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Sabbatical Year
Hitting the Reset
Ten months in, a new year and time to hit the reset.
Month Ten: Hitting the Reset
1/5/2023
Minnesota - Iowa - Tennessee - Minnesota
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year y’all!
So what the heck have we been up to? Short answer, a whole lot and a whole lot of nothing at the same time. Feel free to skip ahead the adorable pic of Leinie with Santa if you are fine with that. For those looking for a bit more, please, continue on.
One thing I promised myself when I started logging our adventures for literally anyone on this planet (and other planets I guess, I am nothing if not inclusive) was that I wanted the stories to be authentic. No clout, no sponsored falsehoods, no glossing over difficulties to lure anyone into believing I lived this super cool, awesome, amazing life. While I am not of the share-all generation, proud millennial thank you very much, and have no desire to deep dive a read-all of my or others personal lives, I do care to share enough to not hide when times are tough. Case in point, all the times I admit to ragey tears and struggles while hiking.
Long answer: it’s been a struggle. As some from my generation would say, the struggle has never been more real. Sorry boomers and zoomers. Jokes aside, the struggle has been very, very hard. There is no single cause, more of a cumulation of factors all compounding into a stress storm. Because of the stress and struggles, I have struggled with putting pen to paper, er, keyboard to website.
Vanlife can be amazing, it can also be hard, just as any lifestyle. You get the freedom to get up and leave whenever you choose. You also give up space and when you stay at another’s home, whether parked in a driveway or crashing inside their home for indoor plumbing, you give up a degree of autonomy. Routines are hard to create and maintain with constant movement and resettling. If one person is committed to work in one location and the other wants to travel, do you give up time together or stay put for the duration of the work commitment. What if that work commitment takes you away from your partner regardless.
I am the very first to admit that even be able to have the luxury of choosing vanlife is exactly that, a luxury. This is not, and never will be a complaint. There are a vast number of people out there with struggles I couldn’t comprehend. That isn’t to say that I struggled with the last couple months because I did. I also didn’t handle that stress very well. Autonomy, routines, freedom, and relationships are extremely important to me. When all those felt like they were breaking down, I felt like I was drowning. Jake felt like he was dying of thirst. It’s hard to imagine or comprehend someone dying of thirst when you are drowning and vice versa.
It was a rough couple months, but that isn’t to say everything was dark and horrible.
Leinie is concentrating very, very hard
Leinie tried his absolute best to be a good boy for Santa. Spoiler, Santa brought him a puzzle brain to work his busy little brain.
We wrapped up a struggle of a season with the Liberty Bowl game in Memphis, Tennessee where ISU faced off against Memphis (yes, again). Memphis took their revenge when ISU decided to not play. Don’t worry, the game couldn’t hurt me anymore than the season already had.
Pic is always taken before the game when hopes are high
To make up for a cold, unsatisfying game there was food. If you’ve never been to Memphis, you are sorely missing out. Dry rub ribs, fried chicken, grits, gumbo, and so much sweet tea you could bathe in it. We discovered the “most haunted bar in America” that used to be a brothel.
Earnestine & Hazel’s in Memphis
While discussing new year resolutions at the bar with the person next to us, waiting for the guitar drop mirrored ball raise we discussed the game and disappointment over ISU not showing up to play. He pondered for a bit and then suggested maybe this year instead of resolutions on this or that which always get thrown out by Feb, everyone just makes the effect to show up. Beer brings out the best philosophers.
It made sense though; we were in desperate need of a reset. A hard reset to be exact. The one where you unplug your xbox and plug it back in prior to restarting it. We need to unplug and reset ourselves. So we are. I am unplugging from social media for a bit, we are focusing on the rebuilding routines and finding our new spot to call home.
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For as much as we love the outdoors, we also love a good lazy Sunday.