Hey I'm Lisa, and welcome back to my channel. Today I'm so excited to talk to
you about why I'm moving my family to Southwest Florida.
Do you like my Florida shirt this is my, like, bright colored Florida shirt.
Florida... what's the song about Florida? In my head all I have is doo doo doo doo
doo doo. That's Africa, not Florida! So if you've been following me for a while you
know that this is something that I have been talking a little bit about. It's one
of the reasons why we sold our home in North York and moved here to our cabin
in the woods, became renters temporarily, all because we really wanted to move our
family to Southwest Florida. I'll put some of those videos in the cards for
you but to catch up real quick- my family vacations in Florida every single year,
sometimes twice a year, in a little community just outside of Naples. It's an
area where my in-laws purchased a home, and so, we would go visit with them, visit
the town, and we honestly fell in love. And I remember my husband turning to me
being like, "Oh my gosh. Wouldn't it just be amazing if this was not just
vacation?" But I remember feeling very tied to my home here in Toronto, feeling
very tied to the work that I do here, and really just feeling like it's never
gonna be possible for us to make a move. Like, who does that? Who moves a family
completely away from my parents, from our groups of friends? I really was just like,
"No." But the thing that started to make me feel like moving my family to Florida
was possible was when I got a contract to do a job in Toronto, but we were on
vacation in Florida. Now I have worked really hard to establish boundaries
because experience has shown me that when I have not respected boundaries my
relationships have really suffered. So I remember it was during our holiday, one
of our non-negotiable, almost month-long holidays in July, and I remember turning
to my husband and saying, "Hey, I've got this opportunity, but I really want to
respect our family boundaries around our holiday time. The money is really
significant. There would be a great opportunity for me. What do you think?" And
I remember my husband, we looked at the numbers and we kind of weighed the pros
and cons, and he was like, "You should totally do it." But I remember being like,
"But it means I have to leave you alone with... at the time our baby James, the
sixth one was a baby, so he would be coming with me, but he'd be alone with
five kids! And I just remember being like, "Are you gonna be okay?
You're like, in Florida, where we don't exactly have like, you know, babysitters
or whatever. Like are you gonna be okay?" And he was like, "I got this. You go." And so
James and I flew from Florida to Toronto, I worked for one day in Toronto, and then
we flew back. So I was gone a total of... I guess three days. And I remember coming
home being like, "Oh my gosh, what's the house gonna look like?" Like, just really
nervous about how things were gonna look. And I couldn't believe it...
Josh was in great spirits, the house was impeccably tidy, the kids were super
happy, and I just remember that was the day I was like, "Oh my gosh... we could
move." So that was the summer of 2017. July 2017, that's when the little seed was
planted of "Can we move our family to Southwest Florida?" And it's been a really
long journey. We're now, fast forward, at time of filming we are March 2019, so
it's taken us I guess almost two years to actually make this real, and that's
the topic for a whole other video, and if you're interested in the logistics of
getting Canadians to Florida and how you work
and all that jazz, let me know in the comments, because I feel like that's a
whole other video. But it was... yeah, basically a year and a half of us
working out details, working out mortgage, selling our home all that kind of stuff,
and I can happily report we have finally purchased our lot and our house is under
construction in sunny Southwest Florida! So today I want to share with you
why why we are doing this, why a life in Florida is so attractive to us and why
it makes so much sense for our family. Reason number one is the sun. Hello! Okay
I my children have been home from school in the month of January due to freezing
rain and actual school closures I do not remember my school board closing in like
it's been 10 years since the school I feel like has closed and they have had
so many snow days and so many days cooped up then I can remember it has
been a brutal winter here in Toronto and so for me the Sun like I just feel like
we're meant to be like outside like the majority of our lives and not bundled up
forever and don't tell me that the Sun doesn't impact your mood right and my
husband he really suffers especially in the winter he has ongoing challenges
with depression and anxiety so the Sun is really just a huge motivating reason
for me to move my family to Southwest Florida the second reason why I am
moving my family to Southwest Florida is related to the first one but the ability
to enjoy the outdoors I have always loved water and I live in fairly close
proximity to Lake Ontario which is beautiful in the summer time we make it
a regular trip to various beaches in my area we love being outside it's a family
I really believe that kids are meant to like get dirty and play in the mud and
you know just adventure and be like we kind of call it in our house like Huck
Finn childhood if you know the book and so for me just the ability to easily go
outside of course you can live and enjoy many families in Canada or in colder
climates enjoy things like skiing like snowshoeing like hiking in the woods in
the winter I just be honest I am NOT one of them with as many children as I have
getting everybody in snow pants and boots and mitts scarves and the
complaining and then oh now I have to go to the bathroom like I just find it a
lot of work to stay safe to be honest you know not catching pneumonia which is
like a real thing and with as many children as I have a lot of germs
circulate real quick so for me to be able to enjoy the outside with not as
much stress like really I feel like the flipside for when we do live in Florida
it's gonna have to be like constant sunscreen for example more hydration but
it's not let's layer up and take literally 20 minutes just to go outside
so for me the ability to go outside like pretty quickly the proximity to the
ocean oh my gosh I love water and the ability to be I will be a 40-minute
drive from the coast like that to me is just worth every single penny the third
reason I am moving my family down to Southwest Florida is for a calmer and
slower pace of life we love the phanie I loved her no I remember thinking at some
one point like I would never live anywhere like in the country or where
you know there wasn't access to like big malls and entertainment and I remember
throughout our marriage and this has always been a bit of a like thing like
Oh like many times we have contemplated
quite heavily do we move somewhere not as chaotic some were less busy somewhere
maybe cost of living is less etc etc etc and we kind of never took the plunge
mainly because my work kept us very much in Toronto my husband's work for a
period kept us very much in Toronto but now that we are both very location
independent and now that so much of my business is online we really are not
tied to Toronto and there are so many elements of a big city that I love I
love the diversity of food I love the diversity of places to shop I love the
diversity of cultures and the ability to literally if you want to see a play or a
movie or whatever you've got so many options but when I really looked at how
often we do these things like how often do my husband and I go see a play
not that often honestly maybe it's like once a year twice a year how often to my
husband and I take in a movie honestly not that often like maybe once a quarter
maybe twice a quarter we'll go and see a movie like I was really just starting to
reflect on how important is it for us to live like in Toronto where there's like
so much to do we're not going out every night it's just not our reality anymore
where we are moving in Southwest Florida we are not far from a big city like it's
not like we're moving completely to the country it's a very short drive it's
actually the exact same amount of time for me to get from my house here to
downtown Toronto is the exact same proximity of me to a major city so I
just like what we are going to gain by moving away from a large city and we
intentionally chose to live in a smaller suburb of Naples is quiet not as much
traffic if we want to get milk and eggs it's a very short walk as opposed to
getting in the car and what have you I'm sorry
not only is it a short walk it could also be a short golf cart ride literally
we probably will use our golf cart more than we will use our actual car which to
me is just like easy-peasy fun you know wind in your hair Sun on your skin like
I just I can't wait and I every time we vacation in this small town I can feel
my stress level just you know go like there are enough things in my life that
are stressful that I cannot control so for example certain elements of my work
will become stressful can't control that certain elements of the reality of
children can't control tantrums can't should control fighting you know certain
elements like that so the elements that I can control like how easy it is it for
me to go outside and buy you know a bag of milk
although lol in Florida in Canada we have bagged milk in the States no
there's no bag melt don't understand what that is so for me
to go buy a jug of milk is like if I can control that
and make that easy Oh like honestly lifestyle design to me is so important
and making life easy on a family in the areas that you can control it oh just
makes so much more sense and all the more impetus to get my family to this
beautiful sunny town and number four and this is probably the most important
reason if I'm being very honest for the health of my husband and my children so
I talked about on this channel very openly and about what it's like to be
married to someone who has regular battle with depression and anxiety the
Sun and less stress all the reasons I've already talked about in this video are
so helpful for my husband like I just he not I don't want to say he's like a
different person down there that's not really fair but I think what I will say
is that it is easier for him to get out of a bit of a funk or a mental
ping-pong game if you will I find in Florida when we are there he's just like
it's easier for him to be positive and I think it's largely because of the Sun
and largely because of there is so much less stress because it's a smaller town
because because because I could go on and on oh no no no or not so to see and
set up my husband in an environment where it's just easier it's such like a
win for me and then it's not lost upon me that there is a genetic element to
mental illness it's just not lost upon me I've got seven kids the likelihood of
one or more of them and battling with some kind of a mental illness is very
probable and so if I can give them just a little bit of a heads-up you know
they're a little bit of a um set up their environment to help them thrive
and please tell me in the comments like I'm getting emotional just talking about
it like we will do whatever if your mama watching this I know you feel me that
we'll do whatever we can to protect our kids and I'm not saying everybody needs
to move to Florida or everybody needs to move anywhere or whatever to protect
your kids or what have you that's not what I'm trying to say but I just when I
see how well my husband does in the Sun and I just know the link of genetics
with mental illness you know what this is gonna be a good long-term plan for
them as well so you know that in the months ahead I'm gonna be sharing with
you what we're gonna do with this house in Florida how we're gonna decorate it
what it's gonna look like so definitely stay tuned to watch our journey I'm
gonna have to come up with a fun hashtag we call my house that I live in now
hashtag cannon cabin I don't know what am I gonna call like what am I gonna
call my Florida House if you have a suggestion for what I should call my
Florida house put it in the comments below it's also not lost upon me that
maybe as you're watching this you think I'm nuts and there are a lot of people
who keep telling me wow you're nuts you're moving your family away from like
your parents and from all of your support and everything you know and you
know your work and all these people like it's not lost upon me that this is
daring and that to some people this is very risky and there is some risk what
if we moved there and we don't like it if we move there and I am desperately
homesick to be honest with you it is worth the risk for me I see so many more
benefits than I do see downsides and I just know with the temperament of myself
and my husband and my children to be honest that we will figure it out we
will make it work for us and we enjoy our time there so much when we're on
holiday I just I really think we're gonna enjoy our time when we live there
on a more permanent basis okay so if you have questions about logistics how are
we gonna work there how are we gonna live there what's it like to get a job
when you're a Canadian and you're moving to America what about our children where
will they go to school let me know in the comments and I will definitely do a
roundup of all of your Q&A in case you are contemplating a move to Florida or
somewhere else and you are curious all the things that you need to think
through if you like this video I would love for you to give it a big thumbs up
hit the share button and hit the subscribe button and until next time
Cheers to designing your beautiful life