If you’re interested in having a freelance writer create written content for your media application, you can now hire me via Fiverr.
Realizing unspoken goals
I realized a few days ago that I have a life goal that I haven’t even been telling myself I have. It turns out I really like hiking and camping, especially alone. That’s always been true, but it’s been decades since I’ve been able to do either for a variety of reasons. A few days ago, it occurred to me that I want to be able to do so again, and there are real obstacles I have to overcome to be able to do so.
Realizing that desire and those obstacles is not a lament. Rather, it is a finite realization of what exactly it’s going to take for me to get to the point where I can be the person I physically want to be. I don’t know yet how I am going to go about surmounting those obstacles, but I know they exist now, so I can start working toward finding my way around or through them.
I guess my point here is that it’s okay to dream big about the person you want to be as long as you’re honest about what it’s going to take to be that person. I may detail the specifics of those goals and challenges in a later post, but for now, I am satisfied to have come to the realization I have.
DLH
The Rambling Road: Five million steps
Yes, 5 million steps. That’s the number of steps–at least a rough estimate anyway–that stand between me and cutting my current body fat measurement in half.
Granted, it’s always dangerous to reduce human biology to a simplistic math equation, but the correlation between high percentages of body fat and health problems is pretty strong. It turns out that, when measured as simple calories, half my current body fat adds up to about 3.5 million steps worth of walking. Add in another 1.5 million steps that account for my current rate of walking, and you get 5 million.
At first, that number seems daunting. It is also, far less simplistically, a moving target influenced by all sorts of sometimes inscrutable variables. Yet, it’s also a concrete point; a goal to focus on that helps manage everything else.
If I were to somehow manage to walk that many steps in a year, that’s only about 13,700 a day. Granted, I’m only at 8,000ish a day now, but doubling the number doesn’t seem all that bad, though I’ll have to do more than double if I want that number to be my average.
The point is that we can’t do what we don’t know we’re trying to do. Now I know how many calories 5 million steps will burn. Now I understand what it will take for me to get to that number. I’m just at the beginning, but I can get there.
Now, to do it.
DLH
Read more at my The Rambling Road weblog…
The Rambling Road: 2018 goes out a lot better than it came in
With the year drawing to a close, I would be remiss if I did not revisit where I find myself now after the past couple–and really the past few–years of illness and struggle.
One of the most important health changes I have ever experienced happened in the form of starting a mild anti-depressant at the end of September. The changed I experienced upon beginning that medication is real and enduring and has enabled nearly everything else that has happened since then.
The biggest subsequent change has been to dedicate myself to a series of dietary and exercise changes in the hope of wrestling my life back from my health. I have virtually given up process sugars, modern grains, and processed foods. I have begun an intermittent fasting regimen. I have starting moving more than I have in years.
Specifically, I am walking and using a bike trainer, and plan to start running and attending a yoga class after the first of the year. If those efforts go well, I plan to start trail hiking and purchase an e-bike for longer-distance rides sometime in the next year.
I have begun using light therapy as part of a daily program that involves waking up using light instead of sound and also using a therapy panel as part of my daily routine. The effect this has had on my mood and energy level cannot be understated.
Perhaps most importantly, I am confident that I can do the things I plan for the first time in a really long time. I am hopeful for the new year, and those are strange words coming out of my mouth.
More will follow.
DLH
Read more at my The Rambling Road weblog…
The Rambling Road: 2018 goes out a lot better than it came in
With the year drawing to a close, I would be remiss if I did not revisit where I find myself now after the past couple–and really the past few–years of illness and struggle.
One of the most important health changes I have ever experienced happened in the form of starting a mild anti-depressant at the end of September. The changed I experienced upon beginning that medication is real and enduring and has enabled nearly everything else that has happened since then.
The biggest subsequent change has been to dedicate myself to a series of dietary and exercise changes in the hope of wrestling my life back from my health. I have virtually given up process sugars, modern grains, and processed foods. I have begun an intermittent fasting regimen. I have starting moving more than I have in years.
Specifically, I am walking and using a bike trainer, and plan to start running and attending a yoga class after the first of the year. If those efforts go well, I plan to start trail hiking and purchase an e-bike for longer-distance rides sometime in the next year.
I have begun using light therapy as part of a daily program that involves waking up using light instead of sound and also using a therapy panel as part of my daily routine. The effect this has had on my mood and energy level cannot be understated.
Perhaps most importantly, I am confident that I can do the things I plan for the first time in a really long time. I am hopeful for the new year, and those are strange words coming out of my mouth.
More will follow.
DLH
Read more at my The Rambling Road weblog…
A new year and a new task
I’m hoping you’ll see a lot more here in the coming year. I have an idea for a somewhat continuous micro build that I hope will result in continuous updates. In fact, the work I plan to put in to get to the point where I can engage in that build could easily fill a year’s worth of updates, so expect to see more here in the coming weeks and months.
DLH
So, I’m still here and kicking
It’s been quite a year at Innisfree on the Stillwater. After more than two years of health struggles, we decided to sell off our cattle herd and change directions some. Our 90 acres of crop ground is now certified organic, and we’re adding 10 more acres of former pasture to that number in the coming year. We’re now raising small herds of Shetland fiber sheep and a mixed herd of hair meat sheep. We’re taking a step back from a lot of our customer facing efforts in order to regroup and see where the future lies.
We’re not done, but we are changing. We haven’t quite settled out the future yet, but we know it will involve this place. More will follow.
DLH
Coming in 2019
I am hoping to have a productive writing year in 2019. My main goal is to stick with and finish writing the first drafts of what may end up being as many as 10 books in a series that begins with my 2018 NaNoWriMo project. Yes, that is a lofty goal, but I never, every shoot low.
As if that is not enough, I also plan to continue work on my Tales from Beyond Earth story universe, and if history is any indicator, there will be plenty of one off stories and ideas that will present themselves over the next 12 months.
If you are interested in following my progress, check back here, or you can support my work and see more frequent updates at my Patreon site. You can get access to exclusive content for as little as $1 a day.
Here’s to a productive 2019!
DLH
Incoming for 2019
This year, I plan to go 3d, focusing on both sculptures made with Eco-Plastic and ABS using my 3Doodler Create+ and 3Doodler Start, as well as more traditional sculptures made with air dry clay. Stay tuned for future updates.
DLH
The Rambling Road: An advent
It’s been a while since I’ve written here, mostly because I came to resent the fact it seemed like I only came to these pages to complain. Recently, however, something very positive has happened to me, and after debating when and how to share it, I decided to share it with everyone all at once.
About six weeks ago, I started taking an antidepressant after consulting with my healthcare provider about some things I had going on, including rampant insomnia and some ways of thinking that lead nowhere good. For those of you who know me well enough, you may realize how important and difficult a decision this was for me.
I wish I had pushed this issue decades ago.
In the past six weeks, for what seems like the first time in my life, my head is clear of so much of the noise that has plagued me most of my life. I have slept full nights for the first time in years. The change is beyond remarkable for me, and has contributed to a host of realizations about myself and my behavior that were, for me, clouded until now.
Granted, I am just at the beginning of a process, and we’ve already had to make adjustments to my medication to accommodate symptoms and side effects, but the fact is I can see where I need to be going and how to get there for the first time in a really long time.
I’m telling everyone this for two reasons. First, because, especially as a male, it can be hard to admit something is wrong and to ask for help. Second, because it’s important for all of us to remember that the brain is an organ just like the liver or the pancreas, and if you’re willing to take medication to help them work better, why not consider doing so for your brain too if you need it?
The bottom line is that I did ask for that help and got it, and for the first time in a really long time, I am optimistic about being able to improve. I can’t say for certain where this will head, but I know it will head somewhere. Stay tuned for more as time passes.
DLH
Read more at my The Rambling Road weblog…