Polly Schindel, Hometown Girl, a Living Example of “Success Done Quietly”
by Catherine James, reporter for the Lintlaw Star.
I drove up to the Schindel property located in our own rural municipality expecting to find a quaint little house in the farmyard site. Instead my jaw dropped as I drove down the gravel lane. It was like entering a little “paradise”. The grounds were manicured meticulously but not in a presumptuous way. The sprawling lawns were sprinkled with sumptuous looking vegetable gardens, colourful flower beds, and trees both grand and small, some providing fruit, others shade and beauty and another sporting an inviting swing. The wooden fences of the pastured areas were straight and true and the paddocks screamed serenity as the horses grazed here and the alpacas there.
Polly appeared out of the sprawling farmhouse and waited for me on the veranda that surrounded it. The house was perched on a bit of a rise and I could see that there would be a terrific view of the pastures and fields of crops that surrounded it from any side of her home. She welcomed me and invited me in.
With a table set with “fancy” dishes we talked over a cup of tea and fresh carrot cake with my favorite cream cheese icing on top (how did she know???)
“How did you do it?” I asked.
“Do what?” she queried seemingly oblivious to the unusual nature of her kingdom.
I waved my arms in a sweeping motion to include the spacious great room with the vaulted ceiling over the most simple yet beautiful kitchen adjoined to the dining area and inviting living-room with the wood fireplace ready to warm the space on a cold winter day and motioned through the many windows to the wrap around deck and the resort-like grounds and answered, “This!”
“Oh this is just my labour of love,” she countered.
“Well you are going to have to elaborate on that. As far as I know love doesn’t pay the bills let alone build a home like this!”
She sipped her tea as she smiled and proceeded to open my mind and my heart with her story.
“Catherine, I guess the simplest way to explain it is that I thought everything into existence. Lately it has been purposeful thinking but in the beginning I think it was a result of subconscious effort. As a little girl, I always wanted to live on a farm. And I didn’t go out looking for a farmer to marry–but we found each other,” she said with a wink.
“I always wanted a place to call home that would be a haven of peace, rest and love for my family to enjoy and feel happy and secure in. I have a love of learning and a passion for health so my teaching career and side health businesses always kept me motivated and interested but they only paid some of the bills. Farming alongside my husband whether it was in the field seeding, or harvesting or putting up hay for the cattle or alpacas and caring for the animals was so fulfilling, but there were always more expenses than income and Bob had to work off the farm to support the farm!”
Over the years I had done a lot of personal development courses and knew that things had to be “thought into existence”. So despite no means to build a house I scraped up the funds to hire an architect to draw up the plans for it, based on my 20 years of planning my dream home. I hung up the plans in our bedroom and within a few years we had made the arrangements to get started. Building it mostly ourselves, we moved in within a year of starting and settled on waiting to afford the finishing which happened within the next 10 years. As you can see I wasn’t very fast at thinking things into existence in those days!” She chuckled as she topped up my tea and offered me another piece of cake.
“So are you faster at it nowadays?” I questioned.
“Good question,” she countered. “I had almost given up on personal development and had been relying more on drawing close to God in Bible study when a friend of mine recommended I give it another chance with a program she was about to start. I did some digging and since it was gifted to people I thought it was worth the shot. It is called “The Master Key Experience.” It was only with their guidance and support and encouragement that I could do the mental work that was necessary to think the rest of this into existence. I got clear on what I wanted and convinced my subconscious to get to work to bring me the people and circumstances I needed to accomplish my goals. FAST. I developed my self-confidence, let love the lead the way and persisted in the activities that would move my financial life ahead. Now I have residual income that not only pays the bills but allows us to build whatever we want on our property; and, not only take the vacations we never had but have a staycation right here anytime. Our children and grandchildren love coming home and we have been able to help them relieve their past financial stresses so that they can spend time here or travel with us whenever they want.
“Well you definitely have made this into a haven of rest and peace and dare I say love!” I said.
“Thank you. I am truly grateful for your time but enough about me, tell me your story,” she said with a smile and a genuine look of love into my soul.
