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Today, I decided I needed to get back to writing more. After all, it’s been great reading comments and connecting with you.
Since it’s been a few weeks, I decided writing an update would help me get all my thoughts down on paper.
The funny thing is that I wrote an update in October too. Guess that means a lot is going on behind the scenes. So let’s get to it. I will share what is going on with this blog, my new business, and some life stuff.
Wilde Escape Update
First and most importantly, this blog will remain the same.
I might not post as often as I would like (over the next month or so), but I’m excited to get back to writing about things I’m passionate about.
There are a few trips I have planned and some gear reviews I can’t wait to write.
Over the last month, I’ve realized how important Wilde Escape has been. Since starting this blog, I resigned from law enforcement, finalized my divorce, moved, started a new job, built out a few websites, wrote a few articles for other businesses, and recently started my own business!
It still amazes me how well we can all adapt to situations.
For me, the critical reminder is that every decision and road you have taken has led you to where you are right now.
Learning About Businesses
This topic has been on my mind for months, but I’ve only started working on it since the beginning of the year.
There is still a lot to do, but I’m excited to say that I’m now a business owner. It sounds strange to say it out loud, even more, to write.
It’s been a big learning curve but also very interesting. A few years ago, creating a website seemed hard. Now it’s trying to figure out what each entity is, file paperwork, open accounts, get a tax ID, and the list goes on.
Having a business in California has been very interesting, to say the least. There are so many things you have to do.
Again, Wilde Escape is going to remain the same. The business is just going to be the bigger picture for me.
A Quick Thanks
If you clicked on any of my affiliate links (scattered around), I want to thank you for that.
As I mention in all my posts, it never costs you anything extra, but sometimes I get a few bucks here and there. It all adds up and is helping pay for this site.
New Websites
Yep, as I mentioned, I have a few websites. My idea now is to continue posting on here regularly, but I need to get my other sites set up, which takes time.
One of these sites isn’t getting many visitors. Instead of deleting the site, I will try and migrate it over to the new business site mainly because they both deal with business and setting up your own website.
The thought is to have the business website direct to Wilde Escape and my new freelance writing site.
Life Updates
The new business has taken much of my time. And after working a full-time job, I don’t always want to sit on the computer.
This will be changing. As a new business owner, you need to find time to build yourself (nobody else will do it).
Add to that lots of reading and constant training, learning new skills is always a good thing.
This year, my goal is to make $1,000 a month for my company. This will be a mixture of writing and some local business marketing.
Next, I want to recap the 30-day challenge I set out for January. It really couldn’t have come at a better time.
With all the thoughts and ideas I’ve been having, there have been nights I didn’t get much sleep. The way that I found to get “out of my head” was to focus on meditation—crazy how that works.
Taking Time for Yourself – Meditation
If you didn’t read that post, you could check it out here.
But I wanted to create another challenge to meditate for five minutes every day. Let’s get this out of the way. I didn’t complete it every day.
Here are a few interesting things I found.
- Learning to relax, truly relax.
The hardest part was to learn to relax. You need to focus on muscles in your face, shoulders and stop sucking in your stomach (Eric). Then you can focus on your breathing. I start by elongating the spine, breathing out, relaxing everything.
It’s almost like scanning your body, top of your head to your toes, making sure you relax.
- Guided sessions work best for me.
I know there is some controversy over this, but guided sessions were the way to go for me. Mid-month, I tried to listen to sounds. But I found my brain would take over, and I’d get lost in thought.
The other thing I noticed is that sometimes I would fall asleep.
I downloaded the app called Calm, which has 10-minute sessions, which worked better for me.
- Finding my home base.
I did some reading on meditation this month, too—more info on that in a minute.
The Calm app explained it well and even offered suggestions. Such as using your breath, the weight of sitting, listening to sounds around you, and so on.
For me, I found my feet on the floor were the best, almost like reminding me to focus on the feeling of being grounded.
- Location and time of meditating sessions.
I didn’t have a set time or location. But I found earlier in the day worked better for me.
As for location, I changed that up as well. I found it didn’t matter.
I also tried laying down, seated, standing, as well as eyes open, eyes half-open, and eyes closed. I liked eyes closed and seated the best. Laying down just made me fall asleep.
With all that said, I enjoyed this last month’s challenge. I plan on continuing to practice meditation. And because I didn’t do it every day, that just means I need it more than ever.
There are so many thoughts in our heads that it’s really nice to create some calm and breathing room in our minds.
Reading About Meditation
That is one way of saying I’m going through books faster than any other time in my life.
I started reading Meditation and Mindfulness by Andy Puddicombe, and it’s been really interesting. Not only does he have a great story, but he makes understanding this meditation thing so easy.
So far, a few things have stuck with me. If you decide to purchase the book, here are a few examples
- In the book, you learn that you need to do it to experience it (med book p.14). For example, you can read all you want about parachuting. It’s definitely not the same as actually doing it.
- Then on page 38, Andy explained “The Road” analogy about meditation. He goes into detail, but it really helped me, basically picture sitting on the side of the road watching the cars fly by. Those cars are your thoughts. Sometimes there’s tons of traffic, other times there are only a few, and let’s hope there is never a crash!
- I’ll leave you with another analogy that starts on page 44. It’s called “The Blue Sky.” The idea here is that the clouds are your thoughts. But guess what happens when a storm rolls in? There is always blue sky still! If you’ve ever flown in a plane during a storm, you will understand the idea behind this.
As you can imagine, there are many more fantastic pieces of information, but I’m not done with the book yet. I’m sure it will inspire me to continue on this journey.
If you are wondering, yes, there are even mini exercises in the book to help you along too. Andy also has an app (side note, I used Headspace in the past and enjoyed it).
Where Will The Path Will Lead?
It’s time to see where all this takes me. We all have goals in life and things we want to achieve. At least, I hope we all do.
Just going through life one day at a time, like the movie Groundhog Day, isn’t any way to live your life.
For me, I think I’ve known that working for myself was always my dream. But when you work as a first responder, that isn’t always possible.
Fast forward a few years to today, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The time is now to take charge of our lives. Don’t let other people tell you how to live. Only you can make up that mind.
For me, that is starting the path to what I want out of life—spending time with family, friends, hiking, and more amazing road trips in the Rav4.
I started rereading Ramit’s book, and I even clarified what my “rich life” would be. And it’s not a million-dollar house or the latest sports car (although a 4×4 van would be epic).
If you’ve read this far, thanks and congratulations!
Since I just started typing, organizing all my thoughts isn’t always easy to do. As I mentioned, there are a lot of thoughts in my head.
Please let me know in the comments below, what you think about these updates, or better yet, here are a few questions for you.
So what do you want out of this year?
What can you do today that will set you on your path?
As always, what makes you happy?
That’s a cool typewriter pic!
Thank you for being so open and personal in your writings.
Your reading that much is an amazing accomplishment – Congrats!
There are no “negatives” from meditating. It is beneficial in many ways; I am glad you wrote about it and that encouraged me to make it part of my daily routine.
You are right about how we adapt to changes in life.
Adapt. Learn. Grow.
Good luck with your plans for the future and keep on writing!
Thanks for noticing. It took me a bit to get the writing on the paper (for the typewriter). But I guess it turned out pretty cool.
This blog has helped me grow. I think I’m slowly finding my “niche” per se, but I still really like writing about the fun things I see and experience in life. Nobody has had it easy, and we can all learn and grow together.
I always thought meditation was for the hippies, but it is an amazing thing to do, and I feel better each time I practice.