Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

Within 60 days he packed his home, put it onto the market, sold it and moved to the beach without ever looking back. Today, Mike Ragsdale and his wife enjoy the waves hitting the beach each morning as they rise and each evening as the sun sets. He’s taken some time to come in from the beach and share his story with us today, welcome Mike!

Tell us about the path you traveled to arrive where you are today:
I’ve always felt some sort of spiritual connection with water, and with the beach in particular. In fact, since at least high school, if you’d asked me what my ideal life would look like, I’d probably have said that I’d be quite content just living in some little shack down by a tropical beach somewhere. And yet, the years kept ticking by. My wife loves the beach too, and we always dreamt of taking the proverbial plunge. We browsed websites perpetually, pointlessly, gazing at “homes for sale” in exotic locales. But for whatever unjustifiable reasons, more than a decade slipped away without any action whatsoever. Finally, one day, we’d just had enough with endless fantasies and pontifications. We drew a line in the sand, so to speak. We said, “Okay, enough—we’re either going to move to the beach, or we’re just going to shut UP about it.” We were either going to move, or just accept the fact that we’d live right there where we were until the day we died. We just couldn’t accept that thought. So we moved. Within 60 days of that moment, we simply moved.

What kept you moving forward on the days things were not going exactly the way you were hoping they would?
Frankly, we didn’t give ourselves an out. We committed. We told friends. We told family. We listed our house for sale. Really, all of that happened with 48 hours. We didn’t give ourselves an “out.” Once we’d committed, we couldn’t back down, even though of course, we had huge doubts and fears. But it was exhilarating at the same time. We finally felt like we were living.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who has decided they would like to live in a world of their own creation?
Making the decision to “follow your bliss” is like the first time you jumped off the high-dive at the local swimming pool. Once you’re up there, it’s terribly embarrassing to climb back down with all of your buddies watching from down below. At a certain point, it becomes easier to jump. Quickly scramble up that ladder. Set the stage. Tell people—tell everyone—that you’re GOING to do it. Make a down-payment. Book your flight. Whatever it is. You’re then confronted with a choice: You’ll either finally see it through, or you’ll have to face the humiliation of climbing back down that long ladder. If you’re “serious” about wanting to do something, and yet the years have ticked by without any real action, then spontaneously committing in some tangible and public way may be your best bet for finally jumpstarting that dream.

What special things do you do for yourself daily to maintain your momentum and energy levels?
We go through highs and lows like anyone. The highs are easy, of course. Just because you move to paradise doesn’t been you won’t be subject to the emotional flotsam and jetsam of life. You’ll still have bills. You’ll still have relationship issues. You’ll still have bad days. But they’ll be bad days on the beach, or wherever your dream lies. Now, whenever I have a bad day, I can simply fix a cocktail, grab a cigar, go sit in my hammock and wait for the dolphins to swim by…

If you could spend 3 days on a deserted island with two people of your choosing, who would they be and why?
Honestly, I’d only need my wife, Angela, and our four kids, and maybe our dog. Perhaps we could setup some sort of rotation program. My wife and I would be full-time residents of the island, and then we’d fly in one child or animal at a time. Oh, and can we stay for more than 3 days?

What is your favorite audio material and what do you enjoy most about this material?
I love all kinds of music. Beck, Sinatra, U2, AC/DC, Bob Marley, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, World Music, Jazz, Robert Plant, Soundgarden. I have something for every mood.

What is your favorite reading material and what gives it that special place in your heart?
I love humorous and inspirational works; Mark Twain, Douglas Adams. But really the vast majority of reading I do is online. For better or for worse, the printed word is dying. It’s costly, it’s wasteful, it’s untimely, it’s bad for the environment. I think in the not-too-distant future, we’ll be telling our grandkids that when we were growing up, we got our news from cars that drove around from house to house at 5am, lobbing rolls of paper into our front yards… and they won’t believe us. It’s almost hard to believe now.

What do you see in your future?
The area where we live is called “Scenic Highway 30A” in Florida’s panhandle. It’s truly an amazing place to live, but is relatively unknown outside of the Southeast. When we moved here, we started a local website, www.30A.com, full of information about local events, restaurants and activities. It started out as one simple page, but over time, has grown into a pretty cool resource for locals and visitors. We plan to keep growing the site, and to keep sharing news of “30A” with people around the world.

Where is your favorite place in the world to spend time, what is special to you about this location?
Obviously, we love our home and 30A first and foremost. We love to travel, and I’ve been to over 40 states and 20 different countries, from China to Romania to Costa Rica to Slovakia. Other than our home, my favorite place in the world is any place new. I don’t like retracing my own steps.

Who has been your greatest support system and how have they shown you their support?
My beautiful wife, Angela. She’s supported me, she’s tolerated me, she’s elevated me.

What is your favorite way to contribute or give back?
We financially support several causes, including donating 15 percent of all our 30A.com product sales profits to Children’s Volunteer Health Network, a great organization that provides health and dental care for local children in need. But as 30A.com’s following has grown, we’ve realized that our biggest responsibility and contribution is to help “get the word out” about local charities and special causes. We’ve built a wonderful stage, and we’re honored to be able to use it in this way.

Please share the top three things you feel people would benefit from doing if they truly desire to create the life of their dreams?
As Nike says, “just do it.” Jump. If not now, when? It’s terribly easy to find excuses not to do something. Jump. Your life will almost certainly be richer for it.

Thank you for taking the time to share your story with our readers. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes, visit www.30A.com  and see what 30A has to offer today!

Be healthy, be focused and be the best you that you can possibly be!

In gratitude,
Caryn Gottlieb FitzGerald

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Caryn Gottlieb FitzGerald has been a network marketer and connector since 1990. She is a published author, her passion is writing and she spends much of her free time meditating and connecting with like minded individuals.  Caryn walked away from Corporate America in 2003, she continues to achieve the goals she sets for herself and has created the life of her dreams.  Today, Caryn assists others in creating the lifestyles they desire through network marketing, privately owned businesses and spiritual lifestyle coaching. Ready to move forward in your life?
Connect with Caryn at: http://www.carynfitzgerald.com/contact.htm
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This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Caryn's writing, Living the life of my dreams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.