Looking back my blog has been dormant for a while, 3 years. It just hasn’t been a priority for me, everything in life continues to wear on me.
Since my last update we moved to a new house, a little over a year now. The new house resolves a bunch of issues I had at the old house. The neighbors are farther away now, I don’t have an HOA, my office is outside the house, I have a garage, and probably a few more.
The new house also brings some challenges. We are in a rural area and we have to deal with rural stuff. There are neighbors that shoot guns in their back yard, EVERYONE seems to have chickens and roosters, it is very dusty here, and a few other things. In general it has been good, but in reality, the move just changed the things that keep my stress levels high.
Reading through my last article I find that I was really insightful about my situation. I have made some progress since then.
- Clutter: I was making progress on clutter, then we moved and I have to start over. Money is tight now, this makes it difficult to create storage solutions. Now, without anyplace to put things, I find myself with most of my office and garage organized by the moving boxes that brought every from the old hose and my desk is cluttered because things don’t have a home. This isn’t really organized, just stored, sometimes I can even find stuff.
- Groups: I have reduced the number of groups I’m involved with and this has helped. Some I was able to leave just by moving.
- Health: My health situation is the same as before, no progress, but I haven’t slipped back on anything either. This area needs some active work in order to improve.
- Negative Self-Talk: I have tried to get away from this. And, I have to an extent. My self-talk is now more about how I want to see the future, not so much about my inability to deliver. I feel like I’m at a breaking point here and it is either going to get a lot better or really bad soon.
What do I see moving forward?
- I have interests and want to develop them more…I see this as a way to create some satisfaction. Some of these are new, some have been in my life before and have taken a back seat. Some I am making adjustments so I can enjoy them now and stop worrying about plans that may not materialize. The kinds of things I’m talking about here are ham radio, photography, organization, reading. I am also interested in finding some inner peace.
- I need to adjust some expectations. There are some things I have been involved with that just aren’t coming together, these aren’t personal projects but projects I’d like to see come to life. I have been holding off, waiting for something to happen. This needs to stop so I can move forward.
- I would like to travel, more specifically camp or overland. Ideally I would have a campervan that is a 4×4 with all of the trimmings. But, I can’t see that happening, so I need to cut back. I have most of what I need. Adding a tent, a cot, and a stove would make things a lot easier. A 12v fridge would be good as well. Maybe a small trailer to carry everything.
- I see lots of learning as well. Software development, ham radio, career, etc.
- An income, money is tight now and creating an income would help make life better.
- Working on physical fitness, weight loss, and health are on the list as well.
The first two items really go together. I need to want what I have and to start enjoying it more. I have been holding off on things because I didn’t have what I want.
Travel is a little different. I have much of what I need, but I am missing a few specific things. Having a tent with a cot is kind of important to me. It is difficult to get myself up from the ground, being able to start from a cot would make a big difference. Then having a tent tall enough for me to stand is the other half. Getting a cot is a little challenging because of my weight, and getting a tent large enough for a cot limits my choices.
I’ve been looking at the Gazelle T4 and T4 Tandem tents. I like that they are easy to setup and have a lot of room. The tandem version is nice because it has an attached screen room. This would give me a place to hang out comfortably in bad weather. Even with their size they pack up fairly small. But, these are expensive and it’s going to take a little while to build up some reserves.
It would be great to have some kind of a little utility trailer I could load my camping gear into. This just makes it a little easier to get on the road as I wouldn’t have to load as much into the car.
From there I just need a few things, a small butane stove and a cooler or refrigerator. I think this would be enough to get me out on a trip in my Subaru.
Concurrent with all of this is creating an income. I don’t really want to get a job, but it may come to that. I need to refresh my software development skills, learn more about social media, video production, and a few other things. A YouTube-based income would be great, I’m just afraid I don’t have the determination and consistency to get there (there is that self-talk again).
For the last item, getting exercise is going to be important. Building up my stamina and strength will help with camping, losing weight will held in general. I am going to start with stretching, chair yoga, resistance, and walking. Walking is a little tough, at my current weight, this is a little hard on my knees. I’d like to do some bicycling, but getting a bike that will support my weight safely is difficult. Long term I’d love to get a cargo bike and use it for some of my shopping as well as exercise.
Conclusion: Plans, I have some plans. Now it is time to execute on them. Here I go…