October 12, 2024 • 37 mins
This week on the show I am joined by Carrie Rad, a YouTuber who made the massive decision to move from the hustle and bustle of LA to rural Wairarapa here in New Zealand.
In this episode we talk about what inspired the intentional slow down and how Carrie made the massive transition plus what it’s been like starting a family on the other side of the world.
Also, how do NZ neighbours stack up internationally and why do you always need to be within 15 minutes of Mitre 10?!
We get an insight into the gorgeous life she is creating with her husband and baby daughter and what brings her back when life feels chaotic.
Hope you enjoy this celebration of making bold choices and small town, country living!
Stay with me on the journey on Instagram.
About the show:
Life is fast. Information is overwhelming. We seem busier and more anxious than ever. Introducing ‘Slow It Down’. A time to chill, wind down and join a space that inspires people to live authentically and slow it down. A hub for living more consciously and incorporating mindful practices and rituals in an achievable way. The aim is to showcase guests who have chosen to live a more balanced lifestyle mixed in with experts who offer tangible tips and tricks to feel a little more zen.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
With the Heads Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Slow It Down. I am your host,
PJ Harding, and every week I am on a mission
to see kat how we can find peace and the chaos,
what rituals can we do to stay sane? And what
does it truly mean to be successful and human?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This week, I'm joined.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
By Carrie rad who made the massive decision years ago
to pack up her and her husband's life and move
from the hustle and bustle of Ala to rural white.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It Upper here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We talk about why, why did they choose to make
the massive transition, how has it been starting a family
away from your major support network, why you always need
to live within fifteen minutes of a mile to ten
and we take a look at the beautiful life that she,
her husband and baby daughter are creating here in New Zealand.
(01:01):
I really loved setting down with Kerrie and having a chat.
There was a lot that we actually shared in common.
So I hope you get something out of the episode enjoy.
So let's go back to your old life very much
you living in LA. Can you tell us what your
life was like? What were you doing, what was your
(01:23):
day in day out, she do.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So living in La.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I look back, and it's really funny the timing of
this podcast, because my husband and I have been having
conversations so much recently about our past life versus our
current life, and we made big decisions four years ago
to move to New Zealand, and it just rearranged her
entire lives. Pretty much pressed the reset button on life
(01:50):
living in LA. When I look back, When we look back,
all we remember is constantly working, if I'm honest, and
when we had time off, we would go to Sierra
Nevada or just find nature as much as possible. But
the heartbeat of LA is so incredibly fast that if
(02:12):
you're not going at that speed, you just feel like
you're not keeping up.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I've heard a lot of people get deprest in LA.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Is that right? Is that because they're not matching like.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The feeling that constant sure of carving out.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I have to be mindful of not just like bashing,
because I do love LA. When I go back, I'm like, ah, yeah,
like back in, like feeling the culture of it. But
to live there again would be really hard for us,
just based off of over the last four years, getting
really much more comfortable with the work life balance in
(02:50):
the culture here because I feel like Kiwi's have work
life balance.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Do you think so?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I do?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So what were you doing in la YouTube?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I've been doing YouTube since twenty fourteen, so like over
a decade now. I started my YouTube channel January seventh
of twenty and fourteen. I was working in banking at
the time. Yeah, and I always loved photography, videography. I
always loved being on camera. I did acting and stuff
(03:25):
as well, and so I just aligned all the things
that I loved to do, and I was just posting
videos all the Internet as a hobby.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
And this was when it wasn't cool cool, where it
was like weird.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
That you're like, They're like, you're doing what? So I
told no one. Nobody knew, not even my mom, that
I was posting videos on the internet. And my first
video ever was what I got at the market. I
was like showing food because I used to do that
like on FaceTime with my mom and we would talk
about that, and so I just I just did like
a hall and I was just posting like look books
(03:59):
and stuff like that, and it just grew. And I
think that a big part of it is because I
started before it was so saturated, and so I think
people were like discovering YouTube. And I also had other
YouTubers that were like bigger creators shouted me out and
stuff because they found my content and it really just
like skyrocketed, and then it became my full time job
(04:23):
and it has been my full time thing. I've been
a content creator, yeah, for over a decade now.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And so what lead to you guys wanting to move
to the other side of the world to a little
old New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
So my husband's a dual citizen.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
He is.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
His father was born and raised in New Zealand, so
he's been coming to New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Since he was a kid.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
So we took a trip to New Zealand together in
I think it was twenty nineteen, two week trip, and
I knew in my head, like this this is we're
checking to see how I like New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Did you play novel?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Honestly, this is the thing I always dreamt of living
in the countryside my whole life. I grew up in
suburban neighborhoods like Cement everywhere. I don't know why, but
lambs were always my favorite, like animals So when he
talked about New Zealand, I think two things aligned for me,
which one was that I always wanted to live abroad
for a certain amount of time.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And two I always.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Wanted to live in the countryside, and New Zealand is
the country side.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Obviously there's some a couple of big cities.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, but like New Zealand's it's a country.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
They're cities like villages, sure, whatever, But I just I
dreamt of that.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
So when we talked about New Zealand and we were
driving through here, like we started looking at like where
we could possibly live, and I just started dreaming up
what life could be like here. And it's just aligned
for us. The values of New Zealand. Still a lot
about New Zealand aligned for us. And when I say that,
my husband and I have been talking a lot about
(06:05):
life now versus in the past, Like we're so grateful
right now to our past selves for going through the
last four years, because I will tell you it hasn't
been easy moving countries, starting family in another country. But lately,
like we reached the point where we just looked at
(06:26):
each other and we were like wow.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Because yeah, like I imagine that lape of face would
have had to be hu. Yeah, and did you do
a missive pros and cons list? I can imagine there
were so many things fallowing you back.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
To be honest with you, I didn't.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
I think the only reason why it worked is because
I just said.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Okay, here we go. Fine.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
If I would have made a pro and con list,
I would have logistics scuried myself out of it.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeahah, the logistics enough.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
For Like, so you didn't know how you were going
to do things, you literally just had to.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You went for it. And right before we left, my
husband looked at me and he was like, are we.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Sure one of us needs to be serious?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And stuff is on a container, like we're going We've
gone this far and yeah, it's been a wild ride
and there has been yeah, as I said, moments of doubt.
But we are here now and we when we look
back and in this chapter, with our daughter and everything,
we have never been more grateful and honestly more sure
(07:35):
of this journey.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
When you were moving to New Zealand, had you already
locked in your property or did that kind of wow
so you got here, were renting at the beginning or
staying with family or.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, staying with family. We got here.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Alex's family here again, his father was born and raised
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So is that why you came here?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
No, why here?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Everyone asked me that. Who lives in the wa Anapa?
Everyone's like why.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Honestly, I think if you aren't born and raised in
Masterton in the White Dappa.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You have a different perspective of it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
But if you were born and raised here, you're probably
the first person that's gonna ask me why.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I wasn't born in race here and I love that.
I've fallen in love with it and its hard.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
I think when you come in with a fresh perspective,
you realize how much it really has to offer. And
I feel like people who were born and raised here,
I'm like the advocate.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They're like that's so nice, and I'm like, I'm serious.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
We looked all over New Zealand, North Island, South Island.
We got a caravan at one point because we were
done staying with family.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
We were like, okay, we got to go look, we
gotta go look at where we want to live.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And because we have flexible careers in terms of like
we're remote. We could go where is that? And so
we looked North Island, we looked South. We thought South
Island is stunning, but we want to be a little
bit more like closer to like international airports. My husband
travels a lot for work. We go back to the
States a lot, and we put offers in on houses
(09:07):
in Hawks Bay. We didn't get them. There was a
lot of time where we kept trying and we were
getting declined, and it felt like the universe was telling
us you should go back. And so we did have
a moment where we were like, maybe this is just
not what we should be doing. Nothing's working. Usually when
you're doing something that's supposed to align, everything will fall
(09:29):
out to place. This is not falling into place for
the first year.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Wow, so you were still looking for you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
We were looking for We ended up moving into our
house here in September, and we got here in January,
so nine months we were like, Okay, we're not just
going to keep like renting airbnbs.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So we got a caravan when we got.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Here and we just explored and the whited upp Uh
came to mind. Actually, we drove through the White Dapa
at one point and we were like, this is beautiful.
We ended up making friends with do you know Alex
from Little Farms is Yeah, And so she gave me
a tour of you know, and she just pulled out
(10:15):
my growing vegetable heart strings and I was like, she's great.
And then, to be honest, we found our house and
so a lot of people are like, why'd you pick Masterton.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We're like, we picked that house.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
But we also loved that Masterton was fifteen minutes from us.
So we're living rural, but we're able to come and
pop into town and do literally whatever we need to do.
And one thing that Alex's dad, when we were looking
for a house, kept saying, make sure you're fifteen minutes
from minter ten because we were looking for a fixer upper.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
If you're fixing up a house, like you go to
miner tent, you go back to the house and.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You're like, oh my god, I forgot this.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, and we were.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Trying to do we have done quite a bit of
it on our own. We would get things and maybe
like this isn't it. Thank goodness, we lived fifty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Good advice fable because I've lived in a big city
I've lived in Melbourne and then I'm a master, and
people always like, how do you make that shift? Like
is it not the biggest transition? How did you find
that initially going from such a busy paced life to
WHOA yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
I think we were ready for it.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I think that we did our time in LA. We
were both content creators separately. He had his own YouTube channel,
I had mine. We didn't know each other's channels when
we met, and we were both just living in LA
doing the networking thing, going to the events, and we
(11:43):
both just wanted to slow down and it was just
perfect timing and we both wanted the same thing, And
I think that's what made it possible and enjoyable to do,
even at the moments where we questioned everything, Because we
both wanted the same.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Result, we were able to push.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Through any of the storms or the hard times that
came up in it. And now we have the foundation.
I think over the last four years, we didn't have
the foundation because we didn't have like our community, we
didn't have our house, we didn't have our daughter, and
when we got here, we were in the process of
trying for her and we had loss, and we didn't
(12:24):
have family here. So it was quite the journey to
being where we are now. And so, like I said,
we're just looking back now and we're like, wow, now
we have the foundation.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So many people would pack it in. Oh, especially in
starting a new family. You need that village, You need
that support, Like how did you get through those storms
that you had to do with this?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Yeah, I think we got really lucky that where we moved,
we one have really great neighbors down the road and
they just took us in.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
This is like the Kiwi It's the Kiwi.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Way, the everggest thing I've found since moving where really
you will get looked after buy your community, you have
to yea.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
The thing is is like if you have one neighbor
down the road, like you're gonna be friends with that neighbor.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
But I think it's really interesting because I feel like
if you moved to the middle of the countryside in America,
it wouldn't be the same experience. It could be different,
but which I see, and it's really it was we
were prepared to feel isolated. We told ourselves, Okay, we're
moving to the countryside. Let's we're gonna be isolated. But honestly,
I feel less isolated living in the countryside than I
(13:34):
did living in la with people all around me.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I hear you. I understand it. I know exactly what
you've mean.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I never knew my neighbors in the city never, and
everyone is in their own little bubble on their own mission.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
It's very interesting, no matter whether you live in the
hustle and bustle of the city or even if you
move it. You live in a big city and you
move to suburban neighborhoods.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
That's what we did.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
It was the exact same thing. Once Alex and I met,
we moved like more inland to a proper neighborhood, and
it was exactly the same. I never once saw the
inside of one of my neighbor's houses. I never had
a cup up with them or anything like that. And
I maybe met one on the road one time because
I gave him some squash that we were growing in
the backyard. But other than that, we didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's sad.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
It's so sad.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It didn't used to be like that, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
But that's so cool to hear that you have found
your village.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, and of course I'm still finding right like I'm
so much more open now to making new friendships than
I was living in the city, because, like I said,
when the heartbeat is so fast, you're just trying to
keep up. When I look back to my time in LA,
I was just thinking about what else I could add
to my plate, what else should I do? And I'm
not saying that I don't have inspiration now, because I
(14:54):
do think about things and I'm like, oh, that'd be
so coold to do that, or yes, but I'm way
more mindful of about how, when, what, and what my
life would look like, not only because I'm in a
different place and I've learned work life balance to the
best that I can the best my ability. There are
(15:16):
times where I'm like, how can we do this all?
But much better than when I was just working constantly, and.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Now having my daughter.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I feel like I don't want to add more things
because I don't want to feel like being with her
as a burden, Like I'm like, oh, I have so
much to do, like I got to watch her, you.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Know, da da, I've got things, and it's like, no,
I want do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Like that absolutely mean yeah, And I think it's really
tough though at the moment, because it's really hard for
households to live on one income and people are being
forced into having to do everything, which is so stressful.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yes, and that is one thing that we are also
trying to navigate. We're both working from home to and
me working I didn't take maternity leave or anything like that. Obviously,
I feel really grateful that I can work from home,
but also that can be really hard to to navigate
(16:24):
when you can work and when you can't, and especially
if you're like doing audio stuff or like videography, and
so it's navigating all of that. But I know what
you mean, and I honestly I think back now that
I'm a new mom, I look at situation in the
States in particular, and the fact that we don't.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Offer maternity leave.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Yeah, it's wild, and that has really opened my eyes
to new American moms where I'm like, I was just
talking to.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
My work after six weeks is there?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Right? It depends on your job. Yeah, so mattorney leave
is up to your job. It's not required by the government.
So some jobs will be like.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Two weeks, six weeks.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Some jobs who are like doing the right thing will
do three months. Some will offer four, but that is
like a good maternity leave in America's three months, and so.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Like type of situation.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
I'm like, I have so much love in my heart
and just I don't know, that's hard. That is really
hard to not be able to take time off at
all and depend on your employer who make your employer
may not have the.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Means, They're not necessarily the bag exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But I was still like, like, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Not three months. That's all I was thinking about, was like, how,
how how it's hard? It's hard.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's just I.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Follow you on Instagram and it just looks like such
an idyllic little lifestyle that you're creating.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I'm aware that we do post the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Highlights of our lives on there, but day in day out,
how does your life look like a leats took through
your schedule?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Right now?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
It's so different from before I had Yeah, because I
was just talking to a friend recently where I was like,
what did I used to do?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I know?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Did I know I had that much?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
You know, I wish I did this this.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I'd like to go back to her and say can
you please go do that and that and that?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
But now a.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Lot of it is looking after our seven month old daughter, Eliana,
but it's a lot of it's a juggle. It's a
I'm filming a YouTube video this afternoon. Can you take her?
And my husband and I will like juggle. It's different
every day. I right now because Ellianna is waking up
quite a bit in the evening and wants mommy's booby. Ye,
(18:59):
I will be the one to be doing that through
the evening. And then so in the morning, my husband
takes her and he he puts her in her plate
pen and things out with her, plays a little guitar
for her for a couple of hours while I have
a sleep in yep, which is lovely.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
And then when I.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Wake up, she's getting pretty ready for a nap. So
then I'm just telling you my new mom schedule is
that interesting at all?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Well, I just want to like, I loved you really
do like knowing people throught because you only see a
sliver a fraction online, right, totally, Yeah, And it's you
see these idyllic moments, but your mom, you know, trying
to do your ad and sight.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
So it's just trying to balance creating content, working with
different brands and stuff in a way that is practical
for both of us because we're both working from home
and figuring out nap schedules.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
How does that happen? And it's different every day.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Sometimes it's thirty minutes, sometimes it's two hours, and just
really maximizing the snap time is not my fan.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
How do you find This is a big question that
I ask on the podcast Pace and the Chaos, and
they're rituals you do to stay sane. Are there simple
things that you do to bring you back to being human?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Going outside immediately? If I feel, I'm a homebody. So
I think that's also why this type of lifestyle has
worked for me, because I as much as I am
an extrovert, I'm also a homebody. So I love being
at home. I love creating a space. I love creating
a peaceful space, and honestly, resetting the house brings me joy.
(20:42):
I'm a Virgo, we love organization.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
My son's a virgo on the cusp of layover.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Okay, that's a good miss.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, I haven't really seen the organized side yet coming up.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
But yeah, it might come later.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I just love, yeah, the peace at home, so I
try to create that as much as like can. Sometimes
that's not. That's when I go outside when I'm like,
when I don't have time to reset this, it's not
useful right now because here's toys everywhere, whatever it might be,
you know, it's not clean.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Hard part.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's one of our parts of bay Mom is especially
if you are attached to that esthetic or that feeling, yeah,
of zoom and cleanliness, it's really hard to ojave sometimes.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, And sometimes you just look around and you're like,
I can't get there right now, Like I don't even
have the energy you reset this space. That was my
thing before I had any kids. I was like, Oh,
I just love resetting the space, and I still do
when I can.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Does that manual one of those people that always change
the realm when you're a code.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Oh yeah, I was calm ranging everything.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And now I do the same as well, and I
get the biggest.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I'm always reranging and thinking about hot I'm gonna move
back all the time.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Oh all the time.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
But when I feel that I don't have the energy
for that, then I just walk outside and maybe I'll
make a cup of tea or whatever. But just being outside,
and that's one of the main reasons why I really
wanted to live in the country because I well, first
of all, New Zealand the access to nature is just unbeatable.
So just kind of wherever you are, you feel like
(22:15):
you're amongst trees and water, and that's one of the
things I love about being here. But living in the
countryside is like another element of it, where you can
just walk outside and feel like you are amongst peace.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I gotta be honest, because I moved to the middle
of nightwea after being in the city, and I definitely
felt that at the beginning. But I feel like sometimes
life can still get on top of you, and the
voices in your head can get really loud and you're
focused on what he was going on with work or whatever,
all of this other cheddar and I'm like, I'm literally
living in paradise, but.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I'm still feeling stressed out.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Although I will say if I go for a book
bushwalk twenty thirty minutes, I'm like, heels, yeah, totally.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
The way that nature can heal you is incredible, just
like for any fresh here, even for La months old,
when she's upset, I walk outside and then she's fine, yeah,
and I'm like there's something to that.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, it starts we are supposed to be out there.
That's what we that's where we came from.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
We've got knocked out of these natural rhythms of going,
just like when when the sun goes down, we're.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
So detached from it.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
And so of course it's gonna bring us peace, even
just walking outside and going. And yeah, I might not
cure everything. We're still gonna have thoughts, but it is
gonna make you a little bit better. Walking barefoot in
the grass is gonna make you feel a million times
better too. So like I'll just put on some slippers
and take them off and then just walk barefoot in
the grass, and I just feel a million times better.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
And it's not gonna cure everything. When I get back inside,
I might.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Have the anxiety to creep up again, or it's not
that all the thoughts go away or whatever, but it does, honestly,
scientifically proven, the walking on the grass barefoot makes a difference.
So I think it's worth trying, even if it's it
doesn't cure everything.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I love how you just the five things, and it
feels like you really appreciate the small daily things that
we all take for granted. Now, like we're talking about
your caputet or coffee, or like when you go and
get your vegetables out the garden. There is such an
act of joy that we overlook.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It's so simple. Yeah, that's the simplest thing.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
And I think that is the best thing in life
to pay attention to. And I think that when I'm
feeling sad or if I'm going through a hard time,
it's always a simple thing to bring me back, whether
it be like a talk with my best friend. That's
not nature, but that's a simple thing. And I think
(24:44):
that's what life is.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And I think we.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Lose that living in the big city and the hustle
and muscle and that we're all trying. We're so I
want to self absorbed and self focused.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh my god, I know, and I often think too
much about people think about me.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And then you have the realization that no one's actually
thinking about you.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
I'm good like that too, Like totally you're thinking about yourself.
I've had to tell myself that a million times, Like
nobody cares.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It's quite how bliss it is.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Nobody's thinking about you that much as much as you
are thinking, you know, And especially when when we were
in our hard part of our futility journey.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
It was like I it was I.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Had so much like shame in it, and I was like,
nobody's thinking about this as much as you are, Like I,
that's my situation, and there's there's been so many different
elements in my life. That's just an example of things
where I'm like struggling with anxiety around something, thinking that
people care, and then me having to.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Be like nobody cares. Nobody cares.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Actually people care about you and they want you to
be happy. They don't care about all the things that
you think they care about.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And I don't think this is a care.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It's like it's see it the things we worried about
never coming to rawuse.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Everyone's thinking about themselves. If you're thinking about.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yourself, stop thinking about yourself. The least is blocked up.
But I don't.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I wonder what society was like back in the olden days,
Like I feel like we have definitely become a lot
more self.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Absorbed, definitely, I think with social media, and I'm saying
that as a content creator, Yeah, my job is all
about what I'm wearying, what I'm doing, what I'm doing today, dad,
And I'm fully aware of that.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Even if you're not a content creator. If you run
a business, you have to have some presence online and
you have to prove your worth all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But also if you're not a content creator and you
have social media.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, exactly this day and age, we're all posting online,
whether you're monetized or not, whether you've created a business
or not. Everyone's posting about their life and their highlights,
and not just content creators are guilty of doing that.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Everyone's sharing that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But if you like from the game, then you Yeah,
you can't.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Participate in society really, which is quite hard. And I
think you've just.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Got to find that healthy balance being on and off.
And I've got back into a bed.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I have come to the realization about the word balance.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yes, it doesn't exist.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
It doesn't exist.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
I know everyone's like find balance, They're like, no, sometimes
I'm going to be way more work. Sometimes I'm going
to be way more family sometimes and be way more friends.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Sometimes I'm going to be you.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Know, it's just the season, not necessarily sas not necessarily
a pendulum, but there's going to be moments, whether it's
moment by moment, week by week, day by day where
you swing a little bit more in one direction in
the next one day, I am fully doing mom stuff
all day long, and then the next day I'm like, Okay,
I am batching all of this work stuff this day,
(27:50):
and my husband's helping more, and so it's.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
It's just all ever changing.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Then act she made me feel so much better.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Thank you for like validating because I feel like sometimes
you just like I'm failing, whether it is work, whether
it's home life, being a good partner, whether it's being
a good mom or.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Looking after the house, like keeping your top of stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah, I know, and you're just and you feel like
you're failing.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I really love that perspective that it's just it's actually
impossible to have a balance. It doesn't exist, and so
sometimes you just got to be heavy in one area. Yeah,
And it is a pendulum, and like life as a
whole is like that, and you're just going to go
through seasons where you do feel really freaking busy. Yeah,
sometimes you will film mos in sometimes you'll feel excited
(28:35):
and ambitious, and it's just what it's allot.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's ever changing.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
And that's something that I'm realizing that I've had to
tell myself. I'm telling you the things that I tell
myself where I'm like, I'm you know, feeling to you
at this or that or whatever it might be, and
I just tell myself these things.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Oh, this is what I was also going to bring
up for you. Since moving to the country, have you
found I don't know. I feel like I appreciate seasons
so much more, Like observing winter, summer and all that stuff.
It really does reiterate the team pre nature of everything, definitely.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
And I'd say one thing that's strange for me is
that seasons are opposite from where I'm from. So that's
been a huge adjustment because this time of year, I'm
like real cold, you know what I mean, I'm ready
to like snuggle up for Christmas. But I'm from La,
as we know, and in LA, we don't have seasons,
(29:33):
you know, Like I can say that I would get
ready to snuggle up for autumn Christmas, but like it's
always stunny in LA, which I feel like we took
for granted because it was always stunny, so it was like, Okay,
it's just another sunny day. But here we have so
much appreciation for a beautiful day, and the beautiful days
here are like stunning.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
They're stunning.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I feel like such a loser, like I've got really all.
But like I just noticed when I moved to the country,
I was like, whoa, those lives on the trees so pretty.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
In autumn, the crystals.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Happens when you get out of the city. You just
start appreciating things a little differently.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Yeah, how do you define success?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Happiness?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Honestly, so much now more than ever, being.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Able to live a life where you have.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
The ability to be with your family. Obviously my I
have family in the States and stuff, but I'm talking
about like my husband and Eleana, just being able to
have time to be with them. Because success, to me,
it's too easy to feel like financial is success. You know,
(30:52):
the more money you make, the more successful you are.
But really success is defined as freedom in my opinion,
and I know my first instinct to respond was happiness,
which can be quite cliche, but I do think that
freedom is happiness because when you have the freedom to
(31:12):
decide honestly what your day can look like.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Too.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
As an entrepreneur, I'm able to do that in some
aspects of my life, and to me, moving to New
Zealand didn't make us more financially successful. If anything, it
took us down a different path where we had to
sort things out a little bit more. And I feel
more successful because I have more freedom, and I have
(31:39):
the ability now to have moments to myself and to
my family, and to be there with my daughter and
to not feel like I need to be something because
everybody else around me is something.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You're writing the script.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I'm writing the script.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
And the fact that I can align my life to freedom,
to being able to have some freedom, that's success to me.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Good answer, I'm just a good answer.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
No. I think freedom is everything, isn't it The freedom
to choose what you want to do?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, And I know that can be that's a privilege
in itself.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Yeah, I'm not saying that that is that I don't
have gratitude.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Every single day for that to be able to do
honestly what I love.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
I love what I do, and I honestly my husband
and I say out out every single day that we're
so grateful for like how we've arranged life right now
does not mean it's always easy, but just being grateful
for all of those moments though, even like when you're
just trying to navigate it. It's a journey. I tell
my husband all the time. I'm like, these are the
(32:48):
days we're going to look back on, even the hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
I was trying to figure out how to renovate a
property without ever doing it.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
These moments where we're like what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Those are the moments that we're going to look back
on and laugh when a're like eighty sitting in a chair.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Like you remember, moved in the Zeeland.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
We bought a picture upper and we were like, had
no idea what we were doing, and we like.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Flooded the laundry because we were trying, you.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Know what I mean. These things that we are like
about in the moment, we're gonna look back one day
and be like that was so funny, Like those were
the needs of our lives.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And also I think that having those times of struggle
just makes when you do get into their easier patch
so much more sweet as well.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And you're like, oh, it was all with it.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
It's not easy.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
It wouldn't be worth it. What's the quote anything good?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
It's hard?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Like that, Like I think it's like, you know, nothing worth,
everything worth, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Hard work I know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay's
true though, one hundred percent. And I feel like, more
and more you get through life, you realize that. I
feel like you get a bit of an easy ride
when you're younger, and then you're like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Listen to listen.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, less and alfter lesson, okay, one more thing. If
you want to talk to you eighteen year old self,
and you'd be like, hey, I'll go some advice for you,
what would it be.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
I would say, you're doing great, it's all right.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Keep going.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
You will end up doing what your heart desires. It's
going to take some time to get there. You're gonna
have some twist and turns along the way, but eventually
you'll get to a point where you are good with
your situation. Because there were so many times where I
(34:32):
was just thinking that I had no idea what I
was going to do with my life, what I wanted
to do. I would change things all the time. I
would think, yeah, And I also would say, like, get
out of that horrible relationship, get out.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Get out.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
As soon as you see the right fun I'll run.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Instead of waiting till you're twenty one.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Now, that would be yeah, that everything's going to be
okay and to get out of that horrible relationship.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Well on that poignant note, Carrie, it has been an
honor to actually sit down and chat with.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You, my fellow wided up a friend. No, I love
watching you from afar.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I think it's so beautiful and it's so brave what
you've chosen to do, and I just think that life
is so exciting and I can't wait to see what
unfolds over the next few years.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Thank you, it's so nice to meet you in person too.
This is lovely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
But that was my chat with Carrie and luck.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
We did get a little carried away about all of
the perks of living here in the wided Up, but
I promise it was not like a tourism campaign so
apologics for sunny a bit like that, but like, it
was just so nice to meet someone else who had
also packed up a really busy lifestyle in the hustle
and bustle of a big city and taken a massive
leap of faith. I'm not saying that you need to
(35:51):
do this, but I think they have obviously had their
challenges through the last four years. Talking to Carrie, it
was so clear she has no regrets because she was
so ready for that move, you know when it came along.
And this did not mean to be like a city
bashing episode. I love visiting and staying in the cities,
but it was so nice to share our experiences of
(36:13):
the perks of actually living in smaller communities. And I
loved the chat on balance towards the end and shifting
that perspective of trying to do it all at once
and actually just leaning into thriving in one kind of
area at one point and then into another area at
another time, and not having to actually achieve it all
(36:35):
in one because that's just some possible and society has
just absolutely screwed us this.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
So I love chatting with her.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
If you love the app and what more of Carrie,
you can follow along with her life on Instagram and YouTube,
and actually keep an eye on my letl Instagram page
over the next week PJDJ because I've got an airpic
Slow it Down bundle to give away. I'm talking beautiful
goodies from Foxtrot, Home Send Living amberjack Albirds Edition Studio,
(37:07):
and so much more. So make sure you keep an
eye because I've got more details coming very soon and
another new episode of Slow It Down next Sunday. Thank
you for joining me, byebe
With the Heads Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Slow It Down. I am your host,
PJ Harding, and every week I am on a mission
to see kat how we can find peace and the chaos,
what rituals can we do to stay sane? And what
does it truly mean to be successful and human?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This week, I'm joined.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
By Carrie rad who made the massive decision years ago
to pack up her and her husband's life and move
from the hustle and bustle of Ala to rural white.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It Upper here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We talk about why, why did they choose to make
the massive transition, how has it been starting a family
away from your major support network, why you always need
to live within fifteen minutes of a mile to ten
and we take a look at the beautiful life that she,
her husband and baby daughter are creating here in New Zealand.
(01:01):
I really loved setting down with Kerrie and having a chat.
There was a lot that we actually shared in common.
So I hope you get something out of the episode enjoy.
So let's go back to your old life very much
you living in LA. Can you tell us what your
life was like? What were you doing, what was your
(01:23):
day in day out, she do.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So living in La.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I look back, and it's really funny the timing of
this podcast, because my husband and I have been having
conversations so much recently about our past life versus our
current life, and we made big decisions four years ago
to move to New Zealand, and it just rearranged her
entire lives. Pretty much pressed the reset button on life
(01:50):
living in LA. When I look back, When we look back,
all we remember is constantly working, if I'm honest, and
when we had time off, we would go to Sierra
Nevada or just find nature as much as possible. But
the heartbeat of LA is so incredibly fast that if
(02:12):
you're not going at that speed, you just feel like
you're not keeping up.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I've heard a lot of people get deprest in LA.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Is that right? Is that because they're not matching like.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The feeling that constant sure of carving out.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I have to be mindful of not just like bashing,
because I do love LA. When I go back, I'm like, ah, yeah,
like back in, like feeling the culture of it. But
to live there again would be really hard for us,
just based off of over the last four years, getting
really much more comfortable with the work life balance in
(02:50):
the culture here because I feel like Kiwi's have work
life balance.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Do you think so?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I do?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So what were you doing in la YouTube?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I've been doing YouTube since twenty fourteen, so like over
a decade now. I started my YouTube channel January seventh
of twenty and fourteen. I was working in banking at
the time. Yeah, and I always loved photography, videography. I
always loved being on camera. I did acting and stuff
(03:25):
as well, and so I just aligned all the things
that I loved to do, and I was just posting
videos all the Internet as a hobby.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
And this was when it wasn't cool cool, where it
was like weird.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
That you're like, They're like, you're doing what? So I
told no one. Nobody knew, not even my mom, that
I was posting videos on the internet. And my first
video ever was what I got at the market. I
was like showing food because I used to do that
like on FaceTime with my mom and we would talk
about that, and so I just I just did like
a hall and I was just posting like look books
(03:59):
and stuff like that, and it just grew. And I
think that a big part of it is because I
started before it was so saturated, and so I think
people were like discovering YouTube. And I also had other
YouTubers that were like bigger creators shouted me out and
stuff because they found my content and it really just
like skyrocketed, and then it became my full time job
(04:23):
and it has been my full time thing. I've been
a content creator, yeah, for over a decade now.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And so what lead to you guys wanting to move
to the other side of the world to a little
old New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
So my husband's a dual citizen.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
He is.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
His father was born and raised in New Zealand, so
he's been coming to New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Since he was a kid.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
So we took a trip to New Zealand together in
I think it was twenty nineteen, two week trip, and
I knew in my head, like this this is we're
checking to see how I like New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Did you play novel?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Honestly, this is the thing I always dreamt of living
in the countryside my whole life. I grew up in
suburban neighborhoods like Cement everywhere. I don't know why, but
lambs were always my favorite, like animals So when he
talked about New Zealand, I think two things aligned for me,
which one was that I always wanted to live abroad
for a certain amount of time.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And two I always.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Wanted to live in the countryside, and New Zealand is
the country side.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Obviously there's some a couple of big cities.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, but like New Zealand's it's a country.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
They're cities like villages, sure, whatever, But I just I
dreamt of that.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
So when we talked about New Zealand and we were
driving through here, like we started looking at like where
we could possibly live, and I just started dreaming up
what life could be like here. And it's just aligned
for us. The values of New Zealand. Still a lot
about New Zealand aligned for us. And when I say that,
my husband and I have been talking a lot about
(06:05):
life now versus in the past, Like we're so grateful
right now to our past selves for going through the
last four years, because I will tell you it hasn't
been easy moving countries, starting family in another country. But lately,
like we reached the point where we just looked at
(06:26):
each other and we were like wow.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Because yeah, like I imagine that lape of face would
have had to be hu. Yeah, and did you do
a missive pros and cons list? I can imagine there
were so many things fallowing you back.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
To be honest with you, I didn't.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
I think the only reason why it worked is because
I just said.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Okay, here we go. Fine.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
If I would have made a pro and con list,
I would have logistics scuried myself out of it.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeahah, the logistics enough.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
For Like, so you didn't know how you were going
to do things, you literally just had to.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You went for it. And right before we left, my
husband looked at me and he was like, are we.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Sure one of us needs to be serious?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And stuff is on a container, like we're going We've
gone this far and yeah, it's been a wild ride
and there has been yeah, as I said, moments of doubt.
But we are here now and we when we look
back and in this chapter, with our daughter and everything,
we have never been more grateful and honestly more sure
(07:35):
of this journey.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
When you were moving to New Zealand, had you already
locked in your property or did that kind of wow
so you got here, were renting at the beginning or
staying with family or.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, staying with family. We got here.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Alex's family here again, his father was born and raised
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So is that why you came here?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
No, why here?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Everyone asked me that. Who lives in the wa Anapa?
Everyone's like why.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Honestly, I think if you aren't born and raised in
Masterton in the White Dappa.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You have a different perspective of it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
But if you were born and raised here, you're probably
the first person that's gonna ask me why.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I wasn't born in race here and I love that.
I've fallen in love with it and its hard.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
I think when you come in with a fresh perspective,
you realize how much it really has to offer. And
I feel like people who were born and raised here,
I'm like the advocate.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They're like that's so nice, and I'm like, I'm serious.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
We looked all over New Zealand, North Island, South Island.
We got a caravan at one point because we were
done staying with family.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
We were like, okay, we got to go look, we
gotta go look at where we want to live.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And because we have flexible careers in terms of like
we're remote. We could go where is that? And so
we looked North Island, we looked South. We thought South
Island is stunning, but we want to be a little
bit more like closer to like international airports. My husband
travels a lot for work. We go back to the
States a lot, and we put offers in on houses
(09:07):
in Hawks Bay. We didn't get them. There was a
lot of time where we kept trying and we were
getting declined, and it felt like the universe was telling
us you should go back. And so we did have
a moment where we were like, maybe this is just
not what we should be doing. Nothing's working. Usually when
you're doing something that's supposed to align, everything will fall
(09:29):
out to place. This is not falling into place for
the first year.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Wow, so you were still looking for you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
We were looking for We ended up moving into our
house here in September, and we got here in January,
so nine months we were like, Okay, we're not just
going to keep like renting airbnbs.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So we got a caravan when we got.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Here and we just explored and the whited upp Uh
came to mind. Actually, we drove through the White Dapa
at one point and we were like, this is beautiful.
We ended up making friends with do you know Alex
from Little Farms is Yeah, And so she gave me
a tour of you know, and she just pulled out
(10:15):
my growing vegetable heart strings and I was like, she's great.
And then, to be honest, we found our house and
so a lot of people are like, why'd you pick Masterton.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We're like, we picked that house.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
But we also loved that Masterton was fifteen minutes from us.
So we're living rural, but we're able to come and
pop into town and do literally whatever we need to do.
And one thing that Alex's dad, when we were looking
for a house, kept saying, make sure you're fifteen minutes
from minter ten because we were looking for a fixer upper.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
If you're fixing up a house, like you go to
miner tent, you go back to the house and.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
You're like, oh my god, I forgot this.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, and we were.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Trying to do we have done quite a bit of
it on our own. We would get things and maybe
like this isn't it. Thank goodness, we lived fifty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Good advice fable because I've lived in a big city
I've lived in Melbourne and then I'm a master, and
people always like, how do you make that shift? Like
is it not the biggest transition? How did you find
that initially going from such a busy paced life to
WHOA yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
I think we were ready for it.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I think that we did our time in LA. We
were both content creators separately. He had his own YouTube channel,
I had mine. We didn't know each other's channels when
we met, and we were both just living in LA
doing the networking thing, going to the events, and we
(11:43):
both just wanted to slow down and it was just
perfect timing and we both wanted the same thing, And
I think that's what made it possible and enjoyable to do,
even at the moments where we questioned everything, Because we
both wanted the same.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Result, we were able to push.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Through any of the storms or the hard times that
came up in it. And now we have the foundation.
I think over the last four years, we didn't have
the foundation because we didn't have like our community, we
didn't have our house, we didn't have our daughter, and
when we got here, we were in the process of
trying for her and we had loss, and we didn't
(12:24):
have family here. So it was quite the journey to
being where we are now. And so, like I said,
we're just looking back now and we're like, wow, now
we have the foundation.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So many people would pack it in. Oh, especially in
starting a new family. You need that village, You need
that support, Like how did you get through those storms
that you had to do with this?
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Yeah, I think we got really lucky that where we moved,
we one have really great neighbors down the road and
they just took us in.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
This is like the Kiwi It's the Kiwi.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Way, the everggest thing I've found since moving where really
you will get looked after buy your community, you have
to yea.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
The thing is is like if you have one neighbor
down the road, like you're gonna be friends with that neighbor.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
But I think it's really interesting because I feel like
if you moved to the middle of the countryside in America,
it wouldn't be the same experience. It could be different,
but which I see, and it's really it was we
were prepared to feel isolated. We told ourselves, Okay, we're
moving to the countryside. Let's we're gonna be isolated. But honestly,
I feel less isolated living in the countryside than I
(13:34):
did living in la with people all around me.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I hear you. I understand it. I know exactly what
you've mean.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I never knew my neighbors in the city never, and
everyone is in their own little bubble on their own mission.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
It's very interesting, no matter whether you live in the
hustle and bustle of the city or even if you
move it. You live in a big city and you
move to suburban neighborhoods.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
That's what we did.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
It was the exact same thing. Once Alex and I met,
we moved like more inland to a proper neighborhood, and
it was exactly the same. I never once saw the
inside of one of my neighbor's houses. I never had
a cup up with them or anything like that. And
I maybe met one on the road one time because
I gave him some squash that we were growing in
the backyard. But other than that, we didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's sad.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
It's so sad.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It didn't used to be like that, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
But that's so cool to hear that you have found
your village.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, and of course I'm still finding right like I'm
so much more open now to making new friendships than
I was living in the city, because, like I said,
when the heartbeat is so fast, you're just trying to
keep up. When I look back to my time in LA,
I was just thinking about what else I could add
to my plate, what else should I do? And I'm
not saying that I don't have inspiration now, because I
(14:54):
do think about things and I'm like, oh, that'd be
so coold to do that, or yes, but I'm way
more mindful of about how, when, what, and what my
life would look like, not only because I'm in a
different place and I've learned work life balance to the
best that I can the best my ability. There are
(15:16):
times where I'm like, how can we do this all?
But much better than when I was just working constantly, and.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Now having my daughter.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I feel like I don't want to add more things
because I don't want to feel like being with her
as a burden, Like I'm like, oh, I have so
much to do, like I got to watch her, you.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Know, da da, I've got things, and it's like, no,
I want do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Like that absolutely mean yeah, And I think it's really
tough though at the moment, because it's really hard for
households to live on one income and people are being
forced into having to do everything, which is so stressful.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yes, and that is one thing that we are also
trying to navigate. We're both working from home to and
me working I didn't take maternity leave or anything like that. Obviously,
I feel really grateful that I can work from home,
but also that can be really hard to to navigate
(16:24):
when you can work and when you can't, and especially
if you're like doing audio stuff or like videography, and
so it's navigating all of that. But I know what
you mean, and I honestly I think back now that
I'm a new mom, I look at situation in the
States in particular, and the fact that we don't.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Offer maternity leave.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Yeah, it's wild, and that has really opened my eyes
to new American moms where I'm like, I was just
talking to.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
My work after six weeks is there?
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Right? It depends on your job. Yeah, so mattorney leave
is up to your job. It's not required by the government.
So some jobs will be like.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Two weeks, six weeks.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Some jobs who are like doing the right thing will
do three months. Some will offer four, but that is
like a good maternity leave in America's three months, and so.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Like type of situation.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
I'm like, I have so much love in my heart
and just I don't know, that's hard. That is really
hard to not be able to take time off at
all and depend on your employer who make your employer
may not have the.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Means, They're not necessarily the bag exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But I was still like, like, you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Not three months. That's all I was thinking about, was like, how,
how how it's hard? It's hard.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's just I.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Follow you on Instagram and it just looks like such
an idyllic little lifestyle that you're creating.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I'm aware that we do post the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Highlights of our lives on there, but day in day out,
how does your life look like a leats took through
your schedule?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Right now?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
It's so different from before I had Yeah, because I
was just talking to a friend recently where I was like,
what did I used to do?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I know?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Did I know I had that much?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
You know, I wish I did this this.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I'd like to go back to her and say can
you please go do that and that and that?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
But now a.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Lot of it is looking after our seven month old daughter, Eliana,
but it's a lot of it's a juggle. It's a
I'm filming a YouTube video this afternoon. Can you take her?
And my husband and I will like juggle. It's different
every day. I right now because Ellianna is waking up
quite a bit in the evening and wants mommy's booby. Ye,
(18:59):
I will be the one to be doing that through
the evening. And then so in the morning, my husband
takes her and he he puts her in her plate
pen and things out with her, plays a little guitar
for her for a couple of hours while I have
a sleep in yep, which is lovely.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
And then when I.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Wake up, she's getting pretty ready for a nap. So
then I'm just telling you my new mom schedule is
that interesting at all?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Well, I just want to like, I loved you really
do like knowing people throught because you only see a
sliver a fraction online, right, totally, Yeah, And it's you
see these idyllic moments, but your mom, you know, trying
to do your ad and sight.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
So it's just trying to balance creating content, working with
different brands and stuff in a way that is practical
for both of us because we're both working from home
and figuring out nap schedules.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
How does that happen? And it's different every day.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Sometimes it's thirty minutes, sometimes it's two hours, and just
really maximizing the snap time is not my fan.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
How do you find This is a big question that
I ask on the podcast Pace and the Chaos, and
they're rituals you do to stay sane. Are there simple
things that you do to bring you back to being human?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Going outside immediately? If I feel, I'm a homebody. So
I think that's also why this type of lifestyle has
worked for me, because I as much as I am
an extrovert, I'm also a homebody. So I love being
at home. I love creating a space. I love creating
a peaceful space, and honestly, resetting the house brings me joy.
(20:42):
I'm a Virgo, we love organization.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
My son's a virgo on the cusp of layover.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Okay, that's a good miss.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, I haven't really seen the organized side yet coming up.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
But yeah, it might come later.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I just love, yeah, the peace at home, so I
try to create that as much as like can. Sometimes
that's not. That's when I go outside when I'm like,
when I don't have time to reset this, it's not
useful right now because here's toys everywhere, whatever it might be,
you know, it's not clean.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Hard part.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's one of our parts of bay Mom is especially
if you are attached to that esthetic or that feeling, yeah,
of zoom and cleanliness, it's really hard to ojave sometimes.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, And sometimes you just look around and you're like,
I can't get there right now, Like I don't even
have the energy you reset this space. That was my
thing before I had any kids. I was like, Oh,
I just love resetting the space, and I still do
when I can.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Does that manual one of those people that always change
the realm when you're a code.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Oh yeah, I was calm ranging everything.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And now I do the same as well, and I
get the biggest.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I'm always reranging and thinking about hot I'm gonna move
back all the time.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Oh all the time.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
But when I feel that I don't have the energy
for that, then I just walk outside and maybe I'll
make a cup of tea or whatever. But just being outside,
and that's one of the main reasons why I really
wanted to live in the country because I well, first
of all, New Zealand the access to nature is just unbeatable.
So just kind of wherever you are, you feel like
(22:15):
you're amongst trees and water, and that's one of the
things I love about being here. But living in the
countryside is like another element of it, where you can
just walk outside and feel like you are amongst peace.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I gotta be honest, because I moved to the middle
of nightwea after being in the city, and I definitely
felt that at the beginning. But I feel like sometimes
life can still get on top of you, and the
voices in your head can get really loud and you're
focused on what he was going on with work or whatever,
all of this other cheddar and I'm like, I'm literally
living in paradise, but.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I'm still feeling stressed out.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Although I will say if I go for a book
bushwalk twenty thirty minutes, I'm like, heels, yeah, totally.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
The way that nature can heal you is incredible, just
like for any fresh here, even for La months old,
when she's upset, I walk outside and then she's fine, yeah,
and I'm like there's something to that.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, it starts we are supposed to be out there.
That's what we that's where we came from.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
We've got knocked out of these natural rhythms of going,
just like when when the sun goes down, we're.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
So detached from it.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
And so of course it's gonna bring us peace, even
just walking outside and going. And yeah, I might not
cure everything. We're still gonna have thoughts, but it is
gonna make you a little bit better. Walking barefoot in
the grass is gonna make you feel a million times
better too. So like I'll just put on some slippers
and take them off and then just walk barefoot in
the grass, and I just feel a million times better.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
And it's not gonna cure everything. When I get back inside,
I might.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Have the anxiety to creep up again, or it's not
that all the thoughts go away or whatever, but it does, honestly,
scientifically proven, the walking on the grass barefoot makes a difference.
So I think it's worth trying, even if it's it
doesn't cure everything.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I love how you just the five things, and it
feels like you really appreciate the small daily things that
we all take for granted. Now, like we're talking about
your caputet or coffee, or like when you go and
get your vegetables out the garden. There is such an
act of joy that we overlook.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It's so simple. Yeah, that's the simplest thing.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
And I think that is the best thing in life
to pay attention to. And I think that when I'm
feeling sad or if I'm going through a hard time,
it's always a simple thing to bring me back, whether
it be like a talk with my best friend. That's
not nature, but that's a simple thing. And I think
(24:44):
that's what life is.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And I think we.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Lose that living in the big city and the hustle
and muscle and that we're all trying. We're so I
want to self absorbed and self focused.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh my god, I know, and I often think too
much about people think about me.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And then you have the realization that no one's actually
thinking about you.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
I'm good like that too, Like totally you're thinking about yourself.
I've had to tell myself that a million times, Like
nobody cares.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It's quite how bliss it is.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Nobody's thinking about you that much as much as you
are thinking, you know, And especially when when we were
in our hard part of our futility journey.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
It was like I it was I.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Had so much like shame in it, and I was like,
nobody's thinking about this as much as you are, Like I,
that's my situation, and there's there's been so many different
elements in my life. That's just an example of things
where I'm like struggling with anxiety around something, thinking that
people care, and then me having to.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Be like nobody cares. Nobody cares.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Actually people care about you and they want you to
be happy. They don't care about all the things that
you think they care about.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
And I don't think this is a care.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It's like it's see it the things we worried about
never coming to rawuse.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Everyone's thinking about themselves. If you're thinking about.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yourself, stop thinking about yourself. The least is blocked up.
But I don't.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I wonder what society was like back in the olden days,
Like I feel like we have definitely become a lot
more self.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Absorbed, definitely, I think with social media, and I'm saying
that as a content creator, Yeah, my job is all
about what I'm wearying, what I'm doing, what I'm doing today, dad,
And I'm fully aware of that.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Even if you're not a content creator. If you run
a business, you have to have some presence online and
you have to prove your worth all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But also if you're not a content creator and you
have social media.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Yeah, exactly this day and age, we're all posting online,
whether you're monetized or not, whether you've created a business
or not. Everyone's posting about their life and their highlights,
and not just content creators are guilty of doing that.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Everyone's sharing that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But if you like from the game, then you Yeah,
you can't.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Participate in society really, which is quite hard. And I
think you've just.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Got to find that healthy balance being on and off.
And I've got back into a bed.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I have come to the realization about the word balance.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yes, it doesn't exist.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
It doesn't exist.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
I know everyone's like find balance, They're like, no, sometimes
I'm going to be way more work. Sometimes I'm going
to be way more family sometimes and be way more friends.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Sometimes I'm going to be you.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Know, it's just the season, not necessarily sas not necessarily
a pendulum, but there's going to be moments, whether it's
moment by moment, week by week, day by day where
you swing a little bit more in one direction in
the next one day, I am fully doing mom stuff
all day long, and then the next day I'm like, Okay,
I am batching all of this work stuff this day,
(27:50):
and my husband's helping more, and so it's.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
It's just all ever changing.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Then act she made me feel so much better.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Thank you for like validating because I feel like sometimes
you just like I'm failing, whether it is work, whether
it's home life, being a good partner, whether it's being
a good mom or.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Looking after the house, like keeping your top of stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah, I know, and you're just and you feel like
you're failing.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I really love that perspective that it's just it's actually
impossible to have a balance. It doesn't exist, and so
sometimes you just got to be heavy in one area. Yeah,
And it is a pendulum, and like life as a
whole is like that, and you're just going to go
through seasons where you do feel really freaking busy. Yeah,
sometimes you will film mos in sometimes you'll feel excited
(28:35):
and ambitious, and it's just what it's allot.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's ever changing.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
And that's something that I'm realizing that I've had to
tell myself. I'm telling you the things that I tell
myself where I'm like, I'm you know, feeling to you
at this or that or whatever it might be, and
I just tell myself these things.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Oh, this is what I was also going to bring
up for you. Since moving to the country, have you
found I don't know. I feel like I appreciate seasons
so much more, Like observing winter, summer and all that stuff.
It really does reiterate the team pre nature of everything, definitely.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
And I'd say one thing that's strange for me is
that seasons are opposite from where I'm from. So that's
been a huge adjustment because this time of year, I'm
like real cold, you know what I mean, I'm ready
to like snuggle up for Christmas. But I'm from La,
as we know, and in LA, we don't have seasons,
(29:33):
you know, Like I can say that I would get
ready to snuggle up for autumn Christmas, but like it's
always stunny in LA, which I feel like we took
for granted because it was always stunny, so it was like, Okay,
it's just another sunny day. But here we have so
much appreciation for a beautiful day, and the beautiful days
here are like stunning.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
They're stunning.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I feel like such a loser, like I've got really all.
But like I just noticed when I moved to the country,
I was like, whoa, those lives on the trees so pretty.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
In autumn, the crystals.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Happens when you get out of the city. You just
start appreciating things a little differently.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Yeah, how do you define success?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Happiness?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Honestly, so much now more than ever, being.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Able to live a life where you have.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
The ability to be with your family. Obviously my I
have family in the States and stuff, but I'm talking
about like my husband and Eleana, just being able to
have time to be with them. Because success, to me,
it's too easy to feel like financial is success. You know,
(30:52):
the more money you make, the more successful you are.
But really success is defined as freedom in my opinion,
and I know my first instinct to respond was happiness,
which can be quite cliche, but I do think that
freedom is happiness because when you have the freedom to
(31:12):
decide honestly what your day can look like.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Too.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
As an entrepreneur, I'm able to do that in some
aspects of my life, and to me, moving to New
Zealand didn't make us more financially successful. If anything, it
took us down a different path where we had to
sort things out a little bit more. And I feel
more successful because I have more freedom, and I have
(31:39):
the ability now to have moments to myself and to
my family, and to be there with my daughter and
to not feel like I need to be something because
everybody else around me is something.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You're writing the script.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I'm writing the script.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
And the fact that I can align my life to freedom,
to being able to have some freedom, that's success to me.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Good answer, I'm just a good answer.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
No. I think freedom is everything, isn't it The freedom
to choose what you want to do?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, And I know that can be that's a privilege
in itself.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Yeah, I'm not saying that that is that I don't
have gratitude.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Every single day for that to be able to do
honestly what I love.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
I love what I do, and I honestly my husband
and I say out out every single day that we're
so grateful for like how we've arranged life right now
does not mean it's always easy, but just being grateful
for all of those moments though, even like when you're
just trying to navigate it. It's a journey. I tell
my husband all the time. I'm like, these are the
(32:48):
days we're going to look back on, even the hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
I was trying to figure out how to renovate a
property without ever doing it.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
These moments where we're like what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Those are the moments that we're going to look back
on and laugh when a're like eighty sitting in a chair.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Like you remember, moved in the Zeeland.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
We bought a picture upper and we were like, had
no idea what we were doing, and we like.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Flooded the laundry because we were trying, you.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Know what I mean. These things that we are like
about in the moment, we're gonna look back one day
and be like that was so funny, Like those were
the needs of our lives.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And also I think that having those times of struggle
just makes when you do get into their easier patch
so much more sweet as well.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And you're like, oh, it was all with it.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
It's not easy.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
It wouldn't be worth it. What's the quote anything good?
Speaker 3 (33:31):
It's hard?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Like that, Like I think it's like, you know, nothing worth,
everything worth, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Hard work I know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay's
true though, one hundred percent. And I feel like, more
and more you get through life, you realize that. I
feel like you get a bit of an easy ride
when you're younger, and then you're like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Listen to listen.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, less and alfter lesson, okay, one more thing. If
you want to talk to you eighteen year old self,
and you'd be like, hey, I'll go some advice for you,
what would it be.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
I would say, you're doing great, it's all right.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Keep going.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
You will end up doing what your heart desires. It's
going to take some time to get there. You're gonna
have some twist and turns along the way, but eventually
you'll get to a point where you are good with
your situation. Because there were so many times where I
(34:32):
was just thinking that I had no idea what I
was going to do with my life, what I wanted
to do. I would change things all the time. I
would think, yeah, And I also would say, like, get
out of that horrible relationship, get out.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Get out.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
As soon as you see the right fun I'll run.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Instead of waiting till you're twenty one.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Now, that would be yeah, that everything's going to be
okay and to get out of that horrible relationship.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Well on that poignant note, Carrie, it has been an
honor to actually sit down and chat with.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
You, my fellow wided up a friend. No, I love
watching you from afar.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I think it's so beautiful and it's so brave what
you've chosen to do, and I just think that life
is so exciting and I can't wait to see what
unfolds over the next few years.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Thank you, it's so nice to meet you in person too.
This is lovely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
But that was my chat with Carrie and luck.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
We did get a little carried away about all of
the perks of living here in the wided Up, but
I promise it was not like a tourism campaign so
apologics for sunny a bit like that, but like, it
was just so nice to meet someone else who had
also packed up a really busy lifestyle in the hustle
and bustle of a big city and taken a massive
leap of faith. I'm not saying that you need to
(35:51):
do this, but I think they have obviously had their
challenges through the last four years. Talking to Carrie, it
was so clear she has no regrets because she was
so ready for that move, you know when it came along.
And this did not mean to be like a city
bashing episode. I love visiting and staying in the cities,
but it was so nice to share our experiences of
(36:13):
the perks of actually living in smaller communities. And I
loved the chat on balance towards the end and shifting
that perspective of trying to do it all at once
and actually just leaning into thriving in one kind of
area at one point and then into another area at
another time, and not having to actually achieve it all
(36:35):
in one because that's just some possible and society has
just absolutely screwed us this.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
So I love chatting with her.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
If you love the app and what more of Carrie,
you can follow along with her life on Instagram and YouTube,
and actually keep an eye on my letl Instagram page
over the next week PJDJ because I've got an airpic
Slow it Down bundle to give away. I'm talking beautiful
goodies from Foxtrot, Home Send Living amberjack Albirds Edition Studio,
(37:07):
and so much more. So make sure you keep an
eye because I've got more details coming very soon and
another new episode of Slow It Down next Sunday. Thank
you for joining me, byebe
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