As I have stated on more than one occasion, WildernessPunk has never been meant to be just an upscale journal chronicling my misadventures. However, WildernessPunk did begin after I was tossed into a dark well of unintended Chaos. This Chaos became full of moments both good and ill, uplifting and difficult. This week held the main three dates which mark the two-year anniversary or perhaps in my case, adversity, of when these changes began.
To drive these dates home even further, I also had my last (scheduled) court date two years to the day I ran from the cops and spent a night half frozen in the forest. Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of me spending a night in jail, while today, two years ago, was the morning, for better with some worse, I started my new life. Now, here I sit in a Flagstaff hotel, with my court dates over, getting ready to pick up my children and take them to Tucson with me once my oldest boy is done with school.
Yes, things have changed quite a bit in two years.
I spend enriching days with my children, see little of the demon queen of gaslighting(DQG), and have the freedom to enjoy great times with my friends and family. I am also truly blessed with the best girlfriend I’ve ever had.
Alright, I’m starting to sound like Agent Smith in Matrix two. “Me, me, me.” Yet I am going somewhere with this or perhaps two-wheres. First one is simple. For those of you following either my life or WildernessPunk, this is a milestone and in many respects reaching an endgame. The BS which got me living in the woods and starting this blog has mostly come to a close, despite the efforts of DQG to make it malinger. Sure, I’ll continue to have trials and tribs, like all humans, but this chapter is closed, moving on…
The second and certainly more universal point has to do with Chaos and the Warrior’s Path. It is easy for all of us to get stuck in our mundane. Life can be trying, but the known, despite its drawbacks, becomes more comfortable than the unknown and we allow ourselves to stay within situations, be they relationships, jobs, or friendships, which can be unhealthy and uninspiring. We feel exhausted and just sigh, while our life dribbles by.
The alternative to this is entering the stream of chaos. Sometimes we do it on purpose and other times it is forced on us. Chaos is the dark and scary unknown. People will tell you not try it, it might be too dangerous, but this is also how heroes are born and how we grow as individuals.
We’re always growing and learning, but growth accelerates when we have our world yanked out from under us and we enter the Warrior’s Path. We could experience more in a month than we did over the last three years.
Warriors change.
Surviving the Chaos forces us to self-actualize. We can step back and analyze our life and experiences. With luck and knowledge, we make new and stronger choices. Below are a few examples of the benefits of striking out into uncertainty and returning reborn.
- Increased Wisdom and a greater understanding of how the world works
- More positive self-regard
- Realizing what you will no longer put up with
- The pleasure of only allowing decent people to be part of your life
- Understanding what is really important to your life
- Motivating to follow your true goals
- Triumphing over evil
There are of course many more, but this is a good start. I’ll leave you with this. Hardships may mostly seem to well… suck, at least at the time, but hardships often become an opportunity, Not just for a better life, but also a better you. Stagnation can’t compete with adventures. Adventures may be hard and could find you shivering in the rain with blisters on your feet, but one month of adventures might be worth ten years of mundania and you’ll always have a few interesting stories to tell.
You can grab some of my fiction here, and I can promise you these people are on the Hero’s path.
WildernessPunk 