Mom and Toddler Travel Country in Pursuit of Beautiful Dream
I got to meet Brittny and her son, Sirian, at a van life campout this summer
in Colorado. That weekend ended with many new and wonderful friendships,
and Brittny is certainly one of them. Check out her incredibly inspiring story
of how she and Sirian have gotten to where they are today.
@starseedstory
If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be living out of my van and traveling across the country with my toddler, I would have called you crazy. Yet, for the past two years, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
I spent most of my young life battling un-healthy habits and struggling with my weight. I was an incredibly depressed person, and I radically made fun of those who called themselves, “tree huggers”. Then in 2012, a big shift in my consciousness began to occur and everything in my life started to completely change gears.
I’d lost over 100lbs during a semester in college, but I soon found myself picking up new bad habits, instead of just over-eating. I was starting to drink, experimenting with drugs and I had also now picked up smoking cigarettes. I couldn’t understand what was the missing link to achieving inner-peace and calming my nervous system. But the divine works in powerful and mysterious ways to help us get on the right track and 2012 was one of those profound and powerful times that would help me evolve onto the better path. I became pregnant with my first child that year.
My partner and I had a nice house that we were renting in southern Arizona. I had a great job and my mom was eager to help me set up a nursery, but to my family’s total surprise, my boyfriend and I told them we’d purchased a small RV and we were going to live remotely in the wilderness for the duration of the pregnancy. The most significant motivation for this drastic move was to truly be in the healthiest environment for our baby; drinking fresh spring water and breathing in all that healthy mountain air. Plus, we wanted to be away from all of society’s distractions.
When you get back to a more simpler way of existing and spend most of your day out of all those man-made walls, exploring this earth and tuning into yourself, your soul gets reignited with inspiration, passion, and a dramatic healing occurs from with-in. You know that going back to who you used to be will never be the same…
The several months we spent in the wild together showed me how much I do love, honor, and cherish our mother earth. It made me want to live forever amongst the lush and beautiful forests, where every day is an exciting, new adventure…
The only thing I felt missing in our new lifestyle was community. I longed for supportive and good friends to be around. I dreamt of bringing back the ‘tribe’ and building a more harmonious life together. So, after my son was born, and when my partner and I ultimately split, I still decided to continue traveling with my baby, to meet with and learn from inspiring communities and eco-villages that currently exist on Earth.
My son and I have spent time in Hawaii, and then traveled in our van from the northern tip of Washington, down through the southwest and all the way to the east coast, reaching New York…Over the duration of this journey, I met so many wonderful people and saw firsthand the real benefits of creating intentional communities with others.
They are a solution to many of the real problems we face in our modern world today; not only are these eco-villages breathtakingly beautiful, but the people who are residents don’t just constantly take from the earth; they also give back by creating thriving, sustainable gardens and building homes that are usually off-grid and powered from alternative sources, like solar or hydro-power. These communities also help release the sting of loneliness, since there is always someone there to talk to, fun games to play, support for children, preparing meals together and open-hearted and intelligent discussions.
My dream is to establish my own eco-village, a beautiful retreat center to be a living example for the world on what alternative and sustainable lifestyles can look like. I believe it’s truly essential to continue to grow a network of these communities around the globe to help remedy the old system that no longer works and bring about positive and productive change. Developing more eco-villages also creates opportunities for travelers on the road to have a safe place to land and where they can put their energy to good use and be around like-minded souls.
I have my first book in an inspiring travel series available now at starseedstory.com.
I also share informative and intriguing articles from our journey there.
If you would like to donate in support of building a new Eco-village, please visit: gofundme.com/healingwithgaia.