Sometimes one's life comes to a crossroads where it is difficult to know which way to go, or even see the paths available. I am currently at such a place and have decided to use this public medium to sort through my thoughts and actions and document my fumbling navigation getting to my next thing in an effort to hold myself accountable and so that others may learn from my failures and (hopefully) successes. The following are the initial areas I have chosen to focus on.
Health
There will be a particular focus on my experience with sleep apnea as well as some research into the condition. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea over 25 years ago and have been through numerous treatments in an effort to control it. I'm constantly wondering how it is affecting all aspects of my life including memory and cognition, mood and interpersonal interaction, motivation, and everything else. I'm going to try to document my sleep and associated health effects on as regular a basis as I can as well as reading and sharing as much research and information as I can.
Fitness
I'm starting close to square one on the fitness front. As a former college swimmer, I was in pretty good shape at one time in my life. But that went out the window around 20 years ago when I injured my back and put on 100 pounds over the course of 18 months. I have not managed to take it off to this point, despite some small efforts in that direction that have resulted in small fluctuations of weight. I'm going to document my efforts to get my body back into a more usable condition. And that segues decently to my next focus...
Camino de Santiago
I've never done it. I want to do it. I could stop there, but I'll add that as there are many more and better resources out there for folks to find information on this somewhat epic endeavor I will restrict this to a reporting only section intended more for my own validation than for others to learn from. With luck my sister will join me on this journey, we'll see.
Professional Life
I left my job in the craft beer/restaurant industry in March of 2021. I've relocated to a new city to be closer to family and to help facilitate this fresh start. This means I need a new job. I have a degree in economics, I've worked running my own managed services IT business. I've worked a few jobs in the aforementioned craft beer industry. I've worked in the non-profit world. And a few other careers too, What's next? I'll document my job search and perhaps as importantly my search for meaning and purpose in the workplace.
Travel, Whisk(e)y, Cooking/Baking, etc
Last but hopefully not least, I will document some of my efforts to amuse and delight myself and those close to me. These will include travel (money and pandemic permitting), some alcohol (fair warning to those who would wish to avoid spirits), cooking (often involving sous vide techniques), baking (often gluten free in deference to my sister and my niblings), outdoors (camping, orienteering, hiking, etc), and more.
