Finding Your True North

Recently, I was asked to describe my style. My first thought? Easy! No problem! Errrr…or not. It should be easy, after all, it’s MY style. I figured it would help me if I looked around my house. This is what I got: buffalo skulls, tiki men, cowboy memorabilia, year round Halloween decor, year round Christmas lights, farm tables, wooden crates, shabby chic buffets, lace, leather, boots, heels, repurposed antique cribs. Needless to say, that didn’t help at all except to point me to the fact that I have no style. At least no indescribable style. And therein lies my style. Did that make sense? Probably not. But I did find a great picture of my very tough Pit Bull/Lab mix. He is my style.

So in order to describe my style to this person, I created a Pinterest Board. In case you live under a rock or are technically challenged (I’m honored that you found me!),  Pinterest is just pictures of interest that people from every walk of life post when something catches their eye. You can select a picture that you like and post it to your own portfolio, which is made up of Boards that you name. I went online, I scrolled away and searched, and tagged anything that I felt described my style. What a mess that board is. But it’s accurate and quite beautiful to me.

Then it happened. I found one picture that I could not ignore and fell instantly and madly in love with. The Magnolia Pearl Airstream (below). I can picture myself living in it. This woman GETS it, and has a life of inspiration to show for it. That sealed the deal. What deal, you wonder?

I have mentioned before that I’ve always thought that I would have lived my life on the road. I have an insatiable quest for knowledge. Usually the odd and irrelevant kind, but not always. I love to learn about people, cultures and nature from the source directly. My “Ford Pick Up Across The US” plan got changed up when I got preggers. Now I drag them along while I criss cross my way across this beautiful land. And I LOVE that. Eventually, however, they won’t want to do that with me (insert ridiculously sad face here). I’m going to have to have a plan that goes beyond my kids, my next year and my planned dinners for the week. I need to look on the horizon. So I did. And I saw myself on that horizon, in an Airstream, seeing the land that I love.


I instantly thought back to a conversation that I had months ago with my darling friend Chandra of The Earthfood Experiment fame. She mentioned that she had been assembling pictures, quotes, anything at all that she felt represented her future life, her dreams. And she knows without a doubt they will happen. She wrote a beautiful blog post about it, which you can find here.

I took some inspiration away from this talk that we had months ago, and I started my own on Pinterest. I assembled pictures as a “home base”. When I get annoyed with the recent budget plans I’ve put into place, I will look at these. I put this budget in place so that I can, in six months, live without debt. I’ve been in some sort of debt since I turned 18, which is almost 20 years ago. Not counting debt to my parents, monetary and otherwise, which is way too much to ever calculate. When I get impatient, I will look and remember that everything worth doing is worth waiting for. When I want some ridiculous, unneeded impulse buy, I will look. And what will I see…

I will see me in a vintage truck hauling a funky, personalized Airstream.  I will see myself pulling off in some town in some state, setting my laptop on the old linoleum countertop, drinking crappy diner coffee and writing another chapter of my book.  Reading emails from my kids, who will be forging their own paths by then.  At least after I drag them along with me for the next few years.  But I will see myself SMILING.


I can’t tell you how clear things have become for me since I started this. It’s keeping me on my money track, it’s fueling my fire to keep writing so that I can become a traveling author. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, I mean, they’re only pictures, right?


No. They’re more than that. They’re my goals, in print and in color.  I SEE myself living that life, and I’m insanely happy right now to continue forging my path right where I am.  Because now, it feels right. My compass has been set on True North.  

What’s your True North? I encourage you to find a way to put it on paper. Something tangible that you can hold in your hands. Put it into a book as Chandra has done, put it on Pinterest like I have, print it out and put something in your purse or pocket and open and unfold it during moments of crisis, because we’ll all have them.  We will all have moments of doubt, of despair and of challenges.  Redirect your thoughts and your negative energy. Put it into something worthwhile and channel that energy into something positive: down from your brain and your heart, down your arm and right into that picture you’re holding. And there you have it. Your Compass to your True North.