Fears and Challenges I Plan to Overcome

Frank Lloyd Self Built Tiny Home

Note: At the end of this entry I do ask a series of questions and I would appreciate your input.

I have long put off actually taking steps towards building a tiny home due to fear. One of the first micro actions suggested in Tammy's book is to write down your fears, yet for some reason I did not stop and do so. Instead, I told myself that I no longer had any fears about building a tiny home, as I have already started taking steps towards doing so. Then I moved right along and read the next section of her book.

When I came to the next micro actions, I did those. Why did I skip the one on fear? Since I have been blogging about my whole process not just in building a tiny home, but in getting up the courage and simplifying to the point where I feel I am ready to move into one, I decided that this would be a good blog post. Besides, Tammy suggests having a support network, and I believe writing these things in my blog is a good way to hold myself accountable and possibly find others who support my dream. I am sure this will mean that sometimes I write in this blog more frequently than other times, but I do plan to write in here at least once a week for the time being while I sort through my thoughts and organize my current stuff, etc. We will see where this all takes me, and those who read my blog will be along for the ride. I thank you ahead of time for reading my rambling thoughts and for any comments you may make. I hope this blog can be a bit of a support network as I continue moving towards a simpler, space to call home.

This Art is Not My Intellectual Property

So fears and challenges. Here is a quick list in no particular order, a brain storm of fears and challenges as it were: My loved ones will feel I am abandoning them and won't get or support my dream, people will think I'm nuts, my mom will think I am ungrateful for the house she rents to us. My loved ones will not buy into the dream and me moving forward with it will cause division between us, I will miss my animals. People will harsh on my dream because I'm taking such tiny steps and moving so slowly. It is a bigger project than I can accomplish by myself, I will start building and find it is too difficult to complete due to my health issues and be left unable to see my dream through, I will build something that doesn't match my needs and later have to sell it and start all over. (Which I do not want to do but have seen others do) If it won't be completely accessible, what if my disability gets worse again? How will I afford/find spaces to park it when I move from place to place? How can I build a house that is able to tolerate huge shifts in climate? What if I design it with a certain aesthetic but then want to change it over time, will that limit me? Should I leave my pets behind when I travel and not allow animals into ObscurAbode because other people have allergies and it will be a gallery as well as a home? If I tried to take Pixie (my Chiweenie) with me she would fit well in a tiny home but would bark at all the strange noises and probably pee inside. If I took my cats with me, they would be unhappy because they are used to going out into the big backyard and chasing bugs. If I took all the animals with me but not my loved ones, they would miss their pets. If I left the pets behind I would miss my pets, but my cats do not do well with hanging things, and I would build a house that cats would inhabit totally different than I would a tiny house with no cats. Screened in porch versus open porch, fun hiding spaces and up high ramps for them to run on, hammock versus no hammock, etc.

It feels like too many what ifs and potential obstacles to get started, I feel like I have to figure so much out before I can even design my home let alone move forward to building it. On the one hand, I would like to have an accessible tiny home/gallery and on the other hand, I love the idea of having a bed that tucks away under the rest of the house, is it really possible to do both? Stairs are a challenge for me, should I build a home without any stairs, or should I go ahead and incorporate a few? (other than those which might be outdoors. Even if the indoors is completely accessible, a bed that is built under a single level floor with a section of floor which slides over or lifts off to reveal it might work, but then how does one go about building a ramp to get into the house? Build it as part of the "wrap around porch idea?"

So many questions, and I would like to get moving forward on the project, but really do not feel I can until I answer these questions and any others that come up along the way. Fortunately, despite the many challenges of building a home that is at once perfectly homey and welcoming to me, and welcoming and accessible to the public for gallery shows, I do feel that it is completely doable, and that a completely functional and wonderful space could be and will be built. Also, I have a lot of funds to raise, parts to get, and plans to make before I can make my dream a reality. For example my garage is not large enough to build the tiny home in and the HOA we currently live in does not allow long term parking of RV's let alone building things in the drive ways, so I will need to find a space where I can build my tiny home before I can actually start the building process.

Some of these fears have already been resolved. I know that those I currently live with fully support my dream, and understand it does not mean I am trying to run away from them, abandon them, etc. In fact Carlie has started helping me prepare and set aside for our tiny home, and has taken up the challenge to get rid of 2 things for every one thing we bring into the home. But I'll leave that for a future blog post.

For those who are reading this who have already build their tiny home, how did you overcome your own fears and any obstacles along the way? Did you have all the answers before you started to build or did you dive right in and get going? Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for me? Thank you ahead of time for your input, any advice you are willing to offer, and your support. Since this blog is in a way an extension of my very personal dream and making it a reality, I do ask that we try to be respectful and positive in comments and discussion with each other here. As I have been warned by others that some will lash out or call me crazy for wanting a tiny home on wheels, I do want to make it clear, I will not bother approving those comments to be posted, so you may as well not waste your breath. Instead, think of it as if you had been invited into my home. For really, that is what this is, an internet version of my future home. I am your gracious host, you are an honored guest. I would not expect a guest I invite into my home to be rude and neither would you expect it of me, your host. I think that's a pretty simple request :) Constructive criticism is welcome, bullying is not.