No. We saved and researched and planned it dammit, and so can you if it matters enough. Luck has mostly nothing to do with it. You envy me? You're jealous? That's perhaps you looking in the mirror and not liking what you see.
I live with depression. No i'm not "sad". Depression in the medical sense is a disease of the entire body, where things are depressed, as in slowed, impeded, lowered. It's a fuck-up of brain chemicals, hormones, neurotransmitters and other scientific shit brought on by combinations of both genetics and circumstances. It's the name of a medical condition, as well as a state of mind. Since it doesn't twist your bones or make you visibly different, it's "all in your head." Which is true....
Lucky? Nah. Too passive. Too random. Here's a bit i wrote on FB this morning related to this same theme.
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Jan 2, 2022
Bright and cold here this morning. 36F for an overnight low and the wind is already picking up. But it's sunny! That's the main thing i need for my health - lots of bright sun on the retinas and skin. My brain is like a battery, my eyes are the solar panel. In Oregon's long dark winters i roll to a stop with only emergency life-support flickering in the basement backup battery.
Fuck that.
Better living through travel. Go south, old bird.
Lucky? No, that's not true. Luck implies a stroke of fortune out of nowhere; that you didn't have to put much effort into to get the reward. Like a slot machine. Pure chance. No logic. A whim of the Universe.
Our lifestyle is not "luck", and i get a little irritated when people express envy about our snowbird life as "luck", as if that's an easy fate-determined excuse for them not to try pursuing it for themselves. I'm jealous. It must be just luck. I could never do that. You're so lucky.
Yes, you can. But you can't have it all. Choices are yours. Change your "luck". Quit whining and point your nose in the right direction. Then, make a plan.
We had an idea and a purpose and a goal. Get out of western Oregon in the winter before the bird falls off her branch for good.
It took a lot of life adjustments over many years. Selling stuff. Scheduling summer-only worktime in Oregon. Acquiring and learning how to operate and maintain an RV and all the systems that go along with boondocking life. Getting rid of stuff, things, parts and pieces. Making new friends and routines. Luck? No. Logical assessment and planning, budgeting, deciding what didn't work and having the courage to change it.
Randy and I are not afraid to move, change, reassess and try something different. That's the lucky part, having a partner that's the other half of an ox team pointed the right direction and ready to pull. I could never do this myself. I've tried. I can't live alone unsupervised, no matter WHERE it is. And he probably wouldn't have done it on his own. I fly off on some idea, he follows and builds infrastructure for it. That's how we make albums too. 🙂
If you have severe Seasonal Affective Disorder, you probably also have vitamin D3 deficiency. If you have those, you probably are very sludgy and depressed and should sell a bunch of your stuff and buy an old Chevy van and come down here and let me show you around. Ask your doctor! Mine approves.
If you want something, you can sit around and wait for the Universe to drop it in your lap. You can pray, light candles, wish upon a star. Or perhaps you can get out a pencil and paper and start making lists, plans and maps. You can figure out what you will give up, what you must keep, what's important, what must be waited on and what can be fast-tracked. You can stop spending money on anything that isn't the goal. Because chance, like luck, favors the one who is prepared and ready to accept the good fortune.
Unexpected blessings do happen. But it's tough to build any real life if you're just forever waiting for that "ship to come in". Swim out to meet it or take a plane instead. Waiting for luck alone to change your fortune is most always a losing strategy.
Don't die wishing that you should have at least tried.
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Informative information on a disease that can't be seen with the naked eye. Scary from my side of the read.
ReplyDeleteIt is a life long disease a rocky road to travel and to live in to a society you try to live in. Bless you for passing this information to others who are lost.