What I learned by giving up my dreams

I thought I wanted a homesteader's life. I was wrong.

Staring down the sleek barrel of the Glock my husband pointed in my direction, the first thing I thought was: I guess he didn't get my voicemail. The second thing I thought was: Dreams are overrated.

In that moment, making a living from the land and crafting a DIY kind of lifestyle seemed like the stupidest ideas I had ever concocted. Two days later, my husband and I packed up our city car — its tires and chassis wrecked from months spent traversing dirt roads — and gave up on our dreams.

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Danielle Simone Brand is a San Diego-based mother of two, a die-hard idealist, and a breaker of conventions. She began her career as a yoga teacher back when most people thought that was a strange thing to do. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MA from American University and has worked as a staff writer, an academic editor, and a researcher on issues of international conflict resolution.