Now I wake up in nature: tiny home dweller transforms her life

Anne-Marie lived in her Minimaliste tiny home for four years. She spent the pandemic living in the woods near Sutton, Quebec and listening to nature – a lifestyle that changed the trajectory of her life forever.

“It all started for me when I was living, you would say, a typical life in a condo in downtown Montreal. I was a programmer, never going into nature, it was a life that was always go, go, go, go, go. Overtime, work, overtime, work, go out.”

“At one point, I just asked myself, “is that really why we’re here? Am I going to do that all my life and then just retire?” Like, it’s not a way of living.”

“I was a programmer, never going into nature, it was a life that was always go, go, go, go, go”

“I started getting called more into nature. So I tried going into parks around Montreal, and I felt that I would like to connect with nature more. And then there was this calling… I said, “Do I really want to be a programmer?”

I was making cell phone games and I was asking myself, “Is this really what I’m here on the planet to do?”

Anne-Marie started to question her priorities and went back to school part-time to study naturopathy. Having followed Minimaliste for two years, she liked how the tiny home lifestyle complemented her calling for a simpler, more meaningful lifestyle.

Photo: Minimaliste

“I really liked what Minimaliste was doing, I was a fan of small spaces and small things. We don’t need to have a lot of stuff.”

“So, I started to question all of this and at one point decided I can’t keep going like I was. I was burning out at work, so I decided to take a break. I took my savings and I put all of them in the tiny home and I started a new life, really, in the woods. I decided to finish my naturopathic degree in a tiny home and just did a complete 180.”

A transformation that went well beyond just a place to live

Anne-Marie found a spot for her tiny home in a remote corner of a relative’s property. There, hidden away, she was able to feel the rhythms of the forest around her.

“Everything in my life changed. Since that time, everything is much, much better. Like everything turned into a much better direction.”

One of the things that really improved for Anne-Marie is her health, both physically and mentally.

Photo: Minimaliste

“I didn’t have the stress of a mortgage or having to pay for so many things. Because you can get into this wheel of, “oh I need to buy stuff because buying more stuff will make me happy” and you just go shopping in the weekends because you’re bored. I kind of turned all that around and realized that I don’t have to spend much. I really don’t spend a lot just to be happy.”

“I got a dog, so that was really nice. I just lived more quietly. I liked just listening to nature.”

A tiny home for a lover of nature

“Minimaliste, they were very very good. They listened a lot and they really took to heart what you want and how you live. They really want you to love living there.”

“I was in the tiny home which I built really consciously with everything that is very healthy, and I was in the woods. I was just sleeping in nature every night.”

One of the things that was important to Anne-Marie is the ability to connect with nature while living in the tiny house.

“I was in the tiny home which I built really consciously with everything that is very healthy, and I was in the woods. I was just sleeping in nature every night. Because I made my tiny home special where I could turn everything off at night, except for a couple of things that ran on batteries. I really had the feeling of sleeping outside and camping – but so comfortable.”

“Beauty is in the simple things. You don’t need much to be happy.”

Photo: Minimaliste

Anne-Marie loved all of her tiny home experiences, even some of the hiccups, such as having to fill her water tank by hand during the first winter.

“It’s not like living in a condo, you have to take care of things differently. It was kind of fun because I had to do everything by myself and learn everything. It was not much work, because the house is so small, so much easier to maintain than a bigger house.”

“This was just the first winter, and I had running water in the shower and everywhere, but I had to do it by hand. Fill up the water tank by bringing in jugs of water. It’s much more comfortable to be connected to water, but I kind of had fun doing it. You kind of know what you’re getting into, and it wouldn’t work for a family of four, but me by myself or with a partner, it was really doable. It was fun!”

Anne-Marie speaks of all challenges of tiny home living in the same way – as a tradeoff, she would do it all again rather than go back to her old life.

Photo: Minimaliste

“It was a choice for me and it was so much better than how I was living before so it’s just like, okay, this is what comes with what I chose. It’s so much better than living downtown and kind of burning out as a programmer. There was no going back to living in the city.”

Now, Anne-Marie is selling her tiny house because her new lifestyle has taken her to Costa Rica where she and her partner are building a tiny cabin project, welcoming people looking to enjoy the local nature with consciousness.

“The simple back-to-the-roots spirit but in the jungle.”

Her advice to would-be tiny home dwellers?

“My advice is not just for tiny homes. If you’re not feeling good in your life, and you feel like there’s something more, go look outside the box. Take action for your wellbeing.”