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My Modern-World Home Office Meets Rural American Homesteading

My Modern-World Home Office Meets Rural American Homesteading

Has your work moved to some version of a remote or home office?  
I have had pretty flexible working environments over the years as I have traveled as a consultant.  Combinations of work in a corporate office, in the airport, from my home or hotel, and wherever else my laptop and I found myself.


Co-Worker Woes

What comes to mind when you hear “office co-worker woes?”  This might conjure up a memory from your work experiences in a corporate office.   Have you ever encountered a loud officemate somewhere that you have worked from?  Or have you ever worked nearby someone in an office who:

  • seems to go on and on
  • who you can hear over your calls some days
  • that just seems to always be talking or walking around
  • who makes you wonder ‘does he get any work done?!?’
I thought in a fully remote, work-from-home position, these loud office disruptions were long in my past!   I don’t have any children and my indoor housecats are very relaxed.  We recently got a new dog, but he doesn't bark much thankfully.  

Well, it turns out that I was in for a surprise as I now work from a rural homestead in the countryside of southwest Missouri when this guy took up working outside my office window:


In most cases, it turns out that he is working very hard when he is the loudest.  And no, that isn't first thing in the morning waking us up.  He serves as a protector to the flock of hens and is on constant watch alerting them of danger on the ground or from the sky.  When the hens are done laying eggs, they call out to him from the coop and he responds to let her know where he and the rest of the flock are so she can navigate to them safely.

So how did we come to work together unexpectedly one day?

Co-Working With The Rooster

One day I got to unexpectedly collaborate on work with the rooster.  Say what?!?  As I sat at my home office desk, I heard him scream as loud as ever in what sounded like far more panic than his normal crow.  As I quickly looked out the window, I saw the cause for his alarm standing the grass having just emerged from the tree line… a coyote standing there in broad daylight seeking out where to attack the free-ranging chickens nearby!

I took off running out the door (mind you in my house slippers) and was fortunate that the coyote was quickly spooked to run away.  The rooster chased after him towards the trees while I frantically gathered the hens and got them herded back into the coop for safety.  Whew! We did it!  Everyone was saved and safe back in their shelter.

While he might be loud, I have learned that the rooster is also an important member of our homestead, and for that, I will tolerate him being my loudest officemate.

'Home Office' Tour

Okay, now to the fun part and my home office tour video that I put together! 
 

#YesThatWasARoosterYouHeardInTheBackGroundOfTheWebex #Sorry


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Meet Echo Schneider, Chief Adventure Officer

 
Overworked, burned out, and with waning loyalty to an industry that had lost its way and was no longer true to itself.  Of course, career burnout was at an all-time high in my sector and amongst the worst in any field.  It wasn’t all even just about work, though my perfectionism often got the best of me there more than other parts of my life.  I look back and see that I was overwhelmed and questioning so many areas of my life.  Was I doing the right things? From diet to products I bought, from how I was involved in the community to time I was spending with family, and from how I was walking out my faith and showing up in a meaningful way to my world. In this craziness is where I found myself.
 
Healthcare (watch my fingers make air quotes as I say that word and use the term loosely at best) in the US had long been bought and paid for and was no longer masking their symptom management and disease maintenance focus.  It had lost its focus on health; they could give you a pill or cut you open.  But to nurture your health and foster your body’s God-given ability to heal itself, they no longer knew how to do that.  Or worse, no longer desired to be in the business of prevention and healing.
 
As so many professional people were doing in the modern economy, we, as healthcare professionals, we’re doing more with less.  Mandatory overtime, poor ergonomics, and complete lack of an environment to practice self-care were the norm.  And to make it worse?  Because of our specific industry, we added in a loss of our medical freedoms just to stay and do our jobs.  The days of job security were long gone, and I watched in fear as friends and colleagues in sectors across the board were being laid off just to help top leaders move the stock up for shareholders.  How terrifying that this could be the reward for lifelong dedication and hard work!
 
At home, it didn't feel much better.  I fought to find a non-existent work-life balance and to be present while feeling exhausted (have you ever come home from work to fall asleep on the couch and finally be awoken when your Mom calls? Tell me this isn’t just me!).  I was disappointed in myself seeing my self-care fall away, time with friends and family slipping by, and I wasn’t spending the time I wanted serving with my church family or in my community.  
 
Add to that the confusion and frustration of what should have been simple daily choices.  What foods should I be eating? Is this trendy thing something I should try?  Wait, is the product good or bad, I paid more for it, but I feel like I saw an article on them that there was a recall or they were green-washing.  So frustrating and such a time-suck trying to keep up and have the health and abundance our family deserved!  I felt like at every turn that I was running to keep up and felt like I ultimately just found more of the same lies in the name of profits, and more ways my health was ultimately paying the price, yet again.
 
How could anyone thrive in this culture when even those who were well educated and seeking out something better faced with such daunting challenges?  I know, first-world problems, but I longed to create something more, a legacy for myself and others.  To break generational chains and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it stuck in this rat-race.
 
Set the stage for that something.  I have, for so much of my life, been interested in learning, growing, and being a student of personal development.  From an investment with top leadership development companies through their programs for years to Law of Attraction to Conscious Language and so many others, I was finding the mentorship and teaching I needed to make the changes I so desperately desired.  
 
There wasn’t an overnight shift or an immediate awareness to change, but I began to find my path slowly and as a result, was investing myself in new ways.  I was raised by a wise and visionary Mother who had shown me what it was to be an entrepreneur.  I always admired that title and was drawn to it in many ways.  As I dabbled in businesses from my youth through college and beyond, I was picking up pieces of freedom and a stage where I could work for myself to create something new.  
 
As the years went on, I kept pushing myself in that path.  I was helping others, and I was welcoming a team of like-minded friends and family to come with me.  This was possible; we were doing it!  It wasn’t easy, we were doing a side-hustle while still being full-time professionals and wives and Mothers, but we were doing it none the less.

I'm so excited to have found a platform to speak truth. To show up for others in "true health" in ways that I didn’t know could exist when I started down this path.  But I know now that we don't have to settle any longer.  Any of us, friends!  It's time to live the great adventure that you were made for.
 
Now it’s time to move beyond business beyond vocation.  Now we are building a blessing.  That has so many meanings, one being the definition of “a herd of unicorns,” in case you didn’t know.  I was given the title of ‘unicorn’ from a dear friend when she came to know me and saw what I was capable of achieving.  And now it’s my turn to see that light in you.  Join me, and together, we can create a community and movement with a vision to change it all.
 
I don't care what your background is.  What education you received growing up in business, finances, or medicine.  Those things don't matter.  We are walking a new path to freedom in all areas of our lives.
 
I'm writing a new future and destiny for myself and my family, and I won't journey alone.  A mentor taught me to carry the confidence that God has called me to rise, but I will not rise alone.
 
I'm reaching out my hand to you (don't worry, I recently used a plant-based hand sanitizer) so that you are not alone; we will do this together!  
 
You are so worthy.  
 
Your family and your dreams are worth it.  
 
Together we can do this, but you must take the first step. ðŸ‘Š

I can't wait to connect with you via text, email, or on social media!

Contact

Adventures 4 #RealLife ~ Echo Alexzander
Echo Schneider

Highlandville, MO 65669
USA
Phone: 2082415018
Email: echo.schneider@gmail.com

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