May’s Muse and The Architecture of Vitality:
Why I’m Winding Up Instead of Winding Down
Girona, Spain. Photo by Christian Hess Araya
The Command Center. Photo by Wendy Stieg
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. — John A. Shedd
The Muse and the Montrose Move
My Muse has visited me again and I have a new inspiration. We are currently getting ready to leave Cortez and move to Montrose, but even with the chaos of packing, my Muse is telling me to expand rather than contract. The message is clear: learn Catalan, stick with your Portuguese, build up your Spanish, and revisit your French. For the record, I speak conversational Spanish and I knew French as a child, so I can still read it and partially understand it. I also recently started learning Portuguese, and that pull to stay focused on multiple languages is stronger than ever. My friend Sandra, who is from the Belém area of Lisbon, reached out to me recently to reconnect. We used to talk every week for hours, and her reach-out has served as a bridge back to the linguistic world I love so much.
They say moving house is one of life’s greatest stressors. On May 22nd, I close on two houses, and on May 23rd, I move into a 1948 bungalow in Montrose. Most people would suggest I simplify my life right now, but my response has been to add French and Catalan to my daily to-do list. Learning new languages ties directly into my wanderlust and my deep desire to restructure my life to include living on two continents. If you want to see the foundation of this drive, you can read Where Does Wanderlust Even Come From? It's the root of the energy that keeps me moving forward today.
Perpignan, France. Photo by Hilderose
Purpose Over Retirement
The world is obsessed with the idea of retirement, a concept that implies we eventually reach a finish line where we are allowed to stop being useful. But if you look at the Blue Zones, the places where people actually live with vitality into their hundreds, you will notice that retirement doesn't exist. They don't have a finish line; they have a purpose. In my world, we call that Ikigai, and mine currently involves a refusal to let my brain go idle during this transition. The author of The Blue Zones, a collection of books, recipe books, two websites, and a Netflix series, is Dan Buettner.
Dan Buettner is a National Geographic Fellow and explorer who holds three Guinness World Records for distance cycling, including a 15,000-mile trek from Alaska to Argentina, AND has dedicated his life to researching the "Blue Zones," the global hotspots where people live the longest, healthiest lives. You can learn more about him from his personal website and blog, as well as the Blue Zones website.
I see this truth every day in my professional life. I meet 80-year-old travel agents who are sharper and more engaged than people half their age because they have a purpose line rather than a finish line. They have taught me that as long as you have a complex puzzle to solve, you stay in the game. This is where my inner nerd takes the wheel. Learning a language is not just a hobby for me. It is neurological insurance. I’ve spent years documenting these shifts in perspective; for a closer look at the sparks and stories that started it all, feel free to do a deep dive and Explore the Muse Archives.
Lessons from the Portuguese Field
Making big dreams a reality takes hard work and the ability to envision the life you want to create. For a while now, Paul and I have been dreaming about living part-time in Europe while still keeping our Colorado life going strong. It is a big goal with many moving parts, but the number one thing that keeps us moving forward is staying focused on the logistics of the dream. One of the biggest hurdles is the language barrier. Learning the language is key, and while I still remember the first time I tried speaking Portuguese using tools that didn't feel useful, stumbling across Talk the Streets changed everything. Check out the Talk the Streets YouTube Channel.
I discovered just how helpful it is to speak confidently when I arrived in Vila Real de Santo Antonio with a cold on top of my allergies. I made my first trip to a Portuguese pharmacy and quickly learned how to take a number and describe my symptoms. You know you are making progress when the pharmacist starts speaking back to you in Portuguese without missing a beat. Every meal in Portugal became another chance to practice. You can read the original field notes in Language Lessons Pay Off. These moments of kindness and connection are why learning the language is so worth it.
Use everything at your disposal to learn new languages. Photo by Wendy Stieg
The Blueprint for the Future
Just as I was celebrating the upcoming closing on our house in Cortez and the purchase of our bungalow in Montrose, a new spark arrived at exactly the right time. My friend Sandra reached out to reconnect, and in doing so, she provided the bridge between my Portuguese success and my future in Spain and France. Sandra is the perfect muse for my next six months because she represents the exact multi-lingual fluency I am aiming for as I scout places like Girona and the Costa Brava.
If I can coordinate two closings in twenty-four hours and still find time to conjugate verbs with Sandra, I am proving my own message: if you want something bad enough, you build the environment to make it happen. After two years of job struggles and the rollercoaster of the near-sale in Portugal, the move to Montrose is the reset we needed. With Paul’s new job there, we finally have the stability to turn our 'maybe' into a 'how.' I am not just moving to Montrose; I am setting up a home base that supports a life spanning two continents. We are building a life we never want to stop living. There are no finish lines here, only new borders to cross and new languages to learn.
A visual reminder of The Why. Photo by Wendy Stieg
April’s Muse
Inspiration for a Fresh Start
Lisbon Street Looking Toward the River. Photo by Paul Lampe
I grew up in a family where music was very important, took the obligatory piano lessons, but somehow lost my inspiration for it. I love that I have started to think about music again and where it fits in my life. I realize that my creativity stems largely from more visual spaces. I love designing spaces in my homes, I love photography, and I love writing. This is a great realization. But where does music fit in my life now? I listen to music every day. Paul and I are notorious for going to see a lot of live music and have plans for that this summer. I think music is more something I enjoy than something I create myself, and this enjoyment really complements the other creative endeavors in my life. Active versus passive is not a bad thing; it is more of a recognition of how music functions in my life. For that, I am grateful.
Sanlucar, Spain, across the Guadiana from Alcoutim, Portugal. Photo by Paul Lampe
This Fresh Start energy is going to be my guide, not current events, not so-called leaders, and not anyone else. When I listen to the voice that says I CAN, and I AM moving in the direction of my dreams, I feel aligned, invigorated, and ready. I am ready to do whatever I can to move the needle in the direction of the life I want to live, the one where we live in the best of both worlds. I can see that life and what steps I need to take to get there. When I stay in the energy of I CAN, then it is all possible.
I know there will be challenges and obstacles, but that has never stopped me. I have a strong will, and when I set my mind to accomplish something, I do it. I have a certain tenacity that has driven me my whole life. This tenacity, together with this fresh start, makes possibility feel more like a strong probability.
This idea has been unfolding for a while. You can trace it here, in Safety Third!
Chaque jour est une nouvelle vie. Each day is a new life.
— French Proverb
Do you have control over becoming inspired? The ancient Greeks believed it was the Muses, Melete, the Muse of Practice, Mneme, the Muse of memory, and Aoide, the Muse of song, who were the cause of inspiration. The very word “music” comes from this ancient idea that something outside of ourselves is where inspiration comes from. Maybe that’s true; it does come from outside of you, but when you look at the idea of practice, memory, and song, it is more of a blending of something new with what you already know. The idea that becoming inspired means you have already put some effort into what you want.
So, harkening back to the ancient Greeks, what if you could increase your ability to become inspired about something that matters to you through practice, memory, and song? I had never thought about it before, but where could music fit in? Could we make music a more active part of our lives? Why don’t we do more with music?
If this resonated, you might also find something in March’s Muse.
Phish Show, Folsom Field, Boulder, CO July 4, 2025. Photo by Wendy Stieg
I love thinking about inspiration because it is the cornerstone of any good writing, finding that critical idea to bring up for discussion. As I think about thinking, which truth be told, I probably do more than I should, I realize that it is also time for a fresh start. As we move into April and kiss winter goodbye, I think about the progress we have made so far. Paul has a job, I have a job, we have a new take on how we intend to head toward retirement, and we have the house on the market. We are still mid-stream, not yet across the river.
On the other side, we can see more stability, a better community for jobs, outdoor living, and activities, a small city with an airport that is positioned between the mountains and the desert. We are not yet where we need to be for better stability, and that leaves an unfinished feeling. But it is also an incredible time for a fresh start, for quiet reflection on what we have learned in the past two years and how we can use that learning to make our lives better.
Of course, travel is in the future, and no, we are not yet ready to pull the trigger, but we intend to plan anyway. There is a lot of unrest in the world right now, too. But I learned a long time ago that you don’t allow other people to dictate what you do and when. You will never get anywhere if you allow other people and their events to stop you from achieving your dreams. It isn’t the politics of the day that determine whether you go forward with your plans and achieve your dreams. Only you have that power, and that is incredible power when you think about it. It means you do not have to listen to the news in order to go forward with the life of your dreams.
This new Fresh Start energy is invigorating and gives me a renewed sense that I can and will create the life of my dreams. I can and will increase the inspiration in my life. I will put myself in places like Spain, where I can truly see a new perspective on things. I have not given up on retiring in Europe, and I will not allow other people, events, or situations to stop my plans. That little annoying voice in the back of my mind that tries to come up with all kinds of reasons why I should not pursue my dreams gets drowned out when I stop and notice how beautiful life is.
You might also want to revisit Michelangelo and the Moving Truck.
Algarve Coastline Photo by Wendy Stieg