I have been in the United States Air Force for going on 10 years and plan to get out in the Fall of 2023. It was during a deployment overseas I realized I wasn’t enjoying my job as much as I had hoped. However, I tried to keep a positive attitude in hopes the next job would be better. After two years at the next job, I saw a pattern and realized that this career field wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am a patriot and have a lot of pride in serving my country. I also believe it’s important to support your community whether through community service or even joining the military. Although, the “corporate” structure and culture of the Federal Government is not for me.
Out of all the jobs I’ve had, I’ve never had a real sense of satisfaction. It seemed like the more I tried, the less I got out of anything at work. That constant feeling steadily weighed on me until I started noticing that it was affecting my relationships. After work I had no desire to talk to Presley and wanted to zone out in front of the TV. Every day I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself, “You can get through today. Just care a little bit.”
After many conversations, we both decided I was going to separate from the Air Force in the Fall of 23’. Until then, I had to figure out how to improve my situation at the time. Thankfully, I had a supervisor that listened and was willing to help me out. I volunteered for the Base Honor Guard, our mission is to provide military honors to veterans who have passed away. It has been, by far, the best job I’ve had in the Air Force. I’m thankful I’ll be able to leave the Air Force on a more positive note than I anticipated.
During this long process, our general health has been at the forefront of our minds. While I was deployed, Presley started on her own wellness journey. I’ll let her tell her own story, but when I returned, she had lost a lot of weight. To support her, I adopted what she had implemented, and we encouraged each other to keep improving.
Soon after I got back, we also PCS’d (permanent change of station) to our second duty station in Hawaii. What should have been an experience of a lifetime was a very tough three years. A lot was going on with Presley’s health, and let me tell you, island fever was real for us! Presley was struggling with health issues, and I was doing my best to support her, but most of the time I felt pretty powerless.
We both eventually started going to a gym and that’s when life in Hawaii turned around for us. The gym became our second home! We attended classes, met with trainers, and best of all we met great people that became dear friends. Through her research, Presley taught me about the importance of paying attention to what we’re putting in and on our bodies. This knowledge completely changed our perspective on what we bought and kept in the house. This ultimately resulted in us making our own toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, and cleaning products using simple, clean ingredients.
When I realized that I couldn’t stay in the Air Force another decade, Presley and I considered what we would do outside the military. Since I was little, I’ve always had a fascination with agriculture. My first job was at a peach orchard and pumpkin patch. I remember really enjoying it. Later in college, I visited a bison ranch and was able to handfeed a bison. After that experience, I knew I wanted to work around bison someday.
Being a naïve, new officer, I told myself I would stay in for 20 years to get the “sweet pension” and then start my bison ranch. Unfortunately – or fortunately depending on how you look at it – that plan became something that didn’t align with my goals. After many long walks and talks, Presley and I decided we would pursue my dream of being a bison rancher sooner rather than later.
We began planning by working backwards and realized having housing could be one of the more expensive, possibly trickier hurdles. I learned about tiny homes on wheels and considered how efficient it would be if we were able to pull our house onto a piece of property instead of having to build a new house. We could have our housing taken care of so we could focus on our business. Although, minimalism has turned into a trendy buzz word, we did not set out to become minimalists; it just happened organically.
During these conversations, I learned we were PCS’ing again and we needed to think about housing there as well. It took awhile, but I prodded Presley enough for her to agree to us looking into getting a tiny house. Anyone that has ever moved while in the military knows of the purge you do before the movers come pack up your things. Us moving was the perfect timing for us to go tiny!
While doing this, it was apparent how much stuff we had that we never used. I also experienced what a lot of people feel when trying to get rid of things – the anxiety of getting rid of something we may need later. Since we were committed to moving and living in a tiny house it was something we had to get over. We eventually moved into our tiny house and realized right away that having less can be a lot less stressful. It felt right living in a smaller space with fewer things.
There are many more details during our journey that we will eventually cover in later posts. I hope this paints a clearer picture of why we’re pursuing this lifestyle. I also hope you’re intrigued enough to keep following along!
