Western Red Cedar's Journal

[Married2aSwabian]

Another strategy that I've thought about more recently is volunteering on organic farms through WWOOF. If I take this approach, I will likely mix in volunteer stints with 1-2 months of budget travel. Currently, I'm envisioning mixing in some cheap beach destinations with thick books in between WWOOFing.

Hey, WRC, I found this entry from waaaaaay back in 2020 while searching for WWOOF.

Just learned about this organization recently and seems like something that would be very cool to incorporate into our adventures in the coming year or two. It looks like most ask for about 25 hours of work / week in exchange for room and board only. Did you end up digging further into it or have you worked at one? Looks like the PNW has greatest number of WWOOF farms in US.

[Western Red Cedar]

@M2aS - I'm probably not the best source of information on WWOOFing as I've never done it. I did do quite a bit of research over the last year couple years though. DW also interned at a farm for a summer in college who regularly hosted WWOOFers. She confirmed what I've heard elsewhere. If you are there for a short period of time (less than a couple weeks) then you will probably be doing a lot of grunt work. The more experience or skills you bring to the farm, the more opportunities you'll have to work on interesting projects.

I think it could be a great option for meaningful travel through the PNW. I'd also encourage you to look at opportunities in British Columbia. I was thinking about FI life if DW was still working, and thought about doing some cycle touring through the PNW and BC, with stays at different farms between each leg of the trip. The farms I looked at in BC seemed great.

WWOOFIng through the PNW not only cuts down on travel costs, but also allows you to directly tap into a really cool community. You'd probably have some great access to beautiful day hikes or weekend backpacking trips anywhere you decide to stay. The hosts would be an excellent source of knowledge.

I have a bit more hesitation about setting up a long-term stay in Central or S. America. Based on my research, I heard some mixed reviews from international WWOOFers. Right now I'm leaning towards avoiding organizing any long-term stays, and relying more on word-of-mouth from travelers in Central and S. America about the best farms and living situations.

[Married2aSwabian]

Perfect, thanks very much for the feedback, WRC. Yeah, BC and Nova Scotia are places on our travel radar … maybe not this year, but in the next few.

Sounds like kind of a catch 22 with the assignments one gets vs how long you stay. I think if you hit it off with the people you work with and it’s a decent location, the rest will flow. For us, it should help that we had our own 5 acre farm for 14 years: it’s as much about being a bit homesick for that lifestyle and access to healthy produce for our vegetarian diet. We wouldn’t necessarily even need the room, since we’ll be set up to camp…I’m sure each situation will be a different month to month gig to negotiate!

Initially, I found this site when searching for organic farm temp help: https://www.ramblinfarmers.com/blog/how ... k-on-farms
But that is more geared towards those who want to do it full time for pay. Maybe of interest for others here?

[Western Red Cedar]

February Update

Financial:

NW - 441,518 (decrease of 14,548). I front loaded my Roth IRA in early January. I've played around with DCA, front loading, or trying to buy the dips for my Roth. It's almost laughable how bad my track record is on this front. When I've decided to DCA the market has taken off in the first few months. When I've decided to front load it, the market tanks at some point in the first six months. Strategically buying the dips was somewhat successful, but it required quite a bit of mental energy. This all just reaffirms my thinking that front loading is the best near-term option for me. I'm usually sitting on at least 2 years of expenses, and it relieves some of the headspace with that account. It is a nice balance also as I DCA my 457.

The positive spin on the dip is that it didn't affect me at all emotionally or psychologically. In my seven years of investing I've never been affected much by any of the dips or corrections I've experienced. Some of the emotional reaction is likely muted because I'm still working. I think the bigger factor is that I'm constantly waiting for a recession or correction, as the CAPE has seemed really high for a long time.

I see my emotional reactions as a good sign for my long-term investing prospects, but I think the true test will come when I experience a 20%+ drop when I'm no longer working.

Goals and Habits:

I finished my first full month of tracking my goals and habits. This was partially inspired by the @AxelHeyst mastermind group and his Getting Things Done system, and partially inspired by the detailed tracking in some of the journals here. I'm tracking things I want to accomplish or work on on a weekly basis. It is a little odd in that the first day of the year was a Saturday, so I'm tracking from Saturday through Friday and then repeating. The practice has visibly impacted some of the things I wanted to work on.

The two biggest improvements are regular Spanish practice, and an increase in reading for pleasure. I've also been really consistent with daily meditations, stoic reflections, and gratitude journals. I only missed 1 daily meditation last month, and completed 57 of 62 of my gratitude journal entries. I hiked or walked between 51-55 miles last month, and finished 8 yoga sessions. I still haven't started my lifting regime back up, but will probably do it in the next couple of weeks. I've been relying on walking, intermittent fasting, yoga, and at-home ab workouts to keep up with my physical goals.

Guitar is the one habit I didn't spend too much time on this month. I tend to play for 30-60 minutes on the weekend. I've mostly used this tracking system to observe where I'm spending my time and how much time I'm spending on particular activities. I may decide to refine it so it is less of a passive tracking system in the future.

I improved on my anemic reading habit over the last few months. I finished Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, The Starship and the Canoe by Kennith Brower, and the Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I also started Bob Dylan Chronicles Vol. 1, which I read about 15 years ago, shortly after it came out. I picked a couple easy fiction books to make some progress early in the year.

The Starship and the Canoe was quite interesting and has some ERE parallels. It follows Freemon Dyson and George Dyson. Freemon Dyson is a world renowned physicist who was trying to develop a spaceship using atomic explosions to propel the craft. His son George basically drops off the grid and ends up living in a treehouse, 95 ft. of the ground, in British Columbia. George is perfecting his own kayak and baidarka designs based on indigenous boats that were no longer used or in fashion. I naturally gravitated to the story of George Dyson and his adventures along the BC and Alaskan shorelines. It was pretty wild to see everything that Freemon and George accomplished that wasn't even covered in the Book. Here is a short video with visuals of all of this:

https://vimeo.com/124182572

Professional:

A good month at work. I've been actively trying to better manage my stress, and I think the daily meditation and stoic reflections help with this. Things are ramping up though, and I've got a lot on my plate over the next couple of months. I need to review my notes on Deep Work, keep away from distractions like podcasts or my phones, so I can keep making progress and refrain from falling behind.

I'm also committed to taking more regular, week-long breaks this year even though I've got a lot of deadlines. Blocked off a week in April to take a vacation with DW, and may take another in May. Looking forward to some longer trips this summer, assuming we don't pack it up and hit the road for some long-term vagabonding at that point.

[mountainFrugal]

I like to hear that tracking is helping you achieve your goals and account for you time. My partner and I will watch this video later for inspiration. You might enjoy this video of Freeman, Esther, and George Dyson from long now foundation. Many of the predictions they had in this 2005 video are now coming true. https://longnow.org/seminars/02005/oct/ ... far-ahead/

[Kriegsspiel]

Did you like RP2?

I thought RP1 was super, but I couldn't even finish RP2.

[take2]

I also recently finished both RP1 and RP2. I enjoyed both of them but the second one seemed to be more of a cash grab by the author than anything else. Seemed essentially to just try and repeat the plot of the first which I thought was a bit unfortunate as there was a lot of potentials within the world that was created.

+1 on hearing WRC’s thoughts.

[Western Red Cedar]

I started RP2 and after a couple pages I had to stop and ask DW about major plot points and characters from the first book. I read RP1 in 2019, but it was on a long vacation and I was reading a lot of books at the time. RP1 was definitely better IMO, but I cruised through RP2 in 3 or 4 days, so I guess that is an indication I enjoyed it. One of the main features I enjoyed in the first book was all of the nostalgia and pop culture from the 80's and 90's, particularly around video games, tv, and movies. That was definitely present in the second book, but it seemed like Cline integrated everything much more seamlessly in the first book. The pop culture/narrative was much more siloed in RP2, so you'd be reading 60 pages about Prince, John Hughes, or Lord of the Rings. If one of the quests revolved around a topic you don't care about, it becomes a bit of a struggle to get through that part.

I don't think it was necessarily a cash grab by Cline. I remember looking up some interviews with the author after finishing RP1 to find out if a sequel was in the works. He had already started writing it, and it seemed like there was a pretty large demand from his fanbase. Though I'm sure the publisher and book deals didn't dissuade him from moving forward with a sequel. I think the problem with RP2 was that he was trying to replicate the successful features from RP1 - nostalgia, easter egg hunt, community among loners/gamers, commentary on technology addiction, and dystopia. He just fell kind of flat. It reminds me of a common challenge among musicians when following up a successful first album. They are kind of trapped by the success of their initial work. That work may have been the result of a decade of thinking, tinkering, and redrafting. It is hard to trap lightning in a bottle multiple times.

@mf - thanks for the link. The image quality in that video is pretty hilarious, but I look forward to listening to the conversation when I get a chance. How did you hear about the Dysons?

[mountainFrugal]

I had read Scientist as Rebel when it came out and have been generally interested in the Longnow Foundation. The Dyson's have been regular contributors. I did not know the background of George though until I watched the video you posted. Interesting family. I would like to read The Starship and the Canoe. Now on the list!

[Western Red Cedar]

Random ERE Thoughts on my Mind:

I'm a couple months into an experiment of not washing my jeans. I can't remember if I heard about this on the forum, or via an article, but apparently one doesn't really ever need to wash jeans. I'd been doing it my whole life. No bad smells or ill effects from this experiment thus far. The only issue is that I spilled my sourdough starter on them once or twice, which took some spot scrubbing.

I made it out for my first bike ride since lat November last weekend. It felt really great. I did a 12 mile back and out ride. After I hit the five mile point on the trail I was running into some pretty heavy snow and ice. Lots of fishtails but I managed to stay upright. I'm hoping to head out for another ride today as I think we are supposed to get more snow this week. I'm really looking forward to Spring and spending more time outdoors. I usually get out for a walk along a creek or river 4-5 times per week, but excited to start hitting other trails as the ice melts.

Inspired by Mathiverse, I'm hoping to make my own jerky for the first time this week. My parent's purchased half a cow for the first time from a local farmer before Christmas. They gave us some beef for Christmas and will give us more when we want it. I typically don't eat a lot of red meat, but I'm excited to tackle a new cooking project. I'll make a homemade Teriyaki sauce for the marinade, and it should be fairly simple as we have a dehydrator.

Last weekend I met up with a bunch of friends for a Super Bowl party. I realized this was the first time I'd hung out in person with friends since November. A lot of them were ribbing me for basically disappearing for the last few months. I've hung out with family, and usually am pretty happy to chill at home with DW on the weekends or do my own thing. I'm on some group text threads with most of these people, but I may need to make some extra efforts to see people IRL.

[Salathor]

Random ERE Thoughts on my Mind:

I'm a couple months into an experiment of not washing my jeans. I can't remember if I heard about this on the forum, or via an article, but apparently one doesn't really ever need to wash jeans. I'd been doing it my whole life. No bad smells or ill effects from this experiment thus far. The only issue is that I spilled my sourdough starter on them once or twice, which took some spot scrubbing.

A good choice! I've been a non jean washer for years. I end up washing my jeans probably 3-6 times a year, usually age a big construction project or after sitting in something objectionable enough that I worry about my daughters rubbing their faces on my pants when they hug me.

Otherwise, I don't generally wash for anything. Even reasonably noticeable stains will usually blend in in a day or two and not be detectable any more unless you're really looking.

[Western Red Cedar]

March Update

Financial:

NW - $436,391 (Decrease of 5,127)

Another drop in the markets, but it isn't really phasing me. We are probably down another 5k or so at the moment after the last few days. Finances are more or less on autopilot these days and don't take up a lot of headspace. It is a little disappointing hitting a 75% target a couple months ago only to watch it drop back down, but really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I finished our taxes last weekend and used it as an opportunity to review my last five years earnings. This allowed me to create an accurate prediction of my estimated pension payout and add another tab to my FI spreadsheet. I'm grateful DW and I have opportunities to make a decent income while working to improve our communities.* I know I could make a bunch more money in the private sector, but I'd rather make less money and work on projects that I believe in. I often read stories about the 6-figure salaries in the FI sphere, and it sounds like people are miserable. I wonder why more people don't transition to the public sector, a non-profit, or a smaller company so they can engage in work they believe in.

*ETA - DW has never made over 30K, and has made less than 15K the last two years. I suppose the term decent is relative, but it is all good when spending at ERE levels.

Health and Fitness:

I've gained a few pounds since the beginning of the year. I've tried to stay active during the winter, but have been eating too many carbs and not moving enough. My tendonitis is finally healing up. I've started my lifting routine and it feels amazing adding that to my walks and yoga. My 5-6 days per week at the gym was too much. On top of that, I was doing too many sets and adding isolated lifts at the end of my workouts. I'm going to transition to 3-4 days per week and try to keep it to 45 minutes of lifting - 60 minutes max.

We are still getting periodic snow storms, but it warmed up a lot this week and also rained, so much of the snow in lower areas seems to have melted. I'm going to take the mountain bike out this afternoon and hope to complete a 20 mile ride. I'm looking forward to spending more time outdoors on the weekends as the days get longer and the snow in the mountains starts to melt.

I've cut dairy out of my diet and probably haven't eaten any for two weeks. It was easier than I thought, except when DW made some ridiculously delicious homemade mac and cheese with a rich rue and some Devon sharp cheddar. I've also started drinking coffee again. I've been having one cup in the morning, followed by a cup of black or green tea. I'm not feeling anxious or jittery after the caffeine, which is great as I love the taste and ritual of coffee. Tea is nice too, but doesn't have the same bite or flavor.

The daily meditation, stoic reflection, and gratitude journals are fairly solidified habits. I'm sure the meditation is playing some role in decreased anxiety. A gratitude practice helps as well - encouraging me to focus less on myself and more on others and what the world is providing.

I finished Katy Bowman's A Simple Guide to Foot Pain Relief last month and have followed her foot strengthening protocols for a couple weeks now. I'm currently reading her follow up book - Whole Body Barefoot. She has provided the most comprehensive guide to foot pain relief that I've seen after searching for the last 7+ years. I think I had a lot of the pieces of the puzzle in front of me via independent research and consulting with PTs. Bowman simply helped me put those pieces together through a holistic view of the body and a focus on biomechanics. This is pretty exciting as the notion of walking across Scotland, Spain, or the US seems much less daunting. I've got hope that I'll be able to move long distances again without a nagging pain in my right heel.

Future plans:

I've noticed more national media attention on my hometown in regards to housing prices. After looking at a couple articles I decided to check out Zillow. It was wild seeing how much prices had jumped in the last 6-12 months. I realized that I probably won't buy a house here barring a major change in life circumstances or drop in the housing market. We could still afford one if we were comfortable with a traditional life path, but I can't justify spending 350-450k on a house that cost half of that a couple years ago.

I talked to DW again and she is on board with a plan to slow travel for a year or so. After that we'd use my family property as a home base for 3-6 months of the year and spend 6-9 months living in different international cities. This would provide the benefits of solitude and access to nature, along with the excitement and culture of larger cities. It would also allow me to help maintain and work on the property as my parents get older. My dad told me they have plenty of acreage, so there are a lot of opportunities up there. The downsides are the environmental impacts of international travel twice a year, and the limitations on projects we could engage in on the homestead (gardening, animal husbandry, etc...).

This is all subject to change, and really only a rough outline for how things could play out. Perhaps after a while on the road, we'll be craving the security and stability of a more permanent home base.

We are pushing back the travel plans to the summer of 2023, but will take a lot of fun regional trips this summer while DW is out of work. DW found a really great counselor a few months ago who specializes in EMDR. A big impetus for delaying travel is to give her time to work through some deep rooted issues. We've been having a lot of deep conversations over the last six months about all of this, and I'm learning a lot about childhood trauma, mental health, and how early experiences linger through our adult lives. I've recently discovered Dr. Gabor Mate's research and put a hold on one of his books at the library.

By mid 2023, it is possible we will be at or close to household FI, but we are just taking things week by week. We are on a month to month lease, so we have the freedom to change our plans whenever we want.

[2Birds1Stone]

Lovely update WRC. The housing market has been nuts and shows no signs of slowing down. We were hoping to be in a position to buy this year but it's looking less and less likely. International travel has lost a lot of its appeal between Covid and WWIII brewing in Europe.

[MBBboy]

The housing part is tough, but I don't think anyone should count on waiting until prices "come down". It's unlikely that they will - you'll just see a deceleration in the increases. If a house cost 400K more now than it did a few years ago, that's just the approximate new price going forward. It's no going to drop 400K in a year or two - people would just not sell / stay put before they took a 400K bath.

[theanimal]

Where would you like to hike in Scotland? One of my NOLS instructors spent 2 months wandering around The Highlands. That idea has held some appeal for me as well since hearing that.

Regarding your housing: it seems like with the family property and the desire to travel you're in a good position to wait and see what happens. You're not going to buy at these levels any ways so if it gets any higher in your hometown it won't really change anything. However if the opposite occurs, you won't be left wishing you weren't saddled with something else.

[Western Red Cedar]

Where would you like to hike in Scotland? One of my NOLS instructors spent 2 months wandering around The Highlands. That idea has held some appeal for me as well since hearing that.

The John Muir Way called out to me. I really like the idea of walking entirely across a country. The websites below have endless options for walking and hiking through Scotland. It is an ideal place for this type of adventure in my opinion due to the scenery and tolerance for camping on private land.

I've been focusing a lot more on travel and adventure in my downtime. Until a few months ago, I still had a lingering notion of buying a house. I'm now in a mental state of being comfortable with long-term vagabonding, and would be comfortable being nomadic over the next 5-10 years.

Last week I learned more about hiking and biking Scotland. I was vaguely familiar with the right to roam philosophy from Ken Ilgunas, but hadn't thought seriously about doing some long-term hikes or bicycle trips there:

https://www.scotlandsgreattrails.com/

The John Muir Way crosses the country and looks appealing. The Speyside Way goes through half of Scotland's malt whiskey distilleries, so that has a certain allure. Lots of amazing options

https://www.speysideway.org/

Hiking or biking in Scotland and Ireland represents a good option for travel in more expensive regions.

Funny enough, it was almost exactly a year ago that I posted this and seemed to have the same thoughts on my housing situation . This is clearly a dynamic that has weighed on me for a while.

@2B1S - I think there is wisdom to waiting for a bit on the housing decisions at your age (and my age). It is easy to get sucked into a FOMO mindset, but taking a couple years to explore may reveal dramatically lower costs with a better quality of life. A cheap international home base could allow one to take a few months out of the year to rent an AirBnb in the US and visit friends and family. I also think that if I really feel strongly about moving back to a HCOL location in the US, I could do so in my mid 40's or early 50's. You and others in the FI community have demonstrated that it isn't too hard to find employment after taking long breaks. I don't think it would be particularly challenging to find work again, qualify for a mortgage, and ramp up the savings rate to pay for the desired lifestyle over the course of a couple years. This isn't necessarily an ERE-friendly option, but an option nonetheless.

@MBBboy - I certainly don't anticipate huge drops in the housing market. I do see a number of indicators that the market is overvalued or feeling bubbly in my area. I'm just not willing to rush into bidding wars in a tight market when I don't see the underlying value. It will be interesting to see how increasing interest rates affect demand.

------

The ability to work from home changed a fairly traditional driver of the housing/labor balance. Housing demand is often correlated with regional employment opportunities. The closer one is to the employment center (often a commercial business district but not always) the more expensive the housing unit. Things changed dramatically in 2020, and I think this is one of the factors driving up costs in my hometown. I think the genie is out of the bottle on the work from home issue.

I'm also thinking about larger demographic trends. Another factor impacting cost increases is that millennial have reached prime home-buying ages. Boomers are often choosing to age in place. These are the nations two largest cohorts. At some point this is no longer feasible for boomers, so it will be interesting to see how Boomers downsizing may shake things up.

Lastly, a lot of state and local governments and loosening up local regulations on density and zoning in response to dramatically rising housing prices. While most of the new construction will probably be expensive, a filtering effect will likey occur throughout broader metropolitan markets. It may also create more alternative choices, which are naturally lower in cost than the 3500 sf single family home.

[Western Red Cedar]

I went into the office for a formal work day for the first time in two years earlier this week. It was a bit surreal. My managers are strongly encouraging (though not currently requiring) in-person work for two designated days per month to collaborate and maintain some team camaraderie. I told my supervisor that this is a bit misguided, since we've started hiring from throughout the state. Everyone understands it isn't really reasonable to ask new hires to commute multiple hours to sit in the office for a couple meetings that they could participate in through a video call. I told my supervisor this seemed like a poorly developed policy designed by an extrovert who is resistant to working effectively in a changing work environment, and probably didn't have enough substantive work on their plate. No arguments from my supervisor on that perspective.

I was feeling a bit anxious about going back in but decided I should do it this week just to get it out of the way. I live pretty close to my office and can walk there, but it requires extra time in the morning to get dressed, prepare a lunch, and walk in. I'm not really planning on going in that often and told my supervisor that, but I'm okay popping in for an in-person meeting if I think there is some value with direct communication or collaboration on a particular project. The experience this week confirmed much of what I previously experienced in the open office environment - lots of chit chat and distractions outside of scheduled meetings that didn't allow me to engage in any deep work.

It is nice to have some seniority, autonomy, and the confidence to speak directly on policies with which I disagree. I try to avoid adopting a negative or cynical mentality/tone too often, but I also speak my mind these days when I disagree with something. I basically just let my management team know that I've been tracking my productivity for years, and if they want me to work efficiently and effectively I need to be working at home with minimal distractions. I'm fortunate to have a really solid and supportive management team who give me a lot of autonomy and flexibility.

[Western Red Cedar]

I want to snag the following the following quote to reflect on periodically. I've been thinking a lot lately about the self-defined scripts and narratives that are driving forces in my approach to life.

The thing is, once a constraint is lifted, you're free.  Once all the masks are off, you realize just how much of this song and dance we call life is scripted to cause you to behave in certain ways.  You're now off script and it is uncomfortable.  For some it will be enough to make them go back to living ins a simpler scripted land.  For others, being off script is no problem, and that largely has to do with your creativity in deciding your own path.  Thus, being off script means you're in trouble every minute from the moment you wake up.  What you do with this creativity could be anything from personal art to Gervais Principle style "Game Design" for those who can't live with this freedom.  Where you take it is all up to you.  

Seeing that a label like "retirement" is just that, a label. A label is a tool, both of value and of mind control. Once you see that, step one in taking away the control labels have.  Not to say labels aren't useful in communication, they are, but the trick is to use it rather than be mastered by it. Retirement as a label to describe not having a job is accurate as ever, retirement the social expectation only controls you if you let it.

Ultimately when you use systems to accomplish a behavior, you are trying to program yourself to behave in certain ways for long periods of time. The trick is you have to decide what you want the systems to do. What behavior do you want to be doing?  There are pre-existing scripts (think code, not dialogue), like the work-friend script or like Jacob's ERE script or you can cut your own from whole cloth.  What having free time from work does is make a hole where a work script used to fill in that time.   Again I can talk about the scripts I use, but I think your struggle is in realizing you can write your own scripts and then doing the hard work of programming the behavior.  It's a really interesting journey, no?

[Western Red Cedar]

I finished reading Gabor Mate's In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts a couple weeks ago. His ideas have had a pretty big impact on me over the last few months and have strongly encouraged me to engage in compassionate self inquiry. I've been proactively observing my behaviors, reactions, and emotions with more intention over the last 6 weeks, in an attempt to better understand my habits and tendencies.Trying to implement his recommendation for compassionate curiosity. Part of the reason the quote above resonated is that he talks a lot about scripts that result from adverse childhood experiences, that stick with us throughout adulthood. The book focuses a lot on substance abuse and his work in Downtown Vancouver with patients struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. But he's really looking at childhood trauma and how it continues to affect individuals throughout their lives. Mate discusses his own addictions - which are primarily to work and shopping. He posits that addiction exists on a spectrum, and society only tends to focus on substance abuse. Mate explores some of the more camouflaged addictions, and how they are socially acceptable. This led me to consider why I'm so focused on finances and financial independence, evaluate my media and internet habits, as well as my relationship to my work and career.

Here are some notes and quotes that grabbed my attention:

“Compulsion, impaired control, persistence, irritability, relapse, and craving - these are the hallmarks of addiction - any addiction….all addictions - whether to drugs or to non-drug behaviors - share the same brain circuits and brain chemicals.” Addiction has biological, chemical, neurological, psychological, medical, emotional, social, political, economic, and social underpinnings.

Research strongly suggests that the existence of relatively few dopamine receptors to begin with may be one of the biological bases of addictive behaviors. When our incentive-motivation system is impaired, addiction is one of the likely consequences.

“Brain development in the uterus and during childhood is the single most important biological factor in determining whether or not a person will be predisposed to substance dependence and to addictive behaviors of any sort, whether drug-related or not."

“The three environmental conditions absolutely essential to optimal human development are nutrition, physical security, and consistent emotional nurturing….The third prime necessity - emotional nurture - is the one most likely to be disrupted in Western societies. The importance of the point cannot be overstated: emotional nurturance is an absolute requirement for healthy neurobiological brain development.”

Human connections create neuronal connections. Children need to be in an attached relationship with at least one reliably available, protective, psychologically present, and reasonably non-stressed adult.

“An abnormal or impoverished rearing environment can decrease a thousand fold the number of synapses per axon (the long extension from the cell body that conducts electrical impulses toward another neuron), retard growth and eliminate billions if not trillions of synapses per brain, and result in the preservation of abnormal interconnections which are normally discarded over the course of development.”

“Happy, attuned emotional interactions with parents stimulate a release of natural opioids in an infant’s brain. This endorphin surge promotes the attachment relationship and the further development of the child’s opioid and dopamine circuitry. On the other hand, stress reduces the numbers of both opiate and dopamine receptors…When circumstances do not allow the infant and young child to experience consistently secure interactions, or, worse, expose him to many painfully stressing ones, maldevelopment often results.”

“Early trauma also has consequences for how human beings respond to stress all their lives, and stress has everything to do with addiction.”

“People are susceptible to the addiction process if they have a constant need to fill their minds or bodies with external sources of comfort, whether physical or emotional. That need expresses a failure of self-regulations - an inability to maintain a reasonably stable internal emotional atmosphere.” Some people never attain self-regulation. “…even in advanced adulthood they must rely on some external support to quell their discomfort and sooth their anxiety. They just cannot make themselves feel okay without such supports, whether they be chemicals or food or an excessive need for attention, approval, or love…A person with inadequate self-regulation becomes dependent on outside things to lift his mood and even t calm himself if he experiences too much undirected internal energy.”

“Compassionate curiosity directed toward the self leads to the truth of things. Once I see my anxiety and recognize it for what it is, the need to escape dwindles.”

[Western Red Cedar]

April Update:

March was a good month financially with a surprise uptick in the markets. As of March 31st, we were back above 75% of our household FI goal. I'm guessing we are below that mark with recent market activity as of mid-April. Honestly I'm less worried about finances than I've been in a long time. I think I'm beginning to let go of constant attention to the FI goal.

I've been continuing to focus on physical and mental health as part of my ERE Mastermind project. The Mate book was part of my deep dive into mental health, and I'm in the middle of Kelly McGonigal's The Upside of Stress. It offers a nice counterpoint to much of the information I've heard talking about the toxic effects of stress. You can check out her Ted Talk on the topic here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU

I finished Katy Bowman's Whole Body Barefoot and I'm doing her recommend foot/leg strengthening and stretching program on a daily basis. It seems to be helping, and I've convinced DW to jump on the barefoot shoe bandwagon as well. This was a surprise because she's been using orthotics for more than a decade, and had some debilitating foot pain as a result of intensive ballet and dance when she was younger. I've moved on to Katy Bowman's Movement Matters - Essays on Movement Science, Movement Ecology, and the Nature of Movement. This quote jumped out at me with ERE in mind:

"Our daily life is composed of a lot of seemingly innocuous ways we've outsourced the body's work. One of the reasons I've begun focusing just as much on non-exercisey movements as I do on exercise-type movements is that I feel that the ten thousand outsourcings a day during the 23/24ths of your time hold the most potential for radical change. Be on the lookout for these things. To avoid the movements necessary to walk around to all the car doors, or just to avoid turning your wrist, or to avoid gathering your tea strainer and dumping the leaves and leaning the strainer (in your dishwasher?), you have accepted a handful of garbage, plastic (future landfill), and a battery. To avoid the simple movements, you have -- without realizing it -- required other humans somewhere else in the world to labor endlessly, destroy ecosystems, and wage war...for your convenience.

Sedentarism îs very much linked to consumerism, materialism, colonialism, and the destruction of the planet. If you're not moving, someone else is moving for you, either directly, or indirectly by making STUFF to make moving not easier on you. You were born into a sedentary culture, so 99.9 percent of your sedentary behaviors are flying under the radar. Start paying attention. What do you see?"

As part of my MM project and in response to the compassionate inquiry prompt, I also decided to take four weeks off of alcohol. Some of the biggest upsides were better sleep throughout the week and more energy and productivity on the weekends. I ate pretty clean and maintained my regular lifting and exercise routines. I managed to lose four pounds last month and dropped an inch off my upper and lower waist.

DW and I went to Seattle for a week vacation and stayed with friends and family. I really enjoyed catching up with a bunch of people I hadn't seen for a long time. The social interaction was a nice contrast to a lot of alone time with DW over the winter. We lucked out with the weather and ate like royalty. It was generally a budget-friendly trip, but I realized it is kind of tough to practice ERE as a houseguest. There are only so many meals I can redirect back towards the kitchen, even when I'm offering to cook and buy groceries, when everyone else wants to go out or order food. We spent quite a bit at restaurants, hit up four different breweries, and did some outings with nephews to the zoo and mall. We also did some more ERE friendly activities like wandering through the farmers market to grab produce for a home-cooked meal, and multiple visits to different parks. I caught myself looking around at all the people eating out and shopping at times, and felt like a sociologist wondering about the insatiable consumer habits that are deeply ingrained.

The Chittenden Locks:



Views of the Olympic Mountains:



I also applied for a job, and have an interview scheduled later this month. It is with my current organization and not a huge promotion, but would come with a minor pay increase. It would allow me to work on different projects and continue building new professional skills. I'll likely only accept it if I can craft the job description to areas and projects I'm most interested in.