Vanlife in New Zealand looks like this.. | Journal 41

We have just started on our first overnight hike since we landed in New Zealand five months ago which was wild but it is such a beautiful hike already. We're following the perilous track along this river which is just like crystal clear emerald water and just that feeling of the fresh air knowing you have like a long adventure ahead of you. Yeah it's just us, our little family and nature and no one else around. It's just literally the best feeling in the world. Yeah, so excited. New Zealand is constantly blowing our minds and Finney gets to be here too. We got a dock permit so he's allowed to come with us on this hike and yeah far out like camping and overnight adventures are so much more fun when you get to take your little fluffy friends with you. He loves it. You're right buddy. You're so tired. You did such a good job. The weather has been getting really cold like we are well and truly in our descent to winter and yeah this van isn't that well insulated so it's been icy but it's also been kind of nice to just cozy up, put all the layers on, drink lots of tea and just go really slow. Yeah we've been traveling super slowly recently it's just feels like what we should be doing with the seasons and just what my nervous system and my heart has needed so yeah we've been parked up by the ocean a lot and it's been really just really nice to surrender to just the descent into winter and my own in a winter and just yeah be okay with the stillness not always needing to move forward and be doing more and more and more. I was just looking back through my journal this morning. This is the thing I love about journaling is you can just flick back to like any time in your life and be like oh that's right I remember I was moving through that or that or kind of always get like words of wisdom and inspiration from your past self and I found this one entry that I wrote at the very start of the year and it really just hit me in my core and I'll just read a little passage of it too. It says I often get so caught up in the fear of losing control of this beautiful life I have created knowing that any day in any moment the phone could ring and the entire world could shatter beneath me knowing that I've never actually really had any control at all so perhaps the more beautiful way of looking at it is not how could I not live in fear but how could I not live in presence knowing this all if time is so fleeting which it is and every moment we have is so precious then how could I not hold my loved ones a little tighter truly spending quality time with them enjoying every moment in their presence how could I not live my life fully and chase all of my weird and wild dreams and just enjoy the ability to chase them how could I not do so many things be so many things love with my whole heart with no agenda but love feel it all and embrace this gift of life how could I not how could I not really just sums up how I've been feeling recently and just that the key to living a beautiful heart-centered life really is presence and whenever you feel lost or unsure which I have been feeling so much recently just coming back to the present moment and taking a deep breath and realizing how much beauty there is right here and that everything has always worked out up until now and it will continue to do so and you don't need to have all of the answers all you really need to do is just love with your whole heart and be present with the people you love and with yourself and everything else will inevitably fall into place we ended up spending a couple of weeks in this little coastal town we were parked up by the ocean watching the sun slowly rise over the sea each morning in awe as it dripped its golden light across the mountains we spent the days surfing hiking meeting new friends and intentionally each passing day it felt as if it was steadily getting colder and colder the hours of light were visibly shortening but the weather gods blessed us with lots of autumn sun while we were here which we were so grateful for to be honest with you I've been finding living out of a van extremely uncomfortable these past few months as I've been navigating a lot in my internal world and as we're making our descent into winter I'm really feeling a big pull inside of me for a change for a little more comfort and stability at least for a little while