Time Flies

Time flies when you're having fun, and I've been having fun. I've accomplished just about everything on my bucket list in life. The RV is fully winterized, has new windows, was remodeled inside to stop the drafts. The old propane furnace was ripped out and I heat with a couple of small radiator style electric heaters. My utility bills average about $50 a month.

The van is history, but the idea of it is not. I'm no longer able to drive due to my vision problems, but Rocky the van served his purpose well. I'll always be a vanpacker at heart, even living in my immovable "RV" in a small trailer park in Missouri.

Officially, I'm retired on disability. It's a good thing, because it was getting harder and harder to put in a normal days work without having migraines or losing focus. As much as I thought my depression symptoms would magically disappear after retiring, that didn't happen. I still struggle with clinical depression. It seems a lot of my problems with mental focus and juggling clutter and stress were tied up with the mad whirl of "getting and spending". I knew it and just could not see it. While I'm not in the "can't get out of bed" category, I'm definitely leaning towards the "can't stay up long" category of depression, and have to continually work on my motivations. The real change in my life is that I no longer invent stress to take the place of motivation.

Four years later I live a simple life that is without clutter. My biggest obsession is still with healthy food, only now I grow it, ferment it, and otherwise prepare it or preserve it as a focused hobby. I am writing my own version of the "Great American Novel", working on a blog idea for "real paleo eating", and planning an Alaskan cruise for next year.  I just ate an entire avocado, a couple of handfuls of pepitas (raw pumkin seesds), and a big glass of spring water. It's a chilly, damp Missouri afternoon and I can't decide whether to nap or read and nap. What a hard decision!

This blog was never intended for an audience, but for my own personal growth. I'm gratified to see that growth is what I achieved in the past 8 years, as painful and stressful as it often was. If someone does visit my self-indulgent blog, my hope is that you immediately toss all your stuff, jump into any vehicle you own, and just start living off the grid. Don't wait and overplan. Just do it!