Got the last of the absolute-must outdoor house projects done today. There are probably 10 more small things it would be gratifying to finish outside before the rains come. But if winter struck tomorrow, I’d be satisfied.
Well, not quite. The roof isn’t done yet. Still trying to get on the roofer’s schedule. But thanks to you, the roof won’t be a worry for much longer — and won’t have to be my sweat-n-blood project. Oh, glory!
I am soooooooo tired. This most recent burst of work was therapeutic, post-JPFO. Now it’s just … work. It’s been hot, too, which is great and unusual hereabouts. But not so great when you’re up and down a ladder under the noonday sun.
—–
I’m also working up to something … some change. Not for the first time, of course. You’ve heard me go on about “change” as much as Obama used to (not hope, though; never was very big on hope). You’ve also heard me whine complain bitch about dispassionately discuss how mysteriously busy-busy-busy I’ve been for the last 16 months.
I’m still not ready to say much specific about the many months of busy-ness (maybe one of these times, but part of my silence is self-protection). However, I can tell you when it began (May 1, 2013) and when it ended (RIGHT NOW).
The sellout of JPFO was a tragedy for gun rights and an exhausting defeat for a bunch of great people who tried valiantly to avert it. But for me personally, once past the grief, it was also liberating.
After resigning JPFO as a client and wrapping up summer house projects, I now have my life back. And the question is: what do to with it?
—–
I’m contemplating something that, for want of a better term, you might call “The Year of Living Hermitously.”
A year liberated from distractions. A year focused on creative priorities.
I’m thinking of things like:
- Changing my email addresses and eliminating all email for a year other than the minimum required to do my work.
- Not reading or listening to any news.
- Blogging solely about … well, Life. Real Life.
- Stopping all volunteer work.
- Saying no to all commitments to other people that aren’t matters of life, death, or deep friendship.
- Committing time every day to developing new aspects of creative work.
- Saying a whole lot of NO to a whole lot of things.
- Saying a whole lot of yes to solitude and being here now.
Looking back on all these ‘Net-connected years, I realize that every past time that I’ve tried to keep distractions down to a dull roar, I’ve made the same big mistake: I never went far enough.
I’ve always made exceptions: I’ll quit all email except … I’ll eliminate all commitments except … And pretty soon (predictably) the exceptions dominate. Because there is always — always — some pressing need.
And of course, like a lot of people I also use busy-ness and distractions as an excuse. Oh, I’m just too busy to … Oh, I’ll make some time just after I do …
Familiar, what?
I’m not sure yet exactly what I’ll do. Got any ideas for me? But I have the opportunity now to delve deeper, probably beginning early this fall. A year seems like a good target.
And oh my am I ready this time to wrap myself up in a blanket of stillness and solitude and make the most of it.
Its going to be a cold winter. Both in the PNW and the Country, politically as well as socially. Hiding in a fortress of solitude is a good idea, but it wont help. Crazy crap is just around the corner with the Fed. I can feel it in my bones.
Im with you, I just want to curl up and forget, but its not going to help.
Oh, Claire, I can’t remember what happened on May 1, 2014, or even Aug 1, 2014. 😉 I also don’t know what it is that I should do (except in vague terms), so I’m afraid I’m not much help there.
But it sounds like a good dose of “Live for yourself” is in order. Maybe the wet hermitage will work out better than the dry hermitage. I hope so, if that’s what you really want.
I figured it was time for a 6-months/year sabbatical again.
Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 7 sound like good ideas ― and mean it!
“Got any ideas for me?”
Get cracking on the artwork. (If writing: try RebelFire II)
Apply yourself to some of that home improvement work that you _most_ enjoy, and become expert at it. Maybe even “apprentice” yourself to somebody for a short period.
Rescue a healthy puppy just for yourself, and train him up in the way you want him to go.
Practice ― practice ― practice.
If feeling domestic, lay out a garden spot, till it and mulch it over winter, then plant some of those survival seeds (you do have them, don’t you?) in the spring.
Become a vacationer in your own backyard and visit/re-visit some of the regional sights: camping trip on the Peninsula; day trip to the Biggest City (Pike’s Place, Space Needle, etc); Astoria, Oregon; art shows, museums or auctions (keep your head still and your hands in your lap if you don’t have any money) in nearby towns.
*Relax and enjoy life!* TEOTWAWKI will come soon enough.
It’s been hot, too, which is great and unusual hereabouts. But not so great when you’re up and down a ladder under the noonday sun.
Down here in Texas we have this tradition called “siesta.” Highly recommended.
Yeah to all the “no” mentions. hehe.
There seems to be 2 recurring themes weaving their way around your life: Deadlines and “have to”. So, I’d suggest if you are looking for a different direction, consider not accepting anything (new) involving a specific time deadline and avoiding all of those “have to” type projects that seem to shove themselves in first before the fun stuff. Put the want to/rather do before the have to. Of course some things can’t be treated like that, I’m generally referring to the things you can be flexible on….I was just having a debate/rant the other day about how people (and seemingly a lot of women) have such a difficult time putting their fun interests and passions first. I don’t know why it’s so hard to do that, yet so many put everything else on “the list” to do first and the passions/fun get shoved so far down they usually never get done….Wouldn’t hurt if more of us did the me first thing more often, even if it’s only for a while now and then…..
It’s creepy how fast a year goes by. So carving out a year to try something new/different/adventurous isn’t very long, definitely worth considering. You could call it the year of being Claire, LOL. Because it may not turn out to be hermit-ness, it could turn out to be another discussion in something new/different.
And a plus 1 on the art ideas. You really should see where that can take you and what inspirations you get from tapping into that creativity. Explore some of those other dimensions of yourself 🙂
Not sure if you also intend to stop blogging here, but I hope not. I, for one, will miss you terribly. But you must do what you think is right for you, obviously.
In any case, you know I’ll always be here for you… 🙂
MamaLiberty — Oh nonononono. Blogging is LIFE. Blogging is also (now that JPFO is gone), my main source of income. Not giving that up. Just thinking about a shift to More Life, Less News.
Thanks for the advice, guys.
naturegirl — It’s so true that stupid to-do lists dominate life. When I was a kid I was creative but irresponsible. I can date my adulthood — and my loss of creative drive — to the day I decided to adopt to-do lists so I would no longer forget my obligations. But UGH! what that’s done for me.
Pat — Prepping a garden for next spring … now that’s a great idea. I’ve been thinking about blueberry bushes and apple trees.
But NO puppies! LOL! I’ve reached a point of stress where I feel that just having my dogs look at me with that “are we going to do something fun now, Mommy?” look feels like an intolerable responsibility.
Heh. Think I’ll try that siesta thingie.
I’ve reached a point of stress where I feel that just having my dogs look at me with that “are we going to do something fun now, Mommy?” look feels like an intolerable responsibility.
Oh, I know that look. So getting back on the fiction horse is probably not a good idea. My self-interest wanted to yell “Do something rebelfire-ish!” but that’s not a stress reliever.
🙂 Well, FWIW, I did manage to rescue RebelFire from the maw of the Second Amendment Foundation. Not sure what (if anything) I’m going to do with it. But Alan Gottlieb will never touch it.
Claire, think about Half-High blueberry bushes, a cross between High (regular, sweet) blueberry bushes and Low (wild and more tart) blueberry bushes. Some half-highs can be raised in pots which make them easier to take care of, and all of them are lower (3―4 ft) to the ground for picking.
I wanna learn more about electric showerheads in some foreign lands. 😉 Maybe you could go find another to test out for us? Really did make for great blog material. (I just remembered why I am thinking of travel — my dream last night had Anthony Bourdain in it.)
Hi, Claire.
I can appreciate your view on just scaling back to real life (like those great guys on Hillbilly Blood, but no cameras!).
It can be difficult, but sometimes you just have to get tough, and if “they” don’t like it, “aufedersehen”! Here’s another of my favorite writers (you’re still numerous uno) doing what more of us need to:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/09/how-the-power-of-no-saved-my-life/
If traveling southbound works it’s way into your plans, we would love to take you to lunch/dinner. We aren’t too far from a major interstate. And while our guest room now has a permanent occupant, we can make temp accommodations for a night or three.
A few tips that might be worth trying:
Email: If your computer is set to ping or alert you some way when an email comes in, turn that off. I typically check email maybe once every 3 or 4 days, sometimes stretching out to a couple of weeks. Just whenever I think of it and when I’m in the mood. Funny thing is, my email traffic went way down when I started that – even spam. Lots of stuff that comes at you through email can be ignored or put off a few days. The world won’t end when you don’t check email.
This is a bit like meetings back when I was in the corporate world. After I figured out that going to meetings or checking email (and responding) was a choice, I thought about the consequences of not going or not checking, and most of the time it was no big deal. One can be too connected to the rest of the world.
If you have a smart phone, don’t use it to check email at all.
The other thing is naps. I’ve always been a fan of a nap just after lunch, even while working in cubicle land. When everybody ran out the door and hopped in their car for lunch, I’d eat my bag lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich usually), then put my head down on the desk. 15 minutes or half an hour later (with a red spot on my forehead!), wake up and drink some tea or coffee to get moving again. Sometimes it is just too hard to keep those eyelids up, so why fight it?
Now I use the couch…
BTW I too am thinking of changing email addresses and providers, maybe one of those outfits in Europe that annoy NSA et. al. (Proton Mail?)
Hey, I liked your list, but did you notice it was a to-do list? How about having a item on your to-do list, “Get rid of to-do lists”? 🙂
“Just thinking about a shift to More Life, Less News.”
I vote for that.
It sounds an awful lot like you’re taking a retreat to a cabin in the Berkshires, a la Dagny Taggart. It also reminds me of the song “Year of Living Dangerously” by the Scissor Sisters:
Tell me what does it mean to be faithful
Is a heart only made for beats
Just another word for painful
So I try to slow down, the brake’s broken
There’s no way to jump out of here
All these conversations unspoken
So I keep searching
For everything I’ll ever be
Never seem to learn
What I can hardly ever see
This is my life, this is my dream
This is my belief, it’s my fantasy
I still haven’t found what’s gonna set me free
This is my year of living dangerously
This is my time, just let me be
This is my design, it comes naturally
I still gotta find what’s gonna set me free
This is my year of living dangerously
People who think a lot will always need lists. It helps get the clutter out of the brain (so more can accumulate.) It helps as a reminder of something that can get lost in the shuffle of all the other ideas rattling around.
They just need to be more fun and less work types of lists LOL.
The plus side of this is that obviously you have finished or accomplished something/many things to have arrived at thinking it’s time to go after new things. Success – with a touch of weariness and boredom LOL.
I tremendously disliked all of the JPFO happenings, but my biggest fear was involving RebelFire.
I may have never even come across the JP____ ___ (Oh never mind that, I was going to make a harsh joke using the last two letters there, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it over respect for Mr. Zelman and the past work) if i wasn’t for your writings. I imagine it was the FO HB that originally brought them to my attention.
I had been a member ever since, donated and purchased over the years… and shared and spread the word quite often… I could not even make a guess as to the number of their business cards I had shipped around the world over the years.
All sad stuff now, but my beloved RebelFire franchise is now safe once again… That truly makes me feel MUCH better.
As for the new upcoming L.H. era (or should it be V.S. – Viva Solitarius?) Just don’t starting wearing hoodies and over-sized sunglasses… You’re welcome to write a manifesto, just skip that attire.)
Cheers to the new path!
Wow, Ragnar. I knew you liked RebelFire but I had no idea you were that passionate about it (or about JPFO, though I agree JPFO was worth being passionate about).
Once the hand-off of JPFO to SAF is complete, I’ll have more to say about rescuing RebelFire. I’m still not sure what, if anything, I’ll ever do with it. But I couldn’t bear for it to be put into Gottlieb’s hands. Fortunately there were solid reasons they really, really had to turn it back to me.
Nice! I’d like to see a Kindle version of it for, say, $4.99 (even though I just bought the dead-tree version). As for what to do while taking a break, do whatever YOU want to do 🙂
Claire, What about “The State vs The People”? Were you able to rescue that book from JPFO, also?
Pat — Thanks for asking. But nope, and I didn’t try.
Although I consider it the best book I ever wrote, it’s old and obsolete. Besides, I never owned the rights to it as I did with RebelFire, and in some mysterious development nobody could explain, even JPFO had somehow lost the right to sell it. So I considered that one a lost cause.
LibertyNews — Thanks! If I get around to doing a Kindle version (which I hope), I’d probably offer it for even less than that and if I can figure out a way to get it to long-time supporters like you for free, I’d do that. Glad to hear you bought the dead-tree version, though.
“Do whatever YOU want to do.” Oooooh, I like that. How decadent. 🙂 Now the question is, what do I want to do?
I guess I’m in for a Kindle version. Doggone kids over loved the print version.
Good for you, Claire, take care of yourself for a while. You know where I am if you need anything.
Claire,
I have only today returned to the internet after a 6 month or so total break. My computer took on too much wine and I just did not care enough to replace it. Did I enjoy the break? Yes and no. I missed the perspective of like minded people, such as you and I missed the different angles of news reporting and I missed out on a bunch of personal news and happenings (some quite sad) but I also enjoyed more time to visit and enjoy local friends and happenings, putter around the cabin and communing with nature. I did a lot of communing with nature.
All in all I prefer the balance of both. Moderation in all things, including moderation. My limited solar input keeps me from being online too much and my somewhat limited funds keep me out of town too often.
Striking a balance is my current goal. Not a cessation of either.
Whatever you choose,
May The Long Time Sun Shine Upon You,
All Love Surround You and
The Pure Light Within You
Guide Your Way On.
Tahn