A mansion? A Mercedes? A diamond ring? A trip to Maldives?
No, my dream was to simply have the privilege of time to put my house in order. Housekeeping. The joy of homemaking. Mothering. Wifering. Keeping my family running smoothly without worrying about money.
That’s what drove me. I wanted the money problem gone so I could just focus on my family.
Ever since I was a little girl, I looked forward to all of it. The house, the husband, the children. But the picture I had painted in my mind didn’t include anything about bills piling up. So when my husband and I became parents and found ourselves consumed with worry over money issues, I knew that even though I had achieved the wife and mother part, I hadn’t completely achieved my dream until I could let go of money concerns and clean my house and read to my kids and take life at a pace that was peaceful. Even when my husband’s work paid really well, I couldn’t stop worrying about long-term financial security.
So, after seven years of chasing that rabbit, the ability to slow down and put my house in order was finally mine.
However…
I didn’t stop to enjoy it like I thought I would, because the minute I caught that rabbit, my heart changed.
Suddenly I was consumed with a passion to help others experience the breakthrough we enjoyed. So, the orderly home once again had to wait.
I saw images in my head of others who wanted the same thing I wanted all those years, and I saw myself in a unique position to bring what we had learned to them in a new and unique way.
Essentially, I spotted another rabbit.
This new rabbit caused me to to spend money on odd items (like more than $100,000 in more advanced seminars and business development programs). It caused me to stay up late and go for days without stopping for a decent meal. It made me bend over a computer for thousands of hours to tearfully learn web development and write books and articles. It caused me to talk to people who intimidated me and cancel social commitments that weren’t going to help me obtain it. It caused me to lose sleep, and even after a long days of chasing it, it still made me lay awake at night.
I learned once again that on the way to accomplishing anything good of significance, it is common for things to first get messier. As Price Pritchett described in his book You2 (You Squared), I’ll summarize:
“In the middle of a life-saving surgery it would appear that there has been a murder in the room.”
So it was with me as I worked to create something to help others have financial peace of mind. My husband Trevan was more free to help me raise the kids, and after so many years of laundry piling up while I worked at the computer, and after so many years of spills waiting for days to be cleaned up, and living in rooms where you couldn’t even see the floor, you have no idea how much joy I get out of slowing down, enjoying my kids, and cleaning my house!
In the early days, it was living the dream to spend an hour or two at bedtime reading with my kids. It was living the dream to stay caught up on laundry. It was a PRIVILEGE to vacuum the floor, or to discuss with my fifteen year-old his French Revolution assignment.
Even now, I still count it a JOY to organize the pantry, and go through the drawers to pull out the articles of clothing that don’t fit anymore. It’s a dream come true to fold the towels and put them on the shelf before they’re needed again! I LOVE to load the dishwasher and see the counters wiped clean!
On occasion we’ve hired help. It’s nice to have a clean house without doing it all myself. But I’ve discovered that there’s something I get – a psychic sort of income – when I’m the one personally responsible for the home being orderly. Maybe it’s because I went for so long not having time to do it, even when I wanted to.
Maybe I’ll do it enough that I’ll eventually get it out of my system and permanently hire help again so that my time can be spent consistently on more meaningful contributions. But once in a while, I like to stop to live my dream again and love it.
So you see, it doesn’t matter what your dream is. It’s yours to pursue and enjoy, and it doesn’t have to be anything that impresses anyone else. I’d also like to point out that sometimes one rabbit leads to other rabbits that help you make a greater contribution and bring you greater joy than if you only stopped to enjoy the first one, and no others.
Even now we’re still very busy, and some of the day-to-day responsibilities fall behind (including housekeeping) when we’re gathering new rabbits, but it’s always just a temporary season of imbalance. It’s interesting to me to remember that the dream of being free to enjoy homemaking was the fuel that was originally responsible for the creation of The Jackrabbit Factor, Hidden Treasures, and everything else we now provide in the Rare Faith community.
It’s sort of ironic, if you think about it.
With that in mind, I can’t wait to hear YOUR story when you describe what happens to you as you chase your rabbits, and then what happens after you ultimately catch them. Maybe we should start a new conversation in our discussion group and call it, “A funny thing happened on the way to my dream…”
One thing is certain: I have overcome a LOT of challenges and I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way. The most significant lessons have been carefully documented and placed in the Mindset Mastery Course, because Trevan and I vowed that if we ever figured out how to get out of the mess we were in, we’d make it a priority to share what we learned, so that other families wouldn’t have to suffer as long as we did.
For example, something important I learned is that the feeling of financial security does not come from a big pile of money in the bank. Financial security is simply knowing that you are capable of handling whatever comes your way when it comes, and that is something you can have here and now, even before you earn another penny. (I encourage you to join the 14-week Mindset Mastery program so I can really help you experience the phenomenon for yourself!)
Having that financial peace of mind then prepares you to receive more than you do when you remain in a stressful, worried state of mind. That’s just the way it works. Having the right mindset puts you on a thought-frequency to discover solutions to the problems you face. The solution to every problem is only an idea away, and so the money you need in any given moment is always closer than most people realize. It all begins with gaining a heightened awareness of the laws of success, as introduced in the Mindset Fundamentals Ecourse.
So, your dream might not be to clean your own house and read to your kids at night without the nagging thought that you should be doing something to produce income. But whatever it may be, it IS possible – or you wouldn’t have conceived it in the first place. Go ahead and do the nutsy things that the dream of it leads you to do.
It will pay off, when the time is right, it will pay off. By law, it must! And then don’t be surprised if you can’t help but feel driven to bring others along with you. It’s a great adventure and well worth the effort.
We’re expanding! If you love the principles, and you would enjoy earning money helping others, click here to learn more about our Rare Faith Facilitator Program.
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8 Responses
Hi Leslie!
It’s been a while, but I’m glad I finally found your blog. Thank your for all your advice and inspiration! Hope that you are doing well. Thanks for all you have done and all you continue to do!
-Shinae Furgeson
I used to think that I wanted to make enough money so I no longer had to do monotonous things like cooking and cleaning. Now, however, I enjoy the time to ponder as I complete monotonous tasks. When I am wealthy enough for a personal cook, I will still keep some housekeeping chores for myself. I love being a wife and mom! Thank you for leading us along this journey, Leslie!(from S Johnson)
Leslie,
Your post inspired me to look more closely at how I am already living my dream. I sometimes forget that washing the counter, doing laundry, and “worrying” about my children is actually my dream. Thank you.
Jenn
I always thought I was so strange that my dream was to have a home that was clean, well decorated, everything in it’s place, a meal plan for the week, a fully stocked kitchen, fully stocked bar for friends who drop by and the home and place where people came to regroup, to energize themselves and to relax.
My dream is to have the time to clean my house, to teach others about how to clean their homes easily and without stress. How to have a home run smoothly even in the face of major life crisis.
But I get caught up in the moments of my stepdaughter hating me and hating living with us and wanting more desperately to live in an abusive home with her mother to be close to her friend, who’s family she feels is more her family than her real family is. I get caught up in our financial lack, I get caught up in taxes, child support payments not being made, trying to deal with my husbands exwife. It is exhausting.
I want a simple day where I enjoy cleaning my home, preparing a meal to enjoy with my husband and our friends who want to be near us, I want to watch the sun set and play with my puppy in the yard. I want to take a walk with my husband knowing how in love with each other we are. I want peace and love in my home. I want friends to feel the door is always open and our hearts are always here for them.
Mostly I agree, I find joy in cleaning my kitchen, folding laundry, washing sheets and towels, tending to my sick mother, The Zipper Girl, and trusting that God and the Universe are taking care of me, my family and my deepest desires.
It is in simple rain that I feel blessed our grass grows, it is in vacuuming my gorgeous house that I know was built for me, and it is in listening in the evenings to the tree frogs singing their hearts out. It is the most amazing sound. Soon the lightning bugs will begin flying about and I can hardly wait!
What simple blessings God has given in the simple things that make a simple person like me so happy.
Thank you for writing what you did that makes me feel not so strange that my deepest desires in life are to create a home and a place for rebirth and recovery. Thank you. I am off to chase my jackrabbit today, he has left dead bugs all over my floor. 🙂
With appreciation,
Rhonda Morin
I believe your dream. Who doesn’t want the choice to do with their time as they choose, instead of having to work to pay bills for things they have already purchased. It sounds like you have paid the price for the freedom you have dreamed of and you sound very very happy:)
Thanks for the book and all of your classes. I have enjoyed them all.
Carla
Leslie,
I’m glad you didn’t stop at your first rabbit – I wouldn’t have learned all these great principles! Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge with us!
Alisa
Thanks for the inspiration! It’s nice to know that things can get messy when you are living life and chasing rabbits.
Well said Leslie! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for following your intuition to share these things with “the other mother’s who are seeking the same things” and everyone else too! You put into words exactly how I feel!