When I began this blog about eighteen months ago, I had no grand agenda beyond documenting and reinforcing my desire to live a more simple life that prioritized my values and passions over consumption and bottomless desire (I still struggle mightily with each of the latter.) I came upon the idea of "steering the ship" of my life to a more simple place as opposed to feeling I needed to swerve disruptively in a new direction like an adrenaline-fueled speedboat racer. The image of a large ship taking a slow, wide berth to change course stuck in my mind and kept my internal critic at bay - the nagging voice that tells me I should always being doing more, and perhaps I'm a failure for not accomplishing every goal immediately. Today I realized that after eighteen months, the ship truly has made its way in a new direction, even if the navigating has been a bit slow and is still very much in process.
While the original concept I just mentioned for this site was fairly broad in scope, I decided about three months ago to re-focus much of this site on backpacking, camping, and outdoor pursuits. I found those endeavors most embodied and reinforced the simple and authentic life experiences that inspired this site to begin with. (I still left wiggle room to indulge other passions and off-topic ideas like this post, however.) When I begin to refocus this blog in earnest towards outdoor pursuits, I also promised myself that I would post new content every weekday for four months straight. Today is the first day I found myself struggling for either the idea or energy to create some content. As I was considering writing ideas, I thought back to that original idea of this blog - to live more simply and in line with my true values and passions. I then realized that today I truly had "steered the ship" in that direction. I realized that I am living a life more in line with my passions and values. I am sailing a new course...
Eighteen months ago, I was working in an office every day feeling less than fulfilled. I was marketing goods and services that had almost no personal relevance or resonance in my life. I slowly transitioned out of that job altogether. Fast forward to today where I began my day hand-picking foods from a garden I helped build and plant. From there, I purchased more quality foods from a local, independent grocer and cooked delicious dishes all day as part of a burgeoning business enterprise that provides healthy, healing, and delicious local foods. In addition to that transition, I was also finalizing discussions to contribute to what appears to be an ambitious and focused upstart website that covers outdoor adventures throughout the U.S. It looks as though that will be another means of income that is also wholly in line with my values and passions.
In summary, I came to fully realize today just how dramatically my day to day life has changed for the better over the last eighteen moths, even if I still struggle in many areas. I started this blog hoping to steer the ship "toward simple." Today, I realized I've slowly re-routed in a much more fulfilling direction.
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