Once upon a time there was a little girl called Elizabeth. Elizabeth saw the world in a very different way to most people. She would pray and wish and dream and have visions. She saw feelings as colours and people's thoughts as images, all touching her very deeply, with a sensitivity she once thought would be forever misunderstood. Looking in to her own world, Elizabeth imagined living in a magical land, in a wooden house, surrounded by nature, creating, dreaming and painting. Since as far back as she can remember, Elizabeth felt like an alien and could never understand the world around her and how people went about their daily lives. 

Over time, as an adult, Elizabeth too became a little lost in conditions and rules, in other peoples instruction and opinion, until one day, with a mighty bang, overnight, Elizabeth lost everything. She found herself home-less with nowhere to turn. The irony didn't escape her as all her life she had never really felt at home. Elizabeth found herself sleeping in a doorway, in a country that was not her own.

 

There is a sort of turning point in life, where you hit rock bottom, and I mean a rock so hard that you're not sure if you'll make it out of the bottom. Somehow you have to scrape yourself off the floor and carry on...but never like before. There is always the option of a brave new path, new lessons, new growth, new challenges and new love...and what's even more difficult to comprehend is that life holds several of these moments, not just one!

 

From that doorway, Elizabeth began a journey, a messy one. It took time, with many, many lows, even an exit attempt, a few highs but mostly a truck load of hard work! She worked in a job that she didn't like, for just enough money to rent a tiny flat. Slowly over time, she dared to dream again. To start again. From nothing, has to come something. With nothing left to lose, it was the perfect time to start. So Elizabeth told God that she wanted to build a wooden house on wheels to live in. This would be her refuge, her safe space. Little did she know then, but through building the tiny house, she was really building herself again.

 

As she learnt how to saw wooden walls, she learnt about her own boundaries. When she found windows by the bin and installed them, she too allowed light in to her heart again and started to view the world out of her own eyes once more. As she learnt how to keep going for 14 hours straight, she learnt of her own determination and strength. As she used the extremely loud electric saw and drill, she learnt, trembling, how to face fears and noise. As she stuffed the cracks with insulation foam, she learnt how to heal her scars. As she tried and failed, and tried again, she learnt of her resilience. As she showed up relentlessly each day, not knowing what she was doing, with no budget, not having the tools, exhausted, not always seeing the progress, she learnt of her perseverance and faith.  As she physically hurt her body with various injuries, she learnt of her own vulnerabilities. Most importantly, as she dealt with what life threw at her, whilst building, she learnt of her bravery and as she added the finishing touches to the interior, she learnt how to view herself.

 

If you create beauty around you, you become beautiful.

 

Elizabeth started to piece herself together again, only to be thrown another devastating curve-ball towards the end of the build, so celebrations of the finish line were on hold for some time. It was only a couple of years later, when Elizabeth found the farm and moved the tiny house from the mountain ridge where it was built, that she finally felt she'd found home. And if she's really honest, it is only in writing this story now, in the last few months (10 years on) that she has finally celebrated and honoured herself for all she created and all she survived.

 

Elizabeth had help to understand her neurodiverse brain and learnt it was something she was born with, both a superpower, and a challenge! Now it makes perfect sense, she does indeed exist in a world that doesn't recognise her way of being. This understanding has led to such freedom, learning new ways to manage the internal and external noise all the time and not feeling the huge burden of shame that she has carried all her life.

 

I want you to know that once you make a decision to follow your heart, God concedes to help with the rest, whatever the circumstances. While I was building the house, materials' appeared at each step of the way, the chassis of an old van base was given to me from a stranger! I found windows, pieces of wood and a sink, left beside the bins  Things seemed to appear at the time I needed them, even food, and of course, not forgetting, some help and tools from an absolute angel!

 

Deciding to build the tiny house was the first step in a 10 year process of bringing in to being, my original dream and becoming myself again or perhaps, for the first time. Finding the farm was an absolute miracle as well as an absolute challenge, that remains a balance to this day! Dreams are like stepping stones, we have to follow our hearts and put one foot out in to the unknown to start, bit by bit, they evolve. Rarely overnight, often through a lot of hard work, opposition, massive commitment, a facing of every fear possible and a faith that all things will come together for good in the end.

 

The story is yet to be completed, but for now, Elizabeth loves being the princess in her own fairytale!

 

It brings me the biggest amount of joy that the tiny house, once built as a refuge from life's storms, is now a guest house that blesses you! I cannot tell you how happy I am that it has become a place of peace and restoration for you, that gives you space and time to reconnect with yourself and nature and remind you of just how wonderful you are. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, encouragement and profound and beautiful messages. Keep the faith, and keep being you, sharing you, showing up in life as you. That's what this world needs.

Keep listening to the whispers,

Much love, Elizabeth xx

 

To be continued...