Dreaming of a lifestyle change is exciting, except when it’s not. Change involves losses and gains. Unfortunately, the losses often come first. That’s where my husband and I are in the process of moving into the future we envision. I want to research and write my novels on location. Since many of my book ideas take place in the United Kingdom, that means switching between living in our home in the United States and that country. We’ll sell our present home and move into a cabin in a sought-after location so we can rent it out as a vacation home while overseas.

We have big plans but realizes them calls for sacrifice. The most obvious one is that we’ll give up the home we’ve lived in for most of our marriage. This place holds a lot of memories. Giving it up will break a major link that connects me to them. I’m so bonded with my home that I don’t need to turn on a light to walk through it after dark without bumping into furniture. Do I really want to trade it for somewhere unfamiliar? I’ll have to give up my unfinished landscaping plans and ideas for home improvements.

Do I really want to move?

Yes, and no. Here we have classic story conflict: man (or woman in this case) against self. I’m sure that giving up my home would be easier if it was horrible. No such luck. This is a nice place to live. Logic won’t help me, either. I know that paying a high mortgage for a home in a location that won’t attract vacation renters while simultaneously renting a home overseas makes no sense.

Logic has nothing to do with emotion.

I’ve long admired Robert Moran, an amazing man who arrived in 1910’s Seattle with one thin dime in his pocket. From there, he built a ship-building empire, became Seattle’s mayor, and served as a congressman. Robert Moran lived well and left a legacy, which is reason enough to cite him, but I have to give him kudos for another reason. Robert Moran had an impressive ability to let go.

When the stresses of political office became too great, he ended his public service. When told he only had only a year to live, he sold his shipyard and retired to Orcas Island.  (The doctor’s prediction was happily wrong. For more about his life, read: One Year to Live: Legacy of Robert Moran.) As an old man facing his imminent demise, he sold the showplace mansion he’d built to save his heirs from dealing with its disposal.

Robert Moran knew how to let go of what used to be in order to fully embrace his now. As I face my upcoming lifestyle change, I need to take a leaf from his book.

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