unreachable. I often feel I'm alone, living in the middle, not trying to jerk my life around. Anyone else in the middle? The gap between where you are and where you want to be often feels large because it is imagined as one move. When that gap is broken into smaller steps, the nervous system responds differently. The decision becomes easier to make and easier to take the first step. Moving to a new place does not have to begin with selling EVERYTHING. It can begin with spending a weekend there and renting a place for a weekend/week. That experience provides information without forcing commitment. Wanting a more portable work life does not require QUITTING a job. It can start by asking/making one day a week remote. That small shift tests what is possible with very little risk. Small, reversible steps build trust in yourself. When trust increases, action becomes more natural, and momentum follows without feeling forced. In what area of your life could you experiment with ONE small step that would move you closer to the Portable Life you want?

Imagine the friction is gone. Money works. Work is stable. Location is flexible. No permission needed. All these hurdles you came up with - GONE! What would life look like for you? - What YOU want to do (Work) - Where YOU want to live (Physical Location) - Who YOU want to be/become (Self) - Who YOU want to hang with. (Others) ________________________________________________________________________________ To make it easy to answer, pick one lens and respond from experience or instinct: - Place: Would there be one home base, two, or none at all? - Work: What would stop being necessary? What would stay non-negotiable? - People: Who would be closer? Who would matter less? - Time: What would a typical week finally include or exclude? - Identity: What label or role would quietly fall away?

Many parents who moved a lot as kids want one fixed home for their own children. The intention is love and protection. The tradeoff is that some end up living in a place or job that drains them, while telling themselves it is “for the kids.” There is another version of “home” for a child. Think of a nine-year-old whose parents moved the whole family across Canada for a year, at 9 years old, so the kids could learn English. New city. New school. No English. No friends. Everything familiar is gone at once. From the child’s view, it felt like a punishment. There was no way to understand the decision. The parents could not explain it in a way that landed. Then something shifted. After a few months, classmates started coming over. By the end of the year, that child spoke a new language fluently and did not want to move back. The financial cost was high. The year looked irrational on paper. For years, the kids still did not see how it could possibly be worth it. No new bike this year, ski racing is too expensive - that year cost a lot of money, he was told. Only later, as an adult living and working in an English-speaking world, did the impact become clear. That one seemingly “selfish” choice from the parents created options, income, and a more portable life. Sometimes the most loving choice is the one that gets judged, misunderstood, or resented for a long time. Parents, friends, siblings, and partners often carry that weight. They hold the long view, knowing a choice is unpopular now but needed for the person they care about. My parents had to carry this weight from when I was 9 until I was 21, when I finally said: "Thank you!" Thank you for a second language. Thank you for showing what bravery looks like. Thank you for bringing adventure and travel into childhood. Thank you for modeling what real leadership is. Thank you for choosing what was right over what was easy. Thank you for being willing to be misunderstood for years. Thank you for giving a life that can move, not just a house that stays put.