The Freerange Hooligan, Unleashed!
Thoughts on Creative Self-Sufficiency
A brutally honest reflection on mental illness, shame, family judgment and the exhausting work of finding a way back from the darkness. Sometimes writing is how we drag the demons into the light. And sometimes survival begins with two simple words: I matter.
# Main-Page Summary
What happens when you stop listening to “They” and start listening to yourself? At almost 50, I’m rebuilding my life around dreams I once allowed fear, doubt, and other people’s opinions to bury. I’m finishing my library qualification, buying a coastal property, planning a steel-frame home, and preparing for a future filled with writing, blogging, travel, and rather ambitious adventures. There will be sacrifices, mistakes, terrifying beginnings, and probably an alarming quantity of energy drinks. But there will also be an e-trike journey across America, books, perhaps a boat and ocean crossings, and ten years of deliberately choosing the life I actually want.
Life is rather hectic: I’m juggling six UNISA modules, getting plans drawn up for my future Koingnaas home, and figuring out how to fund the build. I’m also considering documenting the whole adventure on YouTube. It’s an ambitious couple of years, but I’ve never been particularly good at choosing easy options.
Aspiring “gran-influencer” plans to sail the world, blog, vlog, and embrace a bold oceanic adventure! ⛵
Life is all about making choices, and then living with the consequence of those choices. Some of those choices are easy and some are not. And then there are choices that you simply can’t make! Right now, I am at one of those decision points. On the one hand, I have my family, friends, career,…
Once again, this morning, Dnipro is under attack by the dark forces from orcistan. People are dead and wounded and there is damage to property worth millions! Of any decent currency! Not for the first time I wish for the power of telekinesis/portation to deflect the missiles and install the anti-air batteries that are slowly…
I put out a question on Social Media today: I need advice. How does one overcome the “fear of failing” part of making a major life change? Or is it simply a matter of closing your eyes and jumping? @gterplaasboer, on Twitter And do you know what the majority (100%) of the responses were? JUST…
There’s a story that I’ve heard told at a few business conferences before, about a young salesman that goes to visit a prospective client on the farm. While they are having coffee, the young man notices the family basset hound howling non-stop. “Why is the dog howling like that?” he wanted to know. “Oh, him,”…
At the time of writing, it has been 48 hours that most of my town has been without water. I have checked the level of our supply source and at more than 90% full, it’s unlikely that a lack of water is the reason for the cut. Rather, I suspect that years of mismanagement have…
I’m in a horrible place. It’s that place at the very edge of my comfort zone where I know I am about to make something of my life and where everyone I know and love (and who loves me) tries to pull me back in. Crabs and buckets… The worst is that I fully understand…