After just a couple of weeks on the road, I turned back south to Georgia, but why?
I decided to turn back home to Georgia after spending two incredible weeks on the road, and have had a massive lull in content since, so in this article, I hope to explain just a few of the many reasons I've been home, shed my family's view on the importance of perspective, and happily inform you that I won't be parked for much longer.
To start off this explanation, I want to first preface it by saying that this gap in content is largely my own doing, with factors like procrastination and unrealistic deadlines I've set for myself several times throughout the building out of my bus, and continuing into my workflow of content creation being a typical culprit of gaps in content. However during most of these gaps, I'll see an incredible photo or interesting story, and that will be enough to kick myself out of any rut, but unfortunately this time, there was a growing list of hurdles in my way that I didn't see coming. This list began when I unexpectedly had my insurance canceled in Chicago with zero notice and furthered through things like a trickle-leak in the skylight, malfunctions in audio equipment, and just two days ago, the need to entirely re-invent our workflow for video, as my two-year-old MacBook couldn't keep up with video graphics, and was churning out ridiculous render times, like our last being just over 112 hours. Even though these problems were unexpected, and in the case of our video workflow, far from over, they aren't the end of the world or the end of this trip. The world can go without a few more pixels on the internet, and no one's day is ruined.
Weeks like these past two can be very frustrating, but as I said before, they aren't the end of the world. Each time I find myself frustrated or lost in a pile of problems, I often think of a realization my mother had soon after my father's death, surprisingly enough, in a Walmart checkout line around Christmas. For any family that's grieving over a loss, or remembers what the first few years after the loss of a loved one are like, they would know that every holiday is hard. Every birthday, every milestone, every holiday decoration, and every rerun of "Nester The Long-Eared Donkey" in my family's case reminds us that there's a piece of the family that should be there but isn't. It was around one of these holiday seasons that my mom was standing in a Walmart line behind a woman berating a cashier over a toy return, or an equally insignificant moment in life that was taking far too much time out of her day. As my mother described it, this confrontation went on for while, with the woman in front of her being increasingly upset at how much this ruined her day, and continually venting about it to the sincerely apologetic cashier. This exchange continued on for a while longer as my mom sat patiently surrounded by the makings of another family's perfect holiday, with toys, cards, and wrapping paper on seemingly every conveyer belt, and she was struggling to hold it together.
The woman in front of her eventually finished her exchange, and walked away in a huff, carrying with her a cart full of toys and a wave of fading anger at the most difficult twenty minutes of her day. As my mom stepped forward to the cashier, the cashier was immediately apologetic, explaining how slow the computers had been around the holidays and how inconvenient for my mom. It was at this moment my mom reflected on the situation and thought about it in the bigger picture, quickly brushing away the cashier's worries and calmly saying, "If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, my life isn't going that bad". I remember the first time my mother told me this simple adage, and I've remembered it countless times after, whenever my day, week, or equally transient moment in life wasn't going too great. Life as a whole is temporary, and each day is bound to have struggles in it, but it's important to remember that this collection of moments we call life is only as good as you make it. So for the betterment of yourself, remember that the argument at the gas station, the holding down your horn in traffic, or whatever hill our impulses want us to die on when we're angry isn't worth the energy.
So in closing, these past few weeks have been a little frustrating, and I so difficultly have to take a break from my job of traveling the country and doing what I love. There are greater atrocities in life, and I'm happy to announce that when I finish swapping out the inverter, re-painting and sealing the roof, and pack all of my stuff back into that big blue bus, I'll be headed to the Smoky Mountains again around Tuesday of next week. I hope you got something out of this story, and continue to follow along for the ride!
To start off this explanation, I want to first preface it by saying that this gap in content is largely my own doing, with factors like procrastination and unrealistic deadlines I've set for myself several times throughout the building out of my bus, and continuing into my workflow of content creation being a typical culprit of gaps in content. However during most of these gaps, I'll see an incredible photo or interesting story, and that will be enough to kick myself out of any rut, but unfortunately this time, there was a growing list of hurdles in my way that I didn't see coming. This list began when I unexpectedly had my insurance canceled in Chicago with zero notice and furthered through things like a trickle-leak in the skylight, malfunctions in audio equipment, and just two days ago, the need to entirely re-invent our workflow for video, as my two-year-old MacBook couldn't keep up with video graphics, and was churning out ridiculous render times, like our last being just over 112 hours. Even though these problems were unexpected, and in the case of our video workflow, far from over, they aren't the end of the world or the end of this trip. The world can go without a few more pixels on the internet, and no one's day is ruined.
Weeks like these past two can be very frustrating, but as I said before, they aren't the end of the world. Each time I find myself frustrated or lost in a pile of problems, I often think of a realization my mother had soon after my father's death, surprisingly enough, in a Walmart checkout line around Christmas. For any family that's grieving over a loss, or remembers what the first few years after the loss of a loved one are like, they would know that every holiday is hard. Every birthday, every milestone, every holiday decoration, and every rerun of "Nester The Long-Eared Donkey" in my family's case reminds us that there's a piece of the family that should be there but isn't. It was around one of these holiday seasons that my mom was standing in a Walmart line behind a woman berating a cashier over a toy return, or an equally insignificant moment in life that was taking far too much time out of her day. As my mother described it, this confrontation went on for while, with the woman in front of her being increasingly upset at how much this ruined her day, and continually venting about it to the sincerely apologetic cashier. This exchange continued on for a while longer as my mom sat patiently surrounded by the makings of another family's perfect holiday, with toys, cards, and wrapping paper on seemingly every conveyer belt, and she was struggling to hold it together.
The woman in front of her eventually finished her exchange, and walked away in a huff, carrying with her a cart full of toys and a wave of fading anger at the most difficult twenty minutes of her day. As my mom stepped forward to the cashier, the cashier was immediately apologetic, explaining how slow the computers had been around the holidays and how inconvenient for my mom. It was at this moment my mom reflected on the situation and thought about it in the bigger picture, quickly brushing away the cashier's worries and calmly saying, "If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, my life isn't going that bad". I remember the first time my mother told me this simple adage, and I've remembered it countless times after, whenever my day, week, or equally transient moment in life wasn't going too great. Life as a whole is temporary, and each day is bound to have struggles in it, but it's important to remember that this collection of moments we call life is only as good as you make it. So for the betterment of yourself, remember that the argument at the gas station, the holding down your horn in traffic, or whatever hill our impulses want us to die on when we're angry isn't worth the energy.
So in closing, these past few weeks have been a little frustrating, and I so difficultly have to take a break from my job of traveling the country and doing what I love. There are greater atrocities in life, and I'm happy to announce that when I finish swapping out the inverter, re-painting and sealing the roof, and pack all of my stuff back into that big blue bus, I'll be headed to the Smoky Mountains again around Tuesday of next week. I hope you got something out of this story, and continue to follow along for the ride!
As this story is something very personal to me, I wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday pictures from when my family and I were a bit younger. Not too bad amateur photographers for parents ;).