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.
Every story needs a beginning if only to provide context and a bit of method to the madness. My story started on 15 January 2004, the day of my second birth. I’m not going to dwell on the details. Suffice it to say that I accidentally realized many things I never noticed before. And one…
I teach self-reliance, the world’s most subversive practice. I teach people how to grow their own food, which is shockingly subversive. So, yes, it’s seditious. But it’s peaceful sedition.Bill Mollison When I first heard these words, spoken by David Holmgren, I had to look up the word “sedition.” Even as a person fluent in English,…
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,”…
Decluttering my mind starts with decluttering my environment, and that means that I need to create new habits. Or at least revive old ones. I did a thing today. It wasn’t a big thing, by humanity’s standards, but it was still SOMETHING. And I did it all by myself! Before I start sounding too much…
After many years, I have finally picked up the courage to see a mental health professional. Frankly, I would not have done it if not for something that someone mentioned about their “psychiatric benefits” on their medical aid being depleted. (Their daughter has all kinds of issues!) Then I realized that not only did I…
Yesterday was the twenty-first of June, the day of the summer/winter solstice. I don’t celebrate it in any way, but it’s nice to know that the sun will be up a bit longer every day from now on until December! I haven’t posted much on my journey toward gaining slim. At the beginning of this…
Many years ago, I was challenged to design my perfect life. I couldn’t do it at the time, and about ten years have passed since then. However, I saw a few video clips on this morning, and this woman is living her dream life! No, she isn’t rich, by the conventional definition of the word,…