This time last year we were smoking weed in Amsterdam, preparing for Jarrell’s birthday, when I asked him what he wanted to do in 2016. At that time, making his birthday trip to Amsterdam seemed like the greatest feat, so it was really a question of how on Earth do I top that?

Without hesitation he said that he wanted to go to the next Art Basel in Hong Kong. I nodded my head, but I knew then that traveling halfway around the world was a bit ambitious. As the months rolled by, we never forgot about his declaration, and when we found out the dates actually correlated with his birthday, it seemed meant to be.

Yet still quite impossible.

We had no plans for Asia and the logistics and economic obstacles seemed overwhelming. But we had spent enough of our lives declaring dreams too big to accomplish. We’d decided to stop surviving and make a purposeful attempt to thrive at life, so being afraid was no longer a good enough excuse.

On top of that, our ‘burn the ships’ mentality had led us around the world, country hopping while creating businesses, growing our love, and sharpening our gifts. By the end of 2015 we had visited a total of twenty countries on our indefinite honeymoon, and we were beginning to believe that we actually could achieve anything we set our minds to.

As the time approached for us to leave Istanbul, and our Parisian Christmas plans were diverted, we made the leap to Asia, with one goal in mind – we had to be in Hong Kong for the weekend of March 26.

At the beginning of this year I launched a bootcamp, where I shared my goals and my strategy for achieving them, with participants. Admitting and sharing your goals is an extremely vulnerable, yet powerful exercise, so to make the participants more comfortable, I participated as well.

I was anxious for the launch of the bootcamp, because I knew that once I shared my goals with hundreds of people, the pressure would intensify. I’m a proud person, and it made me uncomfortable knowing that so many people would know my most personal desires.

That’s how I knew it was the right thing to do, because growing is never comfortable, and thriving is exhilarating, yet terrifying, all at the same time.

Gone were the days when my mind could clock out at 5, and only think about dinner plans. We no longer lived on, or for, the weekends. There were no days off from our goals, and no excuse worthy of delaying them. I had put myself out there, and I was determined to back it up.

We bought the tickets to Art Basel before we even bought flights to Hong Kong. We were that committed. In retrospect, I can see that this was just another demonstration of our burn the ships mentality, but in the moment it was just us finally living the life we dreamed of – one of uncertainty and great risk and reward.

I’m sure by now you’ve put together that the beautiful photos throughout this article are from Art Basel in Hong Kong, and if you follow my social media, you know that we also attended Art Central, another art festival during Hong Kong Art Week. A little bonus – I scored tickets to the screening of Jellyfish Eyes, by Takashi Murakami, one of Jarrell’s favorite visual artists.

You know how once people achieve a goal they always say, “I just can’t believe it”? Well, I can. I can believe that we’re here, because we’ve continuously raised the bar in our lives, and worked to create the lifestyle we want. So now I’m putting myself out there again, this time in a regular conversation with you, if you’re serious about creating the lifestyle you want.

Join us this Saturday in a Live Video Stream, where Jarrell and I will be discussing our dreamscaping secrets, while also answering questions from everyone that will be joining us or seeking advice.

Join here!

PS – I saved my favorite piece of artwork for last. This painting is the epitome of my life.

xoxo