- [Nicole] I wanted to share with you a day in my life in the prairie.

(rocks thumping) I was so excited for winter this year.

We barely got any snow, but I was still able to enjoy this ice, this frozen river.

Something about the prairie that I didn't expect is the heavy amount of solitude that I've experienced since moving here.

In this video, I'm going to talk a lot about solitude.

My friend yesterday told me, "You should write a book about all of your ex-boyfriends."

But lately, my mind is not on ex-boyfriends at all or future boyfriends.

I live in my house and I live simply.

My house requires a lot of my effort.

I came to the prairie in a relationship, but I have been single for the past couple of years.

When I'm not with clients, I take care of these very important tasks.

And on this particular day, I wanted to get a lot of painting done.

(upbeat music) You don't realize the toll that it takes on you to be a single woman in the United States of America owning a house.

There are many tasks that require two people.

Everything that I'm doing in this video requires only one of me.

But normally there are a lot of things like hanging a light fixture in the adjacent room that require two people.

I did not expect to experience so much solitude here.

In fact, my plan was to move to this house and spend only a part of the year here.

But because of circumstances and because of the heavy amount of work it takes to renovate a house on your own, I've been here for two and a half years.

And since my standards for relationships have changed, I've been single for quite a while.

And I'm gonna talk a lot about that and what my new standards are later in the video.

So I hope that you will catch that.

(gentle music) And it's been such a weird winter this winter.

Normally in the Midwest, we have so much snow.

A lot of the winter tasks are shoveling snow, de-icing, cleaning off your car windshield, spending two to three times as long getting from place to place.

But that has not been the case this year.

And I honestly love snow.

It insulates things, it makes everything quieter, and it forces you to go ever more inward.

Normally in the winter, I write music, I wanna be extremely creative, I'll make art.

But because we've had this really weird, warm, snowless winter, I've been doing more spring, summer, and fall activities like fixing my house up.

And that is also why, if you've noticed, I haven't posted very many videos or photos or anything like that because I honestly just haven't felt that creative.

I talk a lot about peace and inner peace on social media and in my videos.

And I really haven't demonstrated it to you, but this is what it is.

Inner peace is being able to live in the middle of nowhere alone in a room by yourself, and to not feel miserable.

And in fact, to feel glad.

Inner peace is to be one with the silence.

(soft music) Inner peace requires stillness whether that is actually physical stillness or always stillness of the mind.

And sometimes these menial, like kind of dumb little tasks like this can really put you in that state.

(upbeat music) I grew up with three brothers and three sisters in a chaotic household.

And I've never really had a stable living situation since I was like a toddler maybe.

But even then, my parents got divorced when I was really young.

I either shifted houses every two weeks.

And the longest I've stayed in a place is around three months.

And if it was longer than that, the living situations that I've had have been very loud, chaotic, or dangerous.

So even though this solitude that I feel here in this house is very long, like it just seems like it's been so long that I've been in this state of solitude.

I honestly feel like it's been super necessary for me.

In fact, I think it's been incredibly healing and I think it's one of the reasons why I have experienced this inner peace, this inner peace that has led me to so much more self love, so much more self value, and so much more self worth, which is another reason why I am still alone because I actually have all of those values now that I didn't have before.

And I truly do enjoy just these simple activities like looking at the stars.

And on this night, it was actually a meteor shower, and I did not know how to use my camera yet.

So there's a lot of focused breathing, I think it's called.

I'm going to stop talking now, but thank you so much for spending a day of solitude and peace with me in the prairie.

(soft music) (indistinct whispering) (soft music ends) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat music)