As I said when I started this blog, I’ve been writing for me…to figure stuff out, but was happy to invite you along, hoping you might find my experiences useful, if only for a laugh. Although I still think about living sustainably off-grid, I’ve achieved what I wanted and have been living for three years free of wage slavery. Since this blog is about escaping wage slavery, going forward I’ve decided to try to at least do an annual update on my birthday (good time to reflect)…although, given the way things are going, I may be more invested in living life than reporting about living life.
Facebook & YouTube Addiction
As you know, I’ve struggled with Facebook addiction but have FINALLY managed to overcome the desire to be on it after spending a week posting my blog links there a few months ago. They got a lot of traffic as a result, but publishing an updated photo of my face on Facebook will still get 150 more ‘likes’ than anything I feel matters (including climate change), so I was discouraged to continue making the effort.
Understand that although I’m not doing this for ‘likes’, knowing that you have readers and that they actually like what you write can stealthily validate your belief you’re not alone in the world. This addictive feeling was immediately made meaningless after one night I watched Aljazeera news (I never watch the news) and in 30 minutes was told about:
Floods in Bozkurt, Turkey.
An earthquake folowed by a hurricane and the state of emergency in Haiti.
Wildfires in Greece.
US government scientists stating that July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded.
The Taliban controlling 22 of 34 provincial provinces in Afghanistan.
What a feeling of overwhelm and how disturbing that it subsided into a realisation that, as the world implodes, we only know how to be caught up in the everyday business of living.
The Nail in Facebook’s Coffin
Facebook being down on October 4, 2021, along with reading about this person being banned for life from Facebook for helping others helped me decide not to post to it anymore.
YouTube Tagteams
Around the same time, YouTube’s algorithm started to trick me…(there are so many creepy unsolved disappearances in US national parks!) and, before I noticed, that had taken over as my addiction. Since guided meditations are my main reason for using it, however, I downloaded an app so I don’t start the day on Youtube. So far so good.
Continuing to Live Life on my Terms during THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
It’s taken a while (three years) but I feel myself embracing my lifestyle more as I build unconditional self-worth. It matters less what others think and I give more value to how I want my life to be. In the post before my last I said I wanted my future to include exercise and a return to language learning. Well…
Hiking
I am happy to have added hiking as a replacement for Capoeira whose sustainability I’d begun to question: it was too high impact, with COVID protocols contact sports aren’t allowed and, honestly, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or the idea of it. Hiking is something I’d done before in Japan, it gets me out of the house on Saturdays, exercising and in contact with nature. On my first hike, I was pleased with my ability to keep a good pace without being winded despite not having been very active since COVID hit last year. The hike started at 3:30 p.m. and ended at 7 p.m. The highlight was the number of hermit crabs I saw (one of the photos above).
Language Exchange
I’ve incorporated language practice more regularly and seriously using Conversation Exchange. It gives me a neutral arena to meet people with similar interests who might own one of my fantasy homes and invite me to live sustainability with them. I’ve got a Brazilian conversation partner for almost every day and am building my courage to add Spanish and later French. Spanish and Portuguese are so similar they take each other’s place as my dominant second language. I think the way to go is to study them at the same time.
Advice?
(My brother bought me a vegan cake!)
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