Life by Choice

Writer’s Block

A feeling that plagues many a writer, there are periods of time when my muse is silent and my mind is clouded. More often than not, it is associated with some kind of pain. Losing a friend has disturbed me deeply and the day I’m writing this, I have been afflicted by starting and stopping, intimidated by all the white space that I cannot seem to fill.

But I must persist.

Before beginning, I knew there would be times where this occupation would feel like a chore, just like anything else. No matter how enthusiastic I am to travel, write, and live freely there will be intense struggle and toil. But you know what? That’s life. Once we get over the fact that life is hard, that is when we can and will accomplish great things.

Life is happening while we are making plans, and that’s why we must take the initiative and continue to fight stagnation. By just standing still, life careens right around where you are like a river - it does not care to wait for you to catch up. Do not fear the intensity or the speed, challenge it! Pull out the surfboard and urge life itself to keep up with you instead!

Power through the day folks,

Paul

Travel Safety - 18.05.10

Last night I was watching a video that captured the gist of what today’s post will focus on, the danger -or lack thereof- in traveling solo. Skyy John is one of my favorite gurus on YouTube, and if you have the stomach to handle adult themes and language, I recommend watching his content.

The video I linked to is safe for work, though.

Way too often I hear the same thing Skyy John hears, and that is the fear that accompanies traveling, whether it be alone or not. It no longer impresses me when someone halfheartedly claims they wish they could travel. This goes double when it comes from my own peers. One of my greatest gifts (and all others around my age) is my lack of obligations, responsibilities.. anything that would tie me down to one location. Aside from family, teens have the freedom to roam any which way they want. Of course every situation is different, but life is much more malleable in early adulthood than any other period.

My own example tends to be an extreme case, but it shows how one can travel even with so many disadvantages; i.e. no car, limited money, and no high school diploma. These and so much more can be overcome. The hardest thing to overcome is the preconceptions of danger that are spawned from misinformation from parents, friends, the media, and anyone who’s never left home. 

The fear is NOT a natural part of yourself.

Now moving on to the actual stuff that DOES happen while you travel. Like below.

Things change and go wrong all the time.

Though I don’t believe in Murphy’s Law nor its derivatives, shit happens all the time. Chucking around my backpack while hitching from place to place caused my LCD to crack, just like the ankle. But I can still type, connect to the internet, access files, so what’s the big deal? Been working, gaming, and jamming to this baby 2 weeks now.

When it comes to dangerous situations, your greatest defense is not weapons but your own intuition. You would be surprised how well human spidey-senses work when paid attention to. Trust your judgment when seeking help from others or entering new areas. I can’t stress enough how important information is.

Data, data, data! I cannot make bricks without clay!
                          -Sherlock Holmes

Do you honestly want to travel? Better yet, do you honestly want to live the way you want? Figure out what’s stopping you, and then look at the true source of the obstacle. Addressing it may or may not be difficult, but the hardest part is taking that first step.

Wordpress - 14.05.10

Short update for today. Life by Choice will be moving over to WordPress sometime next week. The date is variable at the moment, but I’ll update you of any changes.

Thank you readers for continually letting me share my insights with you.

Broken Things - 11.05.10

The longest leg of my trip so far has been from New Orleans, Louisiana to San Antonio, Texas. I started out in the early hours of May 4th (Tuesday) and didn’t arrive until the 7th (Friday). Looking back, three days seems extremely short in comparison to the amount of stuff that happened to me, especially considering the impact they left. One of the greater lessons being how to handle the rough times.

Being the overconfident and inexperienced hitchhiker, I figured I’d make it by nightfall of the same day; a hitch or two on my way to Houston, then another few hitches to San Antonio. Heck, the distance was only 9 hours time-wise, also seeing as they’re very large hub cities and there’s not too much in between them, where could I go wrong?

32 hours later: I had lost my knife, sprained my ankle, and night was fast approaching while I was STILL in Louisiana. There I was, a foolish teenager hopping around on his left leg and 40+ pounds of weight. There was a singular moment where I was fully exasperated and just at a complete lost, after enduring an hour waiting for help, or even just a ride. It was out of that desperation that I just frantically pointed toward my injured, bleeding ankle.

Immediately, in an almost religious fashion, someone pulled over and my bleak night was saved.

All my bad luck on that day could have been avoided though. The ankle, the man who asked for a “sexual favor”, the sunburn, and all the other miscellaneous issues large and small. I should have put on sunblock, I should have made a better judgement, and I shouldn’t have been practicing Bōjutsu without shoes on. But you know, I didn’t have to go on this trip in the first place. Though there’s no way to know the obstacles that stand in the way of your future, the successful peeps know how to roll with the punches and strive.

There was a time when I mentioned to a friend offhand that teleporting would be an awesome power to have, even in limited capacity. Wisely, she countered that it would greatly diminish the importance of my journey. Lizzie even went on to say that my trip is all about inconvenience. Well, I’ve sure had my fair share of inconvenience and that doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, hope as I may.

The benefits though, they sure far outweigh the issues that have come up AND all the potential risks in the future. My knife is actually in the hands of a southern brother met on the road, my ankle is all but fully healed (and not infected!), and now it’s all chillaxing here in Texas.

On a sidenote, I’ve actually gained various gear of great value.
The generosity of people continues to astound me everywhere I go.

Don’t keep on, keepin’ on guys. Time to shake things up!

Merely Human - 09.05.10

The idea of this post was inspired by a good friend of mine, Brian. So in a way, this is a reblog. The difference however, is that where his post focused on the limits of being human when we are pushed beyond our capabilities, my focus is how far we can go if we push ourselves.

via ffffound!

Many times people blame something external for their “inability” to start their own lives. Lack of time, money, energy, whatever. And why shouldn’t they be able to? It is socially acceptable to scapegoat our indecisiveness on lack of resources. So how about this for a solution: waiting for someone to come along and care about your personal dreams/goals/career more than you do. Not so plausible, is it?

The irony is that so many of us do this by default. Without a more active solution, we fall into the trap that we’re helpless and must wait for things to change. Now is the time to break the cycle. Think of what you want to do: start a business, showcase your art, write, travel, anything. What is one thing you could do today to get closer of getting where you want to go?

Draw inspiration from pioneers who have already taken the leap of faith on themselves and/or their causes. Martin Luther, Eleanor Roosevelt, Galileo, Coco Chanel. History provides a rich backdrop of unconventional people who became monumentally influential because of their strong resolve and unwillingness to give up.

I’ve known for a long time that my dream was to become a writer, travel, and be self-employed. Does anyone need to bestow on me the title of “Writer” to allow me to begin writing? Fuck no. All I need to do is write. Wouldn’t I need wads of cash to travel? I’m on week 5, and things have gone pretty well with the funds I started with. As for employment, I’ll be sure to let you know when I decide to work a typical 9-5 job and restrict all the important resources of my life (creativity, energy, time).

Ultimately, we’re all only human. That is to say how competent and able we are, any of us. The greatest people in history had the same resources you reading this have right now. Two arms, two legs, their senses (and sometimes not, Helen Keller!). But most importantly, they had their minds powered by ideas. Ideas are the most powerful tools you could ever have, dear reader.

How will you use your tools?