Rebuilding Life with Intent

Introduction

The early morning mist hung low over the Cascade Mountains as my girlfriend (now wife) and I stood at the edge of a cliff, our breath visible in the cool air. The clouds were rolling over the mountains and in that quiet moment, surrounded by nature’s grandeur, we realized that our journey was about more than travel — it was about rebuilding our lives with intention and purpose. This adventure was transformative, but it also came with challenges that required us to undo our original programming—the societal expectations and timelines that often shape our lives. ?

Releasing these pressures was hard, but we learned that the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. I share this story to help others rewire unintentional programming from society, our social constructs, and workplaces. For me, clarity came in realizing I wanted to work at the intersection of people, business transformation, and growth. For my wife and me, it meant rethinking our lives—from education to career paths, relationships, and daily routines—as we redesigned our future together. We created balance on the road, and we brought the lessons we learned back home to Chicago.

In my previous article, I shared how my girlfriend and I embarked on a year-long adventure traveling across the western United States and here we are today, over a year of being back at home.?

What I learned

• Balance is personal and always evolving requiring continuous adjustment.?
• Personal growth drives professional success.
• Intentional community involvement is essential to building real relationships.?
• Every journey is unique, but shared experiences teach us all.
• Resilience and adaptability are key to navigating change.

Creating Balance

Exploring 18 national parks, spending countless hours in awe of the connection between nature and our cities, and meeting people from all over the country was a dream. We did all this while working, which required a shift in how we approached daily life.

Recognizing the need for change was easy, but implementing our vision was the real challenge. Packing everything we owned into a storage unit marked the beginning of a radical shift in our lives—a shift that challenged us to redefine what 'home' and 'balance' truly meant. During the week, we lived in large metropolitan areas for work, and on weekends, we explored national parks and neighborhoods. Our lives oscillated between feeling like we were on vacation and fulfilling our work obligations. It wasn't clear at first, but as we adjusted, we started to feel normal. If we could travel and still work, why hadn’t we done this before? What had changed?

We realized the world we wanted to create for ourselves looked different from the one readily available. But embracing this new vision required questioning everything.

Our first challenge was creating the balance we wanted. We both give our best to everything—our people, work, community, and each other. While we worked diligently during the week to ensure our employers noticed no change in our ability to show up, we meticulously planned each trip. We booked campgrounds and hotels, built itineraries, and planned meals with precision.

Creating stability on the road felt like trying to build a fire in the wind. Every decision required careful consideration, balancing the transient with the enduring. Once we achieved that stability, we realized that the feeling of the places we visited mattered more than engaging in every available activity. It was about just being—wherever we were. We still joke that some parks are better than others, some waterfalls aren’t worth the hike, and that we’re a bit "parkist."

One of our favorite national parks is North Cascades National Park, a highly underrated gem outside Seattle. It was one of the first parks we visited, and we hadn’t yet settled into a routine. While preparing for the trip, we were so focused on squaring things away in Chicago that we didn’t fully consider what visiting the North Cascades would entail. We planned to camp there but weren’t sure what early June weather would be like. Fortunately, we secured a last-minute campsite despite a few weekend forecasts of rain. We quickly learned that many high-altitude roads were still snow-covered in June!

Transitioning from Seattle’s t-shirts and shorts weather to bundling up in layers for North Cascades required us to be present and adaptable. As we huddled around the campfire, the crisp night air tingled against our skin, and the smell of pine needles and the crackling of burning wood surrounded us, making the warmth of our blankets all the more comforting. These small moments of joy gave us the energy, motivation, and confidence that this year-long adventure would be worth it. Our travels required detailed planning, from weather considerations to campsites, trails, meals, and ensuring our dog was comfortable.?

Though life in Chicago is great, it’s not the same as waking up to cool morning temperatures with dew rolling off the tent. Waking up slightly chilly, warming up over a campfire breakfast, and enjoying a coffee felt grounding. Being away from worries and stress, with no cell service, was liberating for our minds, bodies, and souls. It was nice just to be.

It took several trips to get used to the level of planning required. Every adventure-filled weekend took time and energy, but we both knew it was necessary to thoroughly enjoy the beauty our country has to offer. No matter how long it took, it was always worth it.

The balance we achieved wasn’t just about logistics; it was also about emotional and mental well-being. We learned to communicate effectively, set boundaries, and support each other in new ways. We discovered that creating balance is about more than managing time; it’s about managing energy and priorities. It’s about being intentional with our actions and ensuring our daily activities align with our long-term goals and values.

This shift in perspective wasn’t just needed in my personal life but also in my professional career. In consulting, stability is often hard to find due to the changing dynamics of clients, projects, teams, and economic situations. The stability that isn’t present at work needs to be created and brought from outside. Success, for me, is feeling fulfilled in work and life while helping others feel the same. This realization helped me understand that my experience in business transformation needed to evolve—not by going deeper but by going wider. It now involves putting people at the forefront of every conversation and not letting technology or processes take over.

This realization started with looking within, really understanding myself and what I cared about. As we navigated new landscapes and challenges, I found myself applying the same resilience and adaptability to my work. Each new city we lived in was a reminder that in both life and business, growth comes from stepping out of our comfort zones and embracing the unknown. It started with aligning my values and beliefs with my passion and purpose. We did this together while learning more about each other. Getting to know each other on our trip allowed me to better understand myself and what I wanted to do with my life and my career.

Life on the Road

Living on the road forced us to understand each other through our values and beliefs. We developed a shared vision for life on the road and established guidelines to stay true to what mattered most to us. This experience taught us to live deeply, using principles rather than the road ahead to guide us.

This became even more apparent when we got engaged at Zion National Park. Proposing at the top of Canyon Overlook, as the sunrise bathed the park in golden light, was not just a personal milestone but also a moment that deepened our commitment to living with intentionality. Kneeling, the weight of the moment as immense as the cliffs towering above, I asked her to write the next chapter of our lives together. Canyon Overlook was the perfect spot to capture the beginning of our lifelong commitment. The proposal couldn’t have gone any better. I had hired a photographer to wait at a specific spot on the overlook while we hiked up the mile-long trail who was able to capture our very special morning better than either of us had ever imagined in our lives. We still look at those photos today and can’t help but imagine if it was all a dream.

While we were thrilled to reach this point in our lives, there was much to figure out—like a wedding and the rest of our lives. As the pressures built, we had deep conversations about what we wanted our future to look like. We knew the life we had on the road wouldn’t last forever, and by learning so much about each other away from distractions, we were able to build a shared vision. We shaped our future as we liked but also knew that family and friends were a big part of it. Being isolated allowed us to freely feel and think for ourselves, to design our lives for the time being. It also allowed us to have conversations about what our life would look like when we returned home.

We started by defining what was truly important to us. This involved a lot of reflection and conversation. We used tools like the Wheel of Life to visualize different areas of our lives and assess how balanced we felt in each. This exercise was eye-opening and helped us see where we needed to focus our efforts. We realized that living deeply requires prioritizing our values over societal expectations or superficial goals.

One of the principles we embraced was minimalism. Living out of a suitcase for a year taught us to appreciate simplicity. Every time we sat by the campfire under a blanket of stars, we realized that the memories we were making—the quiet moments of hearing the fire crackle, the shared awe at nature's beauty—were more valuable than our material possessions. The simplicity of it all was both humbling and empowering, teaching us that true wealth lies not in what we own but in the relationships we build and the experiences we cherish. This shift in mindset was liberating and allowed us to focus on what truly mattered.

We also learned the importance of adaptability. Every new city brought its challenges and opportunities. We had to be flexible and open to change, which helped us grow personally and professionally. Working at KPMG allowed me to connect with colleagues in different cities, strengthening my brand nationally. This adaptability translated into my work, where I became recognized as someone flexible and adaptive, delivering strong positive outcomes.

One of the biggest lessons we learned was the importance of mental health and emotional intelligence. We’ve always been advocates for discussing these topics, but we never realized how important it was to focus on our mental health and how we perceive, express, and regulate emotions. This became apparent when we recognized that the connections we needed with others had to primarily come from each other. This also meant giving each other space to focus on ourselves.

While on the road, I was training for the Chicago Marathon. I had always wanted to run a marathon, and I was fortunate to be selected in the raffle a year before. Even as we spent weekends exploring national parks, working during the weekdays, and planning trips on weeknights, I remained committed to my training program to ensure I could complete the marathon in October 2022.

Waking up at 4:30 a.m. in Seattle to run on the dirt track by the junior high school will forever be a core memory of mine. It felt serene to be living the dream—traveling and enjoying life while still being committed to my goals. After my runs, I’d return to work Chicago hours. It was challenging, especially since the summer we stayed in Seattle was the hottest on record.

At some point, waking up early for training became routine, and I even looked forward to the quiet, dark mornings where I could be in a meditative state while running. It felt great to accomplish so much every morning before the rest of the world had even started their day. Just when I thought I had conquered Seattle’s terrain, I faced the challenge of Salt Lake City’s altitude. But I did what I needed to do to train successfully, and I’m grateful to my partner, who encouraged me to focus on my training so I could run my race in October.

Coming out of the tail-end of COVID, “return to normal” was becoming more prevalent, and we all can say there isn’t a return to the way things were. We now live in a post-COVID era that deserves its own space and conversation around what that world looks like and what are those expectations, professionally, personally, socially, etc.

I brought the Wheel of Life exercise to determine what that looked like at work and to understand how balanced is the work part of my Wheel of Life. Most knowledge workers spend time focused on many activities that don’t necessarily move the needle or help advance their careers. It took time to realize that as much time as I spend completing tasks at my job, there are also important parts outside of my job that will help amplify the value of my job and my career. It meant focusing on building connections with people, advocating for the work that I do, and creating a brand around the value I can bring to any conversation. None of this was easy to do on the road as our community was back in Chicago, and we weren’t around long enough in any one of our four cities to build strong relationships with people.

Rebuilding Back Home

Returning to Chicago felt like a homecoming in more ways than one. We brought back with us not just memories but a new framework for living—a framework that required us to integrate our newfound values with the expectations of our old lives. We returned to our favorite people and our favorite place, engaged and amid wedding planning. But returning home brought new challenges. We had to integrate our new life and relationship with the expectations of our families and friends. We recalibrated with colleagues on how we fit into our teams now that we were coming into the office more regularly. We learned to balance our professional and personal lives, ensuring our careers fit into our lives and not the other way around.

Rebuilding our life back home required us to re-establish boundaries. We had to communicate our new values and priorities to our loved ones and find ways to intentionally reintegrate them into our daily lives. This wasn’t always easy, as it meant challenging long-held beliefs and traditions that no longer resonated with us. But it was necessary to create a life that felt authentic and fulfilling.

We created a new shared vision based on our values and principles. This included understanding which relationships mattered most and how to nurture them. Slowly, we began to share these values with the people in our lives. This was critical in helping others see the strength of our future family unit. We realized that business, regardless of our roles, is about people, and by better understanding people, we could improve our professional relationships and careers. We saw the immediate impact of being in person with our colleagues and encouraged anyone who doesn’t see the value of those connections to be more intentional.

Personal and Professional Growth

Our journey made it clear that personal growth fuels professional success and vice versa. As we learned to communicate more openly and set boundaries in our personal lives, these skills naturally translated into our professional interactions, leading to deeper connections and greater achievements. We both grew in our ability to communicate more openly, clearly, and directly while holding space for others to express their feelings and perspectives. We also practiced setting boundaries to ensure work didn’t interfere with our personal goals while still achieving professional success.

We learned to manage our mental health better and further strengthen our emotional intelligence, which is crucial for both personal well-being and professional success. Creating a personal vision and having clarity on what our life looks like shaped how our career fits into our life. We also created a family vision as we continued to align our future together after we got married. From personal dreams to professional goals, we learned to align our values, beliefs, and principles with those of our company, colleagues, friends, family, and community.

One key takeaway from our experience was the importance of aligning personal values with professional goals. This alignment created a sense of purpose and fulfillment that made our work more meaningful. We started setting goals that weren’t just about career advancement but also about personal development and community contribution.

We also learned the value of resilience. Traveling forced us to face many challenges head-on and find creative solutions. From odd working spots to planning travels amid work, this resilience has been invaluable in our professional lives, where we now approach problems with a positive and proactive mindset. If we could travel the U.S. for a year just the two of us and figure out everything we needed to continue providing while enjoying ourselves, what else could we do?

Our journey helped us build strong relationships. We realized that success in business—and in life—isn’t just about individual achievements but also about collaboration and teamwork. By understanding and valuing the people we work with, we built stronger, more supportive professional networks.

Since being back, we’ve found ways to build relationships and get involved in our community in ways that connect with our values, beliefs, and purpose. By getting involved in The Executives' Club of Chicago , iMentor , and listening to what our city has, we’ve been able to intentionally strengthen the life we always knew was here in Chicago.

I believe that by focusing on people and sharing my expertise and experience in business transformation, I’ll find opportunities to support people’s transformations. Whether that’s through individuals, organizations, or small groups, remains to be seen. But nothing feels better than living my true, most authentic self and helping people directly. Whether people are planning for change, anticipating change, living through change, or trying to absorb change—I’m here for it. I’ve experienced growth and change myself having grown up quickly and put myself in situations where change kept coming, and I’m excited to help others through their changes.

Conclusion

Rebuilding our future requires intentional boundaries and a clear vision. Our travels helped us clarify personal priorities and goals, leading to professional achievements. From doing a lot of nothing to being in constant awe, we discovered what truly matters. I hope our story inspires others to break down their barriers and rebuild their lives with intentionality.

During his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Steve Jobs said - "You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever."

As we look ahead, the road stretches before us—unknown, unpredictable, but full of promise. Living deeply and intentionally isn’t a destination but a continuous journey of discovery. I invite you to see if this resonates with you, to question the status quo, set your boundaries, and build a future that truly reflects who you are. It requires constant reflection, adaptation, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. By aligning actions with values, we all can create a life that is meaningful and fulfilling. Take a moment today to reflect on your life—what boundaries do you need to set? What values do you want to prioritize? By starting this journey of intentional living now, you can begin to build a future that truly reflects who you are and what you value.