It seems I’ve unintentionally taken a six month hiatus from writing. During this time, change has been the only constant. Half of the time I’ve spent running around different holy villages in India, visiting a spiritual publishing firm in the Swedish countryside, staying in an ashram in a small Lithuanian city & spending hours upon hours in various airports attempting to find wifi & do a bit of design work to fuel my wanderlust.
The other half of that time was spent adjusting to our cross-country relocation from center-city – Austin, TX to an intentional farm-community in the West Virginian panhandle. To top it all off, just this month, I said good-bye to my 20s & have crossed over to the land of the 30-somethings. All in all it’s been quite the experience.
In rural West Virginia, everything is a challenge. Our new address is not recognized by Google maps, USPS or really any business or utility company. Moving from a technology hub to a place where hi-speed internet comes with a data cap & smartphones are about as useful as a paperweight (due to no signal), has tested our determination to shift to a more in tune with nature, self-sufficient lifestyle. Despite the apparent disconnection, I feel more alive & connected than ever.
That said, making the change from an employee to a full time freelancer has been full of challenges. Right now, I’m working on developing boundaries — something I’ve found is absolutely essential to being happy. (more on that in a later post) I’ve realized being a freelancer can easily turn into being on call or on the clock 24/7 — if you let it. Similarly, full time freelancing comes with a whole list of other job descriptions that I would not have necessarily applied for (i.e. accountant, office manager, secretary, etc). At the same time it allows for a lot of flexibility which is wonderful, but has to be carefully manipulated to yield productivity.
So right now, I’m doing a bit of a dance in attempts to juggle being a freelance graphic designer, a cowherd, an organic gardener & a person. While it’s no doubt difficult, it’s quite liberating to feel like I’m making progress towards my goal of being the change, I’d like to see in the world.
Leave a Reply