What if the life you’ve carefully built no longer feels like the life you’re meant to live?
It’s a question many of us quietly ask ourselves. Most of us push it aside.
Kristy Halvorsen did something different.
She listened.
After fourteen years as a firefighter, a successful career, a beautiful home, financial security, and a future that appeared comfortably mapped out, Kristy found herself questioning whether there might be another way to live.
When health challenges and a serious knee injury forced her to reassess her future, she realised she didn’t want to wait until retirement to begin living the life she truly longed for.
At 38, she sold her home, left her career, parted with most of her possessions, moved into an Airstream trailer, and set off alone.
What began as a plan to travel with a partner became an unexpected solo journey when the relationship ended before departure. Suddenly, the dream looked very different.
And at times, very lonely.
“The first year was hard,” Kristy admitted. “I wondered if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.”
Yet something inside her kept whispering: Carry on.
So she did.
Over the next nine years, Kristy travelled across every U.S. state and almost every Canadian province, living primarily off-grid, following the seasons rather than calendars, and learning that freedom has far less to do with where you are than how you choose to live.
Along the way she discovered that most of the things she thought she needed weren’t actually necessary at all.
Extra clothes disappeared.
The barbecue was eventually left behind.
The scuba gear was pared down to a mask and snorkel.
What remained were the essentials: a bicycle, a kayak, a comfortable place to sleep, good people, nature, and a growing sense of contentment.
One of my favourite moments in our conversation came when Kristy spoke about loneliness.
She realised much of her loneliness wasn’t caused by being alone. It came from wishing life was unfolding differently than it was.
How many of us do exactly the same thing?
We create expectations about how life should look, then suffer when reality chooses another path.
Eventually, Kristy stopped comparing her life to an imagined future and began embracing the one she was actually living.
Everything changed.
Not externally.
Internally.
Today she spends much of her time seeking quiet places close to water, whether it’s a stream, a lake, or the ocean. She follows recommendations from locals, rarely makes plans, and often stays in places simply because they feel right.
She describes her approach as following “the tickles of my soul.”
It’s a phrase I instantly loved.
Many people call it intuition, following your heart, listening to your gut, or trusting your inner voice.
Kristy calls it the tickles of her soul.
Whatever name you give it, she believes most of us already know what calls to us. The challenge is having the courage to listen.
When I asked her what “enough” means after nearly a decade of simple living, her answer resonated deeply.
A comfortable place to sleep.
Food when you’re hungry.
Nature.
Good people.
Love.
Contentment.
Perhaps enough isn’t nearly as complicated as we’ve been led to believe.
As our conversation drew to a close, Kristy offered some advice for anyone standing at the edge of change.
Let go of the “shoulds.”
Stop listening to all the reasons why you can’t.
Start small.
Follow the nudges.
Treat life as an experiment.
And trust the tickles of your soul.
Her memoir, Perfect Unfolding, is more than a travel story. It’s an invitation to examine our own lives and ask what might happen if we stopped living according to expectations and started living according to what truly matters.
Perhaps the greatest journeys aren’t measured in miles at all.
Perhaps they’re measured in courage.
And perhaps the life that’s calling you is waiting just beyond the edge of certainty.
Listen to the full podcast here:
Travel With Us A While.
