I Have a Dream to Build A Shire

Podcast Episode here

I have a dream.

I want to change the world for the better.

Steve Jobs would say he wanted to make a dent in the universe.

When Steve Jobs came back from traveling to India as a yung man in search for a way to make the world better. Then he met Steve Wozniak.

Wozniak was a genius when it came to computers. He loved computer components. He loved designing motherboards and putting machines together. Steve Jobs looked at them and saw an opportunity to change the world.

He saw a future where computers could be in every home.

I don’t know how he saw that. At the time, almost nobody else did. But somehow he looked at this strange little machine that Wozniak had built and saw something much bigger.

That story has always inspired me and I want to change the world too. Now, I’m definitely late in the game. I’m almost in my forties. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had already made their mark by this age.

But I still think I can make an impact.

One of the things I do regularly is what I’ve been calling my emotional release meditations. Sometimes I just call them emotional releases.

I’ll follow a Wim Hof breathing exercise, and allow myself to feel whatever emotions come up. I let them surface and be felt. Then I let them go.

In those moments, I often find clarity and Recently during one of those emotional releases, I realized I love writing because it’s a way for me to share my voice.

A way to potentially make a dent in the universe.

For years I’ve carried around a dream that I call Creative Communities.

The basic idea is we build communities specifically designed to help people live meaningful lives. Places where people come together to support one another. Places built around creativity, connection, celebration, and shared purpose.

Not just communities. I’m dreaming of entire neighborhoods, Entire villages! A destination people would want to come from all around the world to experience!

The homes themselves become part of the experience. The buildings become part of the story. People want to gather there. Celebrate there. Live there.

Communities like this already exist in small ways around the world but I want to do it at scale.

Sometimes I also call them Themed Communities because every community could have its own theme.

The first one I always imagine building is Hobbiton.

Maybe it won’t be the first one we build, but it’s always the first one I dream about. Imagine an entire neighborhood built into the hillside. Every home is a hobbit hole. It won’t be just one novelty Airbnb but An entire neighborhood. Hundreds of families all living in beautiful hobbit-inspired homes that look like they came straight out of The Shire.

Wouldn’t that be incredible‽

People would travel from around the world just to see it.

They’d stay for a night or two.

Some might decide they never want to leave.

Now imagine something Every family home has a small guest cottage beside it. A second hobbit hole that is a tiny home. When someone purchases the property, that guest cottage is designed to be rented out.

The income from that little home covers the mortgage and more. Just by living there, that family has an income-producing asset.

They won’t be spending their entire life stressed about making the mortgage payment. They’re not trapped in a 9 to 5 anymore (We aren’t goingh to have 9 to 5 in a few years anyway). They’re not constantly scrambling just to survive.

Instead, the parents, can focus more energy on the things they love. And if they chose to live in Hobbiton, maybe they love Hobbiton things. Maybe they make cheese. Maybe they garden. Maybe they carve wood. Maybe they host dinners.

Maybe they spend evenings dancing with family, friends, and guests.

Whatever it is, they have more freedom to do it.

That sounds like a beautiful life to me.

But that’s not where the dream stops. Imagine other themed communities. Creative communities inspired by cultures from around the world.

Have you ever wanted to learn more about Native American traditions? I scroll through Pinterest a lot and I come across these beautiful mud huts and I think:

“Man, I’d love to stay there.”

Not just because it looks cool but because I want to understand the people who built it. I want to celebrate the culture with them. I want to spend a few days learning, helping, listening, and participating. I want to understand how people became who they are. That would be amazing!

The challenge, of course, is creating places that are safe and sustainable.

Safe for the people who live there.

Safe for the travelers who visit.

What if Creative Communities became successful enough to fund teams of researchers, architects, historians, and designers? People who could learn from these cultures directly. Study how they build. How they celebrate.

Then we work alongside local communities to create beautiful neighborhoods inspired by those traditions. Imagine creating those opportunities in parts of the world where many people are currently focused on survival.

Now imagine those same communities having stable income, tourism, local businesses, and opportunities to pursue bigger dreams. The possibilities become endless.

And the dream goes even further. I don’t just want communities that celebrate people. I want communities that celebrate the land.

I live in Utah. Far too often I see deer on the side of the road that have been hit by cars. Every time it breaks my heart.

What if we designed communities around the movement of wildlife? What if we paid attention to how animals travel across the landscape? What if we built pathways, crossings, and protected corridors that allowed them to move safely?

What if honoring nature was part of the design process from the beginning?

Not an afterthought.

Imagine communities that fit into the landscape instead of fighting against it. Communities that help people reconnect with the natural world. Communities that remind us that we’re sharing this planet with something much bigger than ourselves.

I’d love to see that.

That’s how I want to change the world. The truth is, I have no idea how to do it. Not yet. But I know it’s a dream worth sharing.

For a long time I kept these ideas mostly to myself. Partly because I didn’t know how to make them happen. Partly because I was afraid someone would steal them. But I’ve realized something.

It’s better for the idea to exist in the world than for me to keep it locked away. It’s better for the world to become a better place than for me to be the only one who gets credit for it.

Would I love to be part of building it?

Absolutely.

Would I love for this dream to support me so I can spend my life helping others pursue theirs?

Of course.

But more than anything, I simply want it to exist.

So if this idea inspires you, I invite you to join me. Maybe that means helping build these communities someday. Maybe it means creating your own version. Maybe it means taking one piece of this dream and running with it.

I just want to see it become real. And if you’d like to help, I’d love to hear from you.

After all, every great Dream starts with a conversation.

Cheers.