Candace Kentridge Britton [00:00:00]: I love the quote that says often the life you want is buried under everything you own because we often we just don't know sometimes where to start. We just start getting rid of things. We immediately feel lighter. You know, we just start to notice, oh, hey. You know, this is actually what I enjoy doing with my free time. It's not cleaning and maintaining all the stuff that that actually doesn't serve a purpose.

Ethan Waldman [00:00:24]: Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, the show where you learn how to plan, build, and live the tiny lifestyle. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and this is episode 300 with Candace Kentridge Britton. Candace is a passionate tiny house dweller and multifaceted coach who has been living in her beautiful tiny home for 5 years. Candace and her husband have a unique story, having coordinated their tiny house build in the United States while still living in South Africa entirely via WhatsApp video calls. With a background as a declutter coach, life coach, retreat leader, and yoga teacher, Candace brings us insights on how to create a life filled with intentionality and joy. We'll dive into her journey from South Africa to the United States, explore the impact of decluttering on mental and emotional well-being, and get inspired by her advice for those considering the tiny house lifestyle. Stay tuned as we learn from Candace's experience and enthusiasm for creating a life you'll love. This Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast is sponsored by PrecisionTemp hot water heaters.

Ethan Waldman [00:01:27]: I recently sat down with Jenna from the amazing YouTube channel, tiny house giant journey. Jenna built her tiny house in 2014 and has been using PrecisionTemp hot water heaters since the beginning.

Jenna [00:01:39]: So whenever somebody asks me for a recommendation for a water heater for a tiny house, I always recommend PrecisionTemp tankless hot water heater because that's what I've used. I've had it it for 10 years, and I have loved the unit. I love how quickly it heats up. I love how it works in cold weather and high altitudes, and I love that they have really great customer service. So I definitely always recommend that unit whenever somebody asks.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:07]: Right now, PrecisionTemp is offering $50 off their amazing hot water heaters if you use the code THLP at checkout. Head over to precision THLP, that's precisiontemp.com, and use the coupon code THLP for $50 off.

Jenna [00:02:27]: I think their customer service is really great. If they're, you know, too busy or after hours, they get back to me really quickly. So I've definitely experienced other hot water heaters. I definitely would always go with a tankless hot water heater. And the PrecisionTemp because it's so compact, it can fit underneath my sink in my tiny house, and it bends through the floor. So it just just looks nice to me, and it's and it's quiet. I love that.

Ethan Waldman [00:02:55]: Once again, PrecisionTemp is offering $50 off when you use the coupon code THLP at checkout. Head over to PrecisionTemp, that's precisiontemp.com, and use the coupon code THLP for $50 off. Thank you so much to PrecisionTemp for sponsoring our show. Alright. I am here with Candace Kentridge Britton. Candace and her husband have been living tiny for 5 years and are both very passionate about the lifestyle. Candace is a declutter coach, which is part of her broader work as a life coach, retreat leader, and yoga teacher. She loves connecting with like minded individuals and aims to inspire others to create a life they love.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:42]: Candace is a fan of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast and is excited to chat about her experiences as a former South African now living tiny and traveling in the United States. Candace, welcome to the show.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:03:54]: Thank you, Ethan. Thanks so much. I'm really excited to be here today.

Ethan Waldman [00:03:59]: Yeah. Excited to have you. Can you share what initially inspired you and your husband to, you know, embrace the tiny house lifestyle and how it has impacted your lives over the past 5 years?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:04:13]: Sure. Absolutely. So I think like like many people, we had the 3 bedroom home, 2 bathroom, you know, kind of doing life. And I was born in the United States, but lived predominantly most of my life in South Africa. When we started talking about what it would look like if we were to immigrate for for many, many reasons, My husband said, you know, we should consider the United States. And since I was born here, it was kind of easy for us to to make that move. I had been a big fan of the tiny house movement probably for about 4 years before I met my husband. Every Sunday, I'd be on YouTube kind of watching the videos just in awe of what people people were creating, how they were simplifying their lives, and the freedom it gave them.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:05:06]: And, you know, he started kind of diving in with me on a Sunday, thought I was a little crazy at first, I'm sure. These little houses on wheels that travel. Yeah. And we could fit that's what we would really, really love to do. So in 2018, we started researching the, funny, we actually started with how the roof would look because I was a big fan initially of the A-frame. I thought the A-frame tiny house just looked really cute, that cute cottage kind of style. And, there's a lot can be a lot of wasted space if you're planning to live sort of long term.

Ethan Waldman [00:05:41]: Yeah.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:05:41]: So he researched into the more of the shed roof. And, yeah, we found our tiny house, and it was it was built, but it was still kind of a shell. It had the 2 lofts. And it had had some of the structure done on the tunnel weave trailer, but it still needed to be completed. It had not yet been completed. So we were kind of fortunate because we were able to design it exactly the way we wanted. And we contracted a builder doing all of this from South Africa while the builder and our tiny house and everything else was in the United States. We did everything over WhatsApp video, which is very unique story.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:06:25]: Yeah. But there are really wonderful, man named Brian Barrett from Sasquatch Tiny Homes. And we had a few phone calls with him, and he agreed to go and take a look at the at the house for us and let us know what would still need to be done. You know, for example, the axle had to kind of been replaced and and things like that. And then he completed the bill between 2018, I would say around May, June until the following March. And we moved across April 2019, and we've been living in the house ever since.

Ethan Waldman [00:07:00]: Fantastic. And it's it's a really, I would describe it as a really handsome tiny house. It's just it's really sturdy looking. And I love the the color the color scheme. Since this is a podcast

Ethan Waldman [00:07:13]: Maybe could you just describe it a little bit for the listeners? Of Of course, they can always go to the show notes page for this episode, which will be, I believe this is actually gonna be episode 300. So thetinyhouse.net/300.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:07:29]: Great. Great. Yeah, absolutely. It's a really nice green color, which has worked well for us when we've been fortunate enough to park on private land because it looks really cute.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:07:40]: And then it has a really fun bright red door.

Ethan Waldman [00:07:44]: Love that red door.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:07:45]: And and the thanks so much. And the, and the double loft with the shed. So we have a bedroom loft, which we really like. We like not having to make up the bedroom every day. So our bedroom is completely separate. Beautiful bedroom loft. And then we have our storage loft, which we use for a wardrobe. We've built quite a nice, funky, very functional, little minimalist wardrobe for ourselves in there.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:08:11]: And, yeah. And then the name of our tiny house is Casa Estiva, which in Italian means summer home because we're always chasing the good weather.

Ethan Waldman [00:08:21]: Nice. Nice.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:08:23]: Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:08:24]: So how has living tiny impacted your lives?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:08:32]: You know, I really like that question because I feel like more people should reflect on the impact, both that they're having on the planet as well as what the outside sort of environment is having on them as well. For me, I would say the the most important thing is how you really start to live with intention. You're so intentional. You're intentional about the space. You're intentional about your purchases because where do you put things? So you really have to be intentional about what you bring into the home space, and you start to really discover what is important. You know, we love experiences as as do most minimalists. So we really love experiences. So we'd rather use our money to travel or create experiences or, you know, allow us to sort of go on to that part.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:09:23]: So I would say the most positive impact it's had on our lives is we live with so much intention in so many different areas. Yeah. And that filters through to everything. You become so intentional, right down to when you're grocery shopping and being aware of what that looks like with less plastic and you know, what you're bringing into your home. And I really love that about this lifestyle.

Ethan Waldman [00:09:50]: Awesome. So you are a declutter coach and a life coach. How how do you integrate the principles of of tiny house living into your coaching and and into your retreats?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:10:03]: Well, I will. I always do say to people, look, it doesn't mean that because it's worked so well for me that necessarily living in a 25 foot by 8 foot wide tiny house is going to be the recipe of happiness for everybody. But, you know, from what it, from what it's taught me and that I do teach to my coaching clients. Is we start to discover how little we need, and that doesn't mean going without. Mhmm. A lot of people see minimalism in these words like declutter and living with less. And what it does do is it starts to teach the quality over quantity. Concept and looking at having really quality items in your life, be it from clothing right down to kitchenware, anything that you're bringing into your life that you focus on the quality as opposed to the quantity.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:10:55]: So when I work with clients with declutter and they're starting from scratch, it's a it's a huge big home, and they're and they're really starting from scratch and it's very overwhelming. So we begin with, with sort of 3 crates and the one is, okay, don't think you're putting stuff in there and you never see it again. We're gonna store it for 3 months and maybe go back to it and see if you can name 3 things . In that box that you haven't looked at for 3 months. So that's kind of the key to think about later. And then there's a donate bin and then maybe some stuff we're gonna sell on marketplace, for example. And it starts to really shift the mindset and shift perspective and get people to really look at things in a different way that, you know, the way that they've been raised or what they've really become accustomed to, what they learned as children. And then they grew up and they just doing, you know, what they were taught.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:11:50]: So it starts to shift the perspective and people that's where it that's where the magic begins is is where you start to shift your mindset.

Ethan Waldman [00:11:59]: Yeah. Absolutely. And do you do you find that people are able to shift their mindset even when they are in the 3,000 square foot home?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:12:10]: Yes. I think if they're being honest with themselves that they really do want to begin a declutter journey, then absolutely. Then absolutely. I've even received texts like, months later. Oh, you'll be so proud of me. You know, I just gave another box away. You know, clients who've really had excess and they don't realize it because they have all the space to put all the things. So they don't actually realize how quickly that can sort of pile up.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:12:38]: And I've seen huge, beautiful transformations that people started feeling overwhelmed, bogged down by all of this stuff and Yeah. Kind of not knowing where to begin. And then you look at this beautiful journey of transformation. And again, it doesn't mean they're gonna live tiny, but they are living with more intention, and they are finding ways to remove that anxiety. Yeah. You know, that comes from all of this stuff. I I love the quote that says, often the life you want is buried under everything you own. Because we often we just don't know sometimes where to start.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:13:13]: We just start getting rid of things. We immediately feel lighter. You know, we just start to notice, oh, hey. You know, this is actually what I enjoy doing with my free time. Yeah. It's not cleaning and maintaining all this stuff that that actually doesn't serve a purpose.

Ethan Waldman [00:13:28]: Yeah. I love that quote. Yeah. So we're actually you know, I don't wanna get too deep into your your kind of methodology as declutter coach. But, you know, I am sure there are there is someone listening who is in that 3,000 square foot home, who's maybe got a wardrobe bursting with clothes, the garage full of of stuff, the basement full of stuff. Where do you have people begin? Because I can see how that would be really overwhelming, like, to just even pick an pick an area to start.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:14:03]: Right. So every every person is unique, and every situation is unique. So there's a few questions I'll ask them going into a client's home space, whether we're doing it virtually or whether I'm actually physically there, you know, which room gives you the most anxiety? Like, you walk in and you immediately just wanna walk out and kind of close the door and not think about it.

Ethan Waldman [00:14:24]: Yeah.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:14:25]: And I would say that's a really good place to start.

Ethan Waldman [00:14:28]: Okay.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:14:29]: If that feels too overwhelming for somebody to begin to take the first steps, I would say, start with cleaning out a drawer in your kitchen. You know, we've all got that drawer that's full of stuff. We don't know how old it got to be there, but it's there. Start with that draw and just get rid of a few things this week out of that drawer. So you start to feel that feeling of letting go of releasing, and then it becomes a little easier. Every time Yeah. You know, you sort of take a step, it it starts to become a little easier. Another very common one is to begin with the wardrobe.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:15:04]: Let's start with the wardrobe and, again, have those 3 bins, take everything out of the wardrobe. And a question I really, I really like asking is holding up an item out of your wardrobe and saying, if I was shopping now, would I buy this? How do I feel when, when I put this item on be it shoes, a jacket, a dress, pair of jeans, whatever it might be because we change. We evolve in different chapters of our of our lives. So how do you feel when you're wearing this? If you were shopping now, would you buy this? Or would you really miss it if it was gone? Yeah. So getting really real real with yourself about those items. And you'll find when when energy naturally starts to flow in that space, you will you will find that courage to dive into the other stuff that you've maybe been procrastinating, and it's felt a little overwhelming.

Ethan Waldman [00:15:55]: Yeah. Yeah. Well, living tiny often means making significant lifestyle changes and and kind of having to, like, release what you were doing before or the way you were living before. You know, can you talk about some of the most challenging adjustments that that you've had to make in the transition to living tiny or maybe as you've continued to do so?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:16:21]: I would say what I've noticed is what it looked like for me when we moved into the tiny house in end of March of 2019 to where we are now. I never imagined then that I would honestly be able to say I have so much less now than I did. Because I tried to take my life as it was and move it into a tiny house and not necessarily the furniture because that's impossible, but, you know, wanting everything to have a place on the wall or have photographs or, you know, little things that people have given you and you hold sentimental attachment to those things. And where I was even my husband's actually probably honestly more of a minimalist than me. He's less attached to even things than what I am. But what we had when we moved in to where we are now, how much less we have now, because I think the the most beautiful thing that's come from living tiny is how it's gently guided me to release. I thought I didn't have attachment, but to where I feel I am now. Honestly, not, not holding onto attachment.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:17:29]: We all have things we, we really enjoy that pair of boots you wouldn't want to kind of be with out or something like that, but not holding on to the attachment. And if you're tiny house people who like to move around, every time you want to move the house, you've got to move all of those things and park them away and secure them, you know, to toe on the road. And if you're somebody who's just parked for a while, you've got to clean that space. So I would say releasing that attachment to how you thought it should look and then realizing how beautiful it is to be so at peace with not needing as much as you thought you did 5 years ago. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman [00:18:10]: I love that. So you you did mention that you you try to chase the sunshine, and and do you move the tiny house around, or do you do you travel separate from the house?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:18:23]: No. We move with the house. We move with the house.

Ethan Waldman [00:18:27]: There aren't many people who are doing that.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:18:30]: Yeah. Yeah. We we do. And being South Africans for pretty much most of our adult life, South Africa is not really a place that's common for towing. You might have what we call a small little caravan, but it's not a common culture.

Ethan Waldman [00:18:45]: Okay.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:18:45]: You know, people will drive and they'll, they'll stay in an Airbnb or they'll stay in a hotel. It's not kind of a common culture there. So neither one of us had ever towed anything as big as this ever. And, now now we've towed all over the United States. So our journey began obviously in Texas because that's where the house was built and completed. Yep. So, yes, the house was towed by my husband and Brian Barrett from Sasquatch Tiny Homes

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:19:15]: From Texas all the way to Nevada. And, then I flew out from South Africa to San Francisco and and met them. And my husband collected me in San Francisco. We began our journey in Nevada, so we the tiny house went from there, and we wanted to go live in South Lake Tahoe, California, which we did, but there was too much snow to get up the hill. So we've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work, but we eventually did when the snow melted and we've done 2 summer seasons in South Lake Tahoe, California. We've done a winter season in Palm Springs, California, And from there, we moved to Florida, and we've done quite a few areas within Florida, which has been really nice. And we've recently done a trip from Florida to North Carolina, and we are currently in Black Mountain, which is about 20, 30 minutes from Asheville. Okay.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:20:13]: Beautiful.

Ethan Waldman [00:20:14]: Wow. Yeah. And how have you I'm sure it's different every time, but but what's your what's your strategy for finding places to park?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:20:25]: I get this question a lot. So you can go on to Facebook and connect with communities and and live on private land. And, honestly when people ask me there's the pros and cons to both. There are pros and cons to living in RV parks. Some RV parks don't take tiny homes because they just what's that? You know? And some of them do. So, you know, there's pros and cons to that. If you find private land that's not too far out from from town, from groceries, from this esteemed, you know, that can be really nice from a privacy point of view. So the private land has its pros and cons, but typically, we'll look at where we wanna be based.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:21:08]: What does the work look like? Are we gonna be working online for that season? Yeah. What do we wanna be close by? And then we kind of start to look what's available. Are we gonna look for some private land? Is it just gonna be for 5 or 6 months? Are we gonna live in a community? Yeah, when your energy is just flowing like that, we've been really fortunate. We've stayed in some pretty great places, both private land and in some parks and communities.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:36]: Very nice.

Ethan Waldman [00:21:37]: Yeah. And that's Yeah. It kind of strikes me that that both the move from South Africa to the United States, and then also, you know, when you pick up and move the tiny, it's almost like it's almost like starting over again, especially when you move from where you've lived to another country. And I'm sure you left behind friends and communities and just a lot of comfort,

Ethan Waldman [00:22:04]: of familiarity. And so it is it's quite minimalist of of you to just kind of start from scratch, really.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:22:13]: Really. Yeah. And there's beauty in that, and there's challenges in that too. Yeah. So this actually reflects back on on coaching. Often when people feel stagnant and you ask them when last did you take a vacation or when last did you try living somewhere different? And that's a tricky thing because if if families have children, their children are in school and they have, you know, sort of they're they're in their careers or jobs and they feel it's impossible to kind of move. Well, when last did you do a trip somewhere outside of your state or outside of what is, if I can say comfortable, Yeah. Challenge yourself a little bit.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:22:50]: Do something different because it really expands your mind, and you start to realize how much more you're capable of than what you thought. And the things you thought were big aren't that big because you start to see what you're actually capable of. Nice. So we faced a lot of challenges and and leaving people we love very much that we only get to see every 2 years now. It is a challenge. But I've also seen how much we've grown and how much we've learned and we can then teach others, you know, that maybe are scared to take the steps we're showing them it is possible. If that's something that is calling you, if that's something you really want to do, it is possible to do. It doesn't mean it will always be easy, but it is possible.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:23:33]: And yeah, I feel like the challenges have made us grow and we've been so fortunate because we've, we've probably taken the tiny house to 9 or maybe even 11 states now.

Ethan Waldman [00:23:45]: Nice.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:23:46]: So, you know, we stayed in Arizona a few days. We, the tiny house has even been to Vegas. So we did 3 days there. So, you know, just and getting on the road and towing a house on the road has its challenges on its own, but you're a 100% right. You get to a new area. You don't know anybody, you know, everyone's kind of grounded and they're familiar and, and you're sort of an outsider initially. The people that have met us and we feel we're authentic in our approach, you know, it flows really well, Flow is really beautiful. We've met some wonderful people, and they're like, how can we help? You know? Let us know if you need any tips on things or introducing us to people, things like that.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:24:31]: So but, yeah, coming from South Africa to the United States, has also made us feel like we're very fortunate to be here. There's a lot of opportunity here, and it's it's country that is safe to travel, you know, to hook up your house and travel. We feel really safe doing it.

Ethan Waldman [00:24:49]: That's great. Yeah. I was actually that was my next question just as a former South African now traveling and living tiny in the United States, you know, like, what cultural differences or unique experiences have you encountered?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:25:05]: So so I can say for South Africa, the people are very friendly. They're they're wonderful, wonderful people, but it's a very hard country. It's a 3rd world country. So financially it's, it's a struggle for people. So they're not really in a position to help their fellow neighbor. I can say that, you know, they're busy surviving, They're busy surviving, and it's it's hard for them. So they were in awe.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:25:29]: A lot of people thought, you guys are crazy. You're gonna do what? You're gonna buy a tiny house, you know, and sell your home and do that. But they've they've come around after 2 years or more later and said, wow, we just can't believe what you guys are doing. It's so inspiring. You know, it's it really is. And then coming across to the culture we found in the United States, you know, people are so willing to help. It, it was raining one time and we were we were towing. A lot of our things on the back of the truck, you know, were getting wet when we were still fairly new at towing and weren't as skilled in the beginning.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:26:06]: And somebody just stopped and started taking our tarps out of the back of his truck and and helping us put them on here. You can have these. Don't worry, guys. And if you stop just a little ways on here, you know, just trying to help. But we've just met the most amazing, friendly, wanting to go above and beyond to to help us. And I just feel that that is a blessing because every country has its challenges and its pros and cons, of course, but I feel here people are in more of a position to help and they really do. They've really been amazing.

Ethan Waldman [00:26:38]: Nice. Yeah. Well, what what advice would you give to someone who's considering the tiny house lifestyle, but is is hesitant about the drastic change, changes that it entails?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:26:57]: If I had to say, giving advice, I'd probably say start in your home space that you currently have.

Ethan Waldman [00:27:04]: Okay.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:27:05]: Start to declutter there and, you know, start to really get intentional about what you have in your life because when you adapt that mindset and that starts to shift, it filters through to every area of your life right down to finances, to decluttering your phone, decluttering your social media, your calendar, you know

Ethan Waldman [00:27:27]: Yeah.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:27:28]: All of the things. It starts to filter into all of those things. So it's not gonna be such a shock to the system if you just say, okay. Next week, I'm gonna pack up my 3,000 square foot house and move into a 25 foot, you know, by 8 or 10 wide tiny house, it might be a little bit of a culture shock. But if you had to start the declutter and the sort of intentional space in your own home first and hone in and see how that feels for a while and make the transition slowly. And it is something that is speaking to you. You do want to downsize and declutter your life and have more freedom. I would say that's a good place to start if you're not already a minimalist, you know, if you're already living minimal and it's it's not going to be such a shock to you, then just, yeah, just make sure that your tiny house, if we if we wanna add to that, make sure if you are purchasing a tiny house that it's from a reputable builder because some parks won't take tiny houses if you built them yourself and you're not a tradesman, you know, you, you don't have any certifications.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:28:32]: Yeah. They won't take certain tiny houses. So it's always good to go through a reputable company or if you're purchasing a tiny house online, make sure that it's got the right certificates, that it was professionally built. I would say that's a very good tip. Yeah. And just take that journey step by step. It doesn't mean it has to mirror somebody else's exact journey. It can be your own unique individual journey.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:28:58]: And some people don't want a tiny house with a loft. They wanna have one that's all sort of one level. They don't wanna be climbing up and down into a loft, you know. So you can really customize and take take little bits of inspiration so that you are creating a life that that you love, that resonates with you, you know

Ethan Waldman [00:29:22]: So you are in addition to a declutter coach and a life coach, you also teach or you you you host retreats 2 a year? Can you tell tell us about your retreats and and who might wanna attend?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:29:39]: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm very passionate about the retreat work that I do. It's, it's focused on transformational work. So I do 2 international retreats a year, and then I do a few shorter ones within the United States as well. But the travel retreats are very popular because a lot of people are scared who are not experienced travelers and they want to travel.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:30:03]: But it's it's, again, it's quite overwhelming, you know, to leave your home country and go somewhere where you maybe can't speak the language or you don't really know what to expect. So what's beautiful about my retreat offering is once you've booked your flight, you don't have to worry about anything. You can literally immerse yourself in the experience because you're looked after, and it does break those walls down of, hey, you know, traveling is actually it can be quite a lot of fun. And I've got some beautiful quotes for the listeners on travel. So for me, traveling, it leaves you speechless and then turns you into a storyteller. That's one of my favorite quotes about travel. And I I feel as a minimalist as well, it's one of the things you do buy that really does make you richer. So, you know, I I speak to clients who are curious about retreats about that.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:30:59]: A lot of people go on vacation and sort of to 7, 10, 2 week, however long their vacation may be, they're already dreading going back. Oh, I wish we could just stay. You know? I don't wanna go back to work or I don't wanna go back to normal life. You know, I wanna stay in this in this little happiness bubble. So during my retreats, we dive into tools, you know, some of them are coaching techniques and and creating a unique toolbox for that individual so they can have a lot of that bliss feeling, that bliss state when they get back to life, when the retreat ends, you know, maybe it's an improvement in health. Maybe they learned about a better way to eat or what meditation may look like or even doing 20 minutes of movement. If it's not yoga, some kind of movement for their body a day. Yeah.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:31:51]: Connecting with like minded people. So we we keep our online community. I have a WhatsApp group and we keep going on email and supporting each other. So so that they can they can start to shift in their life when when the retreat ends. So they've been really well received because they tick a lot of boxes. We don't just arrive at a venue and do yoga, and that's it. Yoga is probably an hour, maybe 2 of the whole day.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:32:18]: So we learn about immersing in culture and we do we do activities that challenge us, you know, that challenge us if we're afraid of things. A lot of people feel afraid at the loss of control. I was one of those people. So diving into, you know, I can't control the situation. So we immediately go to the worst case scenario. You know, and that can filter in when we get back into life, it can filter into when you're towing a tiny house. Yeah. Oh, what's the worst thing that could happen instead of looking how great is this life experience? So, yeah, the retreats are focused a lot on transformational work.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:32:57]: That go that dive into every Waldman because we need to feel good in our mental state. Maybe not every day we're all gonna have bad days or bad weeks, but we need to feel good in our mental state. We need to feel good in our physical bodies, that our bodies are moving, that we are respecting and taking care of our bodies, and then also in our spiritual well-being, that our souls are fed what they may need. It might be taking time out to go for a walk on the beach or meeting a supportive friend for a cup of coffee, but ignoring those those little things, we start to forget about them, and it becomes very a lot of people are on auto pilot, and they just need a moment to get out of that to reevaluate. How do I actually want my life to look? And what small steps can I start to take to create that life for myself? So I feel like these retreats are like the map, and we give you your toolset, And then we continue support after the retreat, allowing people to really start to create their life a little differently, inviting more happiness and things beautiful things like that.

Ethan Waldman [00:34:03]: That's great. Thank you for sharing. And, you know, a link to your website where people can find the retreats will also be, in the show notes for this episode at at thetinyhouse.net/300.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:34:19]: Thank you. That's great.

Ethan Waldman [00:34:22]: So you are also a fellow podcaster. Can you can you tell us about your your show and and what it's called and just just about your podcast?

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:34:35]: Yes, of course. Yes, absolutely. My podcast is very, very small, especially, compared to some of the big podcasts out there. My goal with the podcast was to create a platform and it really ties into what I'm most passionate about, which is creating a life that we love. You wake up to, and you're excited about your day. So I talk a lot about spirituality, a lot about consciousness and I I really do enjoy having my yoga teacher, my mentor, and he's also my very good friend from South Africa. So we record quite often together, and we talk about mindset.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:35:18]: We talk about natural ways to heal the body and to heal the mind, natural alternatives, sound therapy being one of them. Very passionate about, you know, the the sound medicine that we can get from attending a soundbar ceremony, those types of things, and different facilitators and very interesting people that I meet on my travels. You'll always hear me say to someone, can I interview you? Because I just love what you're doing. Yes. And so I've interviewed some really interesting people who are doing beautiful things around the world and just opening up these conversations to show people what is possible. So that's the basis of it, and it's called Live the Life You Love, and you can find a link to it on my website as well.

Ethan Waldman [00:36:09]: Great. Yeah. So Live the Life You Love. Awesome. Well

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:36:12]: Yes.

Ethan Waldman [00:36:13]: I've I've really enjoyed meeting you, Candace, and and talking with you. One thing that I that I really like to ask my guests is, you know, what are 2 or 3 resources that you'd like to share, with our listeners? It could be things it could be books, they could be YouTube channels, or really just anything that's that's helped you along the way on your tiny house journey.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:36:37]: Well, I I listen to your podcast a lot. Oh. So I found it to be I found it to be extremely, informative. I've loved the shows that you have. I loved one you did. It was quite a while ago where you interviewed a lady who you were discussing tiny houses becoming legal in Maine, sort of state fantastic for the movement, for the tiny house movement and people living tiny to see what is possible. So I've really enjoyed your podcast. I absolutely love The Minimalists.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:37:15]: They are globally very, very well known. Joshua Fields Milburn and, Ryan Nicodemus, and then I have TK Coleman who I just I love his philosophies. And their offering is is very diverse, so they don't just talk about tips on decluttering. I found this podcast to be extremely informative. Even as a coach, myself, I always feel that I gained something from from listening to their podcasts. So the minimalists really do have a lot to offer in this space. If you're wanting to shift your life, shift your mindset, that kind of thing. Yeah.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:37:52]: And, yeah, documentaries. I've really loved the grounding, the earthing documentary, just showing us what the earth gives to us, just being barefoot on the earth. So, you know, the earth and grounding documentary is is really insightful. And then following through to nutrition, things like the game changers, where we just start to look I'm a big advocate for plant based diet. So looking at how we can nurture ourselves where it doesn't have to be boring or overwhelming. Yeah. You know, we can eat delicious delicious food at the same time the food can be the medicine. Yep.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:38:29]: So I yeah. I'm a big fan of that as as well. And then, wow, there are so many books. There are so many books, but, one that helped me right at the beginning of my journey, probably in 2012 is a book by Robin Sharma. The monk, the monk who sold his Ferrari was probably one of the first books that I read when I was beginning my minimalism journey, which was in 2012. It's a fantastic book. It's also not a super long book, which is it's which is great. And there's another one called Eastern Body Western Mind that is all about the chakra system, right from when we are in the womb to our adulthood.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:39:17]: That, that book is not really a read it from cover to cover. I feel like people will reference it throughout your life.

Ethan Waldman [00:39:25]: Just kinda dip into it.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:39:26]: That's also yeah. Yeah. Can reference back to it, quite often.

Ethan Waldman [00:39:34]: Well, awesome. Well, Candace, these are such great, great resources. And it's been so so wonderful chatting with you. And I can't wait to share this with our listeners.

Candace Kentridge Britton [00:39:44]: Thank you, Ethan. It's been wonderful. And thank you for all the good work that you're doing and advocating for the movement and forward thinking and just having this platform that you do. It's fantastic.

Ethan Waldman [00:39:56]: Thank you so much to Candace for being a guest on the show today. You can find the show notes for this episode, including a complete transcript, links, and resources at thetinyhouse.net/300. A big thank you to our sponsor, PrecisionTemp, for making this episode possible. Don't forget to use the coupon code THLP at precisiontemp.com for $50 off. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show and share it with anyone who might resonate with Candace's inspiring journey and valuable insights on decluttering and living intentionally. Your support helps us continue to bring you fascinating stories from the tiny house movement. As always, I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and I'll be back next week with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.