Follow Your Fernweh: Discover a Regular Path to an Extraordinary Life

by Kindle Smyth

That, my friends, is what fernweh is about. When you are wholly yourself and yet ever full of change and potential, all at once.

These conversations meant realigning with the adventure God had made for me, the adventure I was currently missing because I was looking at other people’s gifts. It was time to stop asking what I was missing and start asking what I’d been gifted that perhaps others hadn’t.

If my brother had gone into the experience thinking of the outcomes as binary, either succeed or fail, he may never have done it. Instead, his intention and his motivation were to honor his friend and to help others remember their loved one in the process. He was only ever going to succeed at that. Wyatt’s mom was deeply moved by her son being honored in this way, and the rest of us were left inspired to slay our own dragons.

One of the biggest lessons I learned on that year of travel is that if I opened my heart and expanded definitions, anywhere can feel like home.

Going after the things that make you happy, that make your heart sing, that help you feel alive, will scare you. They will require risk. You will be forced to adapt on the fly, to take a path that makes you uncomfortable, and to find a redirected route at times. If you don’t experience these things, I might suggest again that you’re not risking big enough. And keep in mind, your risk will look different than mine. But it will be big for you. And it will be worth choosing yourself at every stop.

She shared a Bible verse with me that she has kept in her children’s crib since the first baby was born, from Zechariah 4:10. It says, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” This verse helps her to remember to appreciate the small things, be proud of the sometimes mundane and frustrating moments, and remember that her journey is made up of many small stepping stones throughout each day that create a massive path for her little ones to grow on.

We have to remember that every person following their fernweh has so many more boring and hard moments than they do the mountaintop moments.

“To love someone is to learn the song in their heart and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.”