It’s been almost two years since I became jobless.

Holy crap. I blinked and the 19th was here already. Freedom Day one year and eleven months from the first one. It’s been a heck of a journey to this point. It’s amazing all of the things you learn when you have lots of time on your hands.

It’s been a family journey. I reluctantly embraced the unemployed dad role. My wife has been super supportive the whole time. I love her to pieces. She’s really been the family’s rock.

The kids keep us super busy. Swimming, band, orchestra, baseball, and one child’s business enterprise (lawn mowing) keep us running constantly. Oh, I should probably mention grades, culinary, and other childhood shenanigans. The shenanigans change every day. Never a dull moment.

The personal part of the journey has been surprisingly tough.

It hasn’t all been Netflix and Cheetos. In fact, the time allotted for that stuff has been somewhat minimal. I guess during the school year, there’s been some of that. My physical health has been up and down, trending downward. (*I knew I’d finally get to use that phrase someday. LOL! IYKYK.) Mental health is a daily battle. I had a few weeks in there where depression was winning and I nearly, uh… deleted myself.

My therapist has been a huge help. I’ve had to take a few weeks off in there because we had kids with strep throat, shenanigans, therapy of their own, and so on. Oh, and the magical medical card died, leaving a choice between therapy and medication. Sorry, the ‘betes wins that stupid battle. Turns out therapy not so helpful if the patient puts the “die” in Diabetes. Also, I apologize if my somewhat dark sense of humor is off-putting to some. Humor has helped me survive the last 40 or so years, regardless of how freakishly dark.

Self help, spirituality, and conspiracy theories- the making of a skeptic.

Okay, pre-pandemic and even up until 2021, I was really deep into my New Age spirituality. Much of that journey continues today. However, I’ve backed off of the “church of high vibes” as one expert puts it. I’ve learned that there are times one has to take the good with the bad. One can’t simply live all happy (and delusional) all of the time. It’s not all sunshine and unicorn farts out there.

I will say that the positives usually outweigh the negatives. We still live in a largely benevolent Universe. Plenty of good things do still exist in the world, both great and small. Be the change you want to see. What’s the best that can happen.

However, I have backed wayyy off on my self development and self growth journey. My attitude changed dramatically toward one mentor when she basically started dealing in, uh, death and destruction while simultaneously supporting a certain governor who wants to literally kill two of my kids and many of my friends. We don’t play that around here, and it makes it very hard to believe someone who does a massive 180 degree personality flip.

I don’t begrudge anyone for making money or even necessarily how they make it. I have seen some self help or even spiritual gurus who have shown their true colors to be strictly green, as in the almighty dollar. A lot of the people I used to listen to everyday seem to have a class, a book, or some other crock of sh🦆t to sell in order to pay for their Costa Rican commune. (NONE of what I said applies to Sharon H. She’s the real deal.) But some of the rest of em? Yeah…😬

And when did “conspiracy” become such a negative thing again? Damn Q Anon! The powers that be are winning again, I see. It’s given the Tinfoil Hat Society a bad name again. I’m here to tell you- not all conspiracies are false and not all conspiracy theorists are crazy evil. Quite the opposite, in fact. But don’t take my word for it, wait and see what happens between now and 2030. The world is overdue for some pretty intense and bizarre changes during the rest of this decade. Keep an eye and an ear open.

Seriousness aside, embrace the power of TableTop RolePlaying Games!

Once upon a time, I thought gaming was life. If I wasn’t at work or tending the kids, I was eyeballs deep in something TTRPG related. I took a couple of years off when meditation and spirituality became my main focus. Then I discovered that plenty of my New Age family have spiritual lives and fun around the gaming table too. Who knew, right?

Being unemployable also nudged me to explore other avenues of possible income, and why not the hobby I’ve been in all my life? After a bit of a falling out with the Ufology and ET community on Twitter, I came to embrace my #ttrpgfamily on Twitter and Instagram. I still believe wholeheartedly in ETs and I can’t wait to show them their first dungeon crawl adventure. (Not kidding.) But toxic gamers aside, I’ve found a very warm, caring crowd in the #ttrpgcommunity.

Thank you for being here! I appreciate it. Next month holds all kinds of potential.