1 YEAR WAKINGDREAM

We encountered this somewhat crazy pink flamingo on the first day of our journey at Klöntalersee in Switzerland. Today, exactly one year after, we passed a lake in Norway with the exact same Flamingo on it. The circle closes.

On July 30th a year ago, we started on our journey named WakingDream. With our project, we wanted to live our dream, wide awake – and thus inspire others to fulfil their own dreams. Not if, not later, but NOW.
 
So for 365 days (and about one more month to come), it became everyday life for us to share 10.5 square meters as a family of four in a self-built mobile home that still turns heads everywhere we go to. 
 
Space
Sharing this little space was hard for me, Karin – especially in the beginning. There is no more hiding away and claiming room for yourself. The driver’s cabin is our only place to withdraw. It is not comfortable there. But it’s good enough for a phone or even a coaching call, when the weather is bad and the outside is not serving as an extra living room. (Thank God Zoom and Skype offer the possibility to insert background pictures during video calls!)
 
No more hiding away. Not from the others, not from your own feelings, not from old wounds that are sure to pop up when you can’t run. So we screamed at each other and we cried with each other. And more and more, we gave up resistance, calmed down and were at ease with each other. 
 
Family
Luca and Lou were doing fantastic! Waking up from old patterns and conditionings is not an issue for them. They are awake. They played with their Lego robots (thanks, Götti Rolf!) and with their stuffed animals, jumped from high cliffs, swam in ice-cold waters, or trained to do the somersault on the trampoline. When there was no playground around, they made nature their playground. 
 
We did not force them to sit down and learn. They studied with learning apps, listened to audible books (Harry Potter and all Lindgren classics) or read themselves. And they learnt from what they saw and experienced.
 
Most of the time, they were one heart and one soul. Every now and then, they wanted to (and did) hit each other – and instantly calmed down when the storm was over.
 
We love to be together as a family. We have become more tolerant with each other. Our love for each other has grown, we became even closer than before. At the same time, it will be good that we will all have more space when living in a house again.
 
Letting go
So what have we learnt?

We have learnt to be flexible and simply take what comes. Whatever camping site (or no camping site at all), whatever shower (or no shower at all), whatever Internet connection (or no connection at all), whatever weather, whatever place to sleep at night (we always found a good spot!).
 
We have also learnt that it is easy to live with a minimum amount of stuff. We have learnt to let go: of attachments, of living in beloved places where we have long lived, of talking to friends and family every day. 
 
Friends
Friends… We have found new ones on this journey. On special occasions, there was an encounter that was rich and touching for one day, for some weeks, maybe even for life. We are so grateful for meeting you wonderful people! 
 
And we are grateful for the friends that followed us on this journey: who sometimes inquired how we are doing, who liked our (frequent) Facebook and (rare) Instagram posts, whom we talked to via FaceTime or Skype every now and then. It feels so good that you are there!
 
Places
Oh, the places we have seen! We soon realized that there is enough to see in Europe alone to fill several years, so we would not visit other continents during our journey. During the last 12 months, we saw well-known countries like Austria and Germany, countries we have seen for the first time – like Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Albania –, and countries we have seen before, but with new eyes now: Greece, Italy, France, Sweden and Norway.
 
Where have we liked it best? It comes down to the experiences we made in these countries, like meeting new friends. We so did at the Soča in Slovenia (hallo Astrid, Florian, Lily und Luzy!), in Croatia and Bosnia (hallo Martin!), in Montenegro (hey Sofia and Martin Bosse Barnabas!), in Leonidio on the Peloponnes (hey Jorn, looking forward to seeing you soon again!), and in Norway (hello Emilia, Petter and Jannie!). Plus of course my all-time favorite, Sweden (hello Daniel and your lovely twin daughters!), and the lovable people at Zugspitz Resort in Ehrwald, Austria.
 
And once again, we learnt something: That all places resemble “home” in one way or the other. 
 
Settling down
At the same time, we feel that now it is time to settle down and ground ourselves again. We all feel like having our own place – close to the mountains and close to a town center where we can have a coffee and easily meet other people. Luca will have his dog and be a member of a ski club, Lou will have her two bunnies, we will have our garden with our own home grown food.
 
Where? We do not know yet. That is part of letting go. Letting go of knowing the why and the way, letting go of planning, letting go of all sorts of security. Every day, we invite life to live us. 
 
Present and future
Sometimes, this is the hard part. We then ask ourselves how the heck we will manage to find a good way and place for our children to learn after this journey. In strong moments, we let go of the idea that they “have to learn” at all – and are confident that they will learn everything they need by themselves, driven by their own interest and skills (yes, we know, this is quite radical and triggering).
 
We ask other questions beginning with “What will be?”. These are the moments when we feel weak and fearful. These are the moments when we do not live in the now, but in the future. However, these moments have become rare – even at the crossroads that we steer towards to now. 
 
A treasure of experience
So, was it worth it? 
 
Oh man, YES it was! This year will remain unforgettable in our minds and hearts. We reduced our money – and gained a treasure of experiences instead. We feel connected with all there is. We got to know ourselves like never before. Luca and Lou have blossomed and are full of life and self-confidence. 
 
And we are full of trust and satisfaction that we dared to just do it. Not dreaming anymore, but being wide awake.