How I Made My Dream Beach Life A Reality

The most commonly asked question I get asked is, how did you end up at the beach? My answer is usually I quit my job and moved her because I had always wanted to live by the ocean. The answer is a little bit more complex than that although that short sentence sums it up nicely. Today I'm going to tell you the story of how I ended up with this awesome beach life. It took a lot of guts and a little bit of luck as you will soon see.

In early 2013 I was toiling away at a job I hated, I had worked at the same company in Charlotte, NC for 12 years and while the benefits were awesome the day to day work environment bordered on abusive at times. Around the end of February I got sick, sick enough to end up in the hospital for seven days while Tyson took care of Little K at home. The diagnoses was ulcers in my esophagus and stomach, no cause found.

Every doctor in the world can tell me stress doesn't cause ulcers and I will call every one of them a bald face liar. Going to work at a job you hate everyday for years is stressful and stress affects your health. While I was in the hospital I was told that I after I was released I would have to be out of work another two to four weeks which meant I had to file for time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act. That meant we would almost drain our savings paying for medical bills and 2 to 4 weeks of unpaid leave from work.

I had specifically set aside that money for a beach relocation which I had actively been pursuing, I'd went so far as to contact companies on the cost of North and South Carolina that did work similar to what I was already doing to see if anyone was hiring.

While I was out on leave my direct supervisor put in his notice leaving me no buffer from the abuse of upper management. I decided I wasn't going back either if I could help it, Tyson, Little K, and I got in the car and headed for my sisters house on the coast to see if we could find work for Tyson since I was almost tourist season. Meanwhile I called every business contact I'd ever made looking for any type of work leads.

Tyson got a job and I got a lead on a possible work from home job. Tyson's check alone wouldn't be enough to hold us for long but it would be enough to hold us until I found local full/part time work or until my work from lead panned out. It was enough for me, I turned in my two week notice and never looked back.

For three months we lived in a house with only power and water, no cable TV and no internet. We scrapped and scrounged but we have never been happier. We ended up having to borrow a little bit of money from my sister to make it through the last couple of weeks until my work from home job finally came through.

I learned a couple of things over those months of job quitting and dream following.

• Living broke and happy is better than living miserably with money
• Big risks sometimes come with big rewards
• Your dreams don't happen on there own you have to make them happen

I've lived here for just shy of 2 and a half years, I've never one time regretted what I gave up to be here. I give thanks every single day that I've been given the opportunity to live my dream life in a place I love.

Have you ever taken big risk that ended with big rewards? What are you doing today to actively make your dream happen?