Author: Amanda Viviers

It’s easy to copy what other people are doing. We live in an age where there is so much opportunity and information at our finger tips. This is both a blessing and a curse. The curse I have found is that we live our lives trying to replicate someone else’s show reel, ending up with a Pinterest fail kinda life, rather than take our own unique stories and creating our own path.

Here is some of my husband (Chief Dreamer of Maximus and Liberty’s) story.

Charl Viviers grew up in South Africa. He saw poverty, violence and societal decay most days of his life. He tells a story about when their family shifted to a seaside town in South Africa to help his little brothers Asthma and health. He remembers vividly making a declaration to himself that one day, he would live by the sea with his family and spend his days surfing and running the beach.

Enter my story.

I grew up in a seaside town in Perth, Western Australia. The problem is, because I grew up here I took it for granted and couldn’t wait to shift away. I did everything I could to escape the mundane of its bogan culture. I travelled, I created a life in the Metropolis of Perth City. I was going places. Anywhere away from the small mindedness of my town. As years grew and my passport filled, every time I visited my families home, I started to become increasingly aware, that everything I was looking for could be found in this little village of penguins, dolphins, beaches and community.

I bought a holiday home.

Maybe I could just return here for rest.

The week that I got my keys to my new little abode, was the week I starting dating my now husband.

Little did we both know that the seaside dream, was unfolding before our eyes. The purpose, the destiny was too big for our hearts to handle. But our future smiled, our legacy had a twinkle in its eyes. The time was waiting to be revealed and find it’s purpose.

My husband Charl shifted to Australia, via New Zealand all the way from South Africa to surf. He had heard that the surf was brilliant, the opportunities were a plenty and he came with not much more than a back pack and a small amount of cash.

Here we are years upon years later, with an email telling us our surf boards, stand up paddle boards, fins and so much more are on a ship on their way to Western Australia, ready to help us set up our new not for profit business with the end aim of legacy awaiting.

We are carving our own unique path that has been shaped and guided by years of back story. Together we are taking our unique passions and building something that we have dreamed of.

What is your unique?

What is the path that is asking to be walked?

It is not the same path as someone else, every moment of it will be completely different.

But my dear friend, whenever you risk and step out into the unknown you grow.

You are changed.

You become a version of the person you were always destined to become.

Carve a new path my friend.

I have a memory from my childhood that is so strong I could explain to you every smell, piece of furniture and deeply felt emotion. When I was five, I was in year one at school, one term in and I fell very sick. So sick that the doctors were terribly concerned about my life. I was raced up to Princess Margaret hospital in an ambulance, had surgery and during the midst of my recovery attended school for a few weeks in the hospital.

The day I arrived home from hospital after being there for quite a long time and being very sick, I walked in our front door, I ran to our side patio sliding door, looked out at our dog and sobbed my heart out.

I was home.

No longer in hospital.

I was safe.

I was secure.

I was in my most happiest of places.

This afternoon, I walked in our front door after four days of being unexpectedly in hospital and the memory of when I came home from hospital came flooding back. I walked around my space, my home, my people and I had that most overwhelming feeling of comfort, security and strength. I was home.

I’m okay, it was a random and unexpected little hospital stay, but the last few days away from my people have reinforced the why of our next season.

Legacy, is not about the mansions that we build or the inheritance that we leave for our loved ones, it is all about creating safety, security and a home.

The greatest legacy we can leave on this planet, is creating a home, that creates a space of encouragement and acceptance for the people that inhabit it.

Kind words of encouragement.

Soft rebukes that create strong boundaries.

Animals and plants, flowers and candles.

Smells, soft furnishings, collecting memories from around the world.

Experiences shared around a table marked and worn from our cutlery.

A home.

Wood that is worn through by feet being perched comfortably whilst sitting on the lounge. Leather seats that remember the shape of the home dwellers.

Personal artwork that evokes truth and beauty, reminding us of the beautiful days we made or collected it.

Soup pots, worn through from the stirring and baking.

Tea cups chipped as our children learn to pack them away awkwardly.

Lego pieces under feet, pyjama’s worn through with holes in unseen places and fridges that make funny noises that only you have noticed.

A pet that knows the sound of your car before you’ve turned the corner, rugs that are worn bare as we walk them in the night time during sickness.

Our home.

It is the legacy that is worth fighting for. It is a legacy in the making as we create a space for encouragement and sustenance.

Our home should be the safest place on the planet, that encourages life and daring greatly.

Yet accepts and makes a grace space for our imperfections and challenges.

Where the tone is always forgiving and the words are intended always to believe the best in every situation.

This is the greatest legacy we can leave on this earth.

An environment that satisfies even the greatest critic and overwhelms the doubter with courage.

As our children grow from toddlers to children, then tweens to teenagers, young adults to mothers and fathers. My greatest passion will be creating a home that they will always feel comfortable to live out their destiny with courage and acceptance.

This will be my greatest symphony.

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