classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

[7Wannabe5]

I was already lazy style self-employed when the recession hit in 2008/9, and I noticed that this had the unexpected benefit of providing me with more interesting unemployed adults to play with during the usual workday/week hours.

So, I would suggest scheduling yourself time/opportunities for social interactions during the hours when most other people are available and scheduling solo tasks for other times. It is possible that you might have to alter your sleep/exercise/eating schedule or budget some amount of money to make this work. If your SO works a normal person schedule, you may also have to trade up some couple time for some group and/or same gender sociability time.

[Western Red Cedar]

@CL - I've been following the discussion regarding social networks and relationships, and it's something I've thought about for a while. I think the bar is probably much lower to find "interesting" people, versus those on the fringe. There are a lot of people living conventional lifestyles who are thoughtful,intelligent and have some interesting hobbies.

I think some of the challenge is that when you get older less of your peers are doing interesting stuff or leading unconventional lives. Jacob talked about this in terms of phases of life, and the challenge of jumping into a phase (travel/career/kids, etc.) when most of your peers have already moved along. This seems to correspond with Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory that peaked my interest when I was studying psychology: https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriks ... nt-2795740

You mentioned that getting back to your mindset in your early 20's would be highly compatible with ERE. That is true for me as well. One of the reasons is everyone is on a similar track at that age. It's not a big deal to live in a house with 6 other people. Most are living paycheck to paycheck and many are willing to quit their job on a whim to take of on a road trip or other adventures. Adventure and novelty tend to take precedence over security and stability at that age.

I tried to extend this period for as long as possible because I highly value adventure and novelty. I noticed while I was still bouncing around the world in my mid-twenties people were partnering up, establishing careers, and buying houses. I decided to go back to grad school in my late twenties and establish a career. I worried that I wasn't pushing myself enough.

Anyway...in terms of building relationships I'd second Fingeek's recommendation. Before the pandemic, I had planned to join a local mycology group and take a course through the local Mountaineers. Other ideas I've pursued in the past or thought about are a local fermentation group (my physical therapist was stoked when I told him about my Kimchi and told me about this group), a trail-building non profit, my neighborhood community garden, ,habitat for humanity, and a local non-profit that supports emerging artists. DW found a really interesting social circle through an adult ballet class. Most of her friends were 20 years older, but they had a lot in common. Yoga is probably another good option. A book club could also work.

In addition to age, I think geography can factor in. I've found that people in larger cities tend to be doing really interesting stuff into their 30's, 40's or later. The Pacific Northwest tends to attract or nurture a lot of these kind of people (Portland is notorious for it).

I also tend to be a lot more social if I'm not hanging out with DW. When I travel alone I meet all kinds of interesting people.

[classical_Liberal]

...

[Western Red Cedar]

I should also add that in my experience you often only need to make one connection, and that person will introduce you to a large social circle of interesting, creative people. I've noticed that creative people tend to congregate in similar circles.

[suomalainen]

Over five hours spent deleting over 2100 posts that encapsulated at least hundreds of hours of thought. That's a real shame.

[mooretrees]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. What is happening here?!

[fingeek]

[mooretrees]

Is he really gone? What a freakin' bummer.

[McTrex]

What a pity...what is going on lately? I hate it when people you've followed for years on very interesting journeys just suddenly go. There is always so much to learn from these journals...please stop deleting them.

[guitarplayer]

Hope you ctrl+c ctrl+v 'ed it all somewhere

[disk_poet]

I've stepped away from the forum for a while and am just now discovering all the deletion. Just wanted to say that seeing the content gone makes me sad. Especially this journal has been an inspiration for me and showed me what was possible. Thanks @c_L for posting in the first place. I am sad it's all gone.

[wolf]

Many thanks for all the posts over the last 10 years @classical_Liberal

[RooBadley]

Hi cL.

Two plus years ago the aircraft I work on was stuck in customs at a port in South America for 21 days. I had to stay very close to the hotel because we could get the call at any moment to go retrieve it from the docks.

My coworkers hated the experience but I was just fine with it. My first deep dive into ERE was iDave's original journal and yours.
I totally and permanently altered the course of my life that month. Thank you sincerely. Happy trails.