As a human being in todays society with a diverse variety of interests, it is highly probable to feel fractured. How do you reconcile all of the pieces of yourself into a whole when you show up differently to every subculture you're a part of? As a sober, artsy, nerdy, yogi, DIY, anarchist, meditator, crusty, metal head, aspiring musician and writer, I've found it to be quite challenging. Punks and metal heads barely get along, much less nerds and yogis, but the melting pot of todays media soaked society does allow for some crossover. It is rare that I will meet someone who shares more than 1 or 2 self identifying characteristics as me. I've come to the conclusion, however, that that isn't necessary for me to be happy. It is only necessary for me to fuse the different factions together within myself. The best solution I could come up with on how to do this was to quit my job and throw myself into all my different identities as vigorously as possible. The hardest transition I've found to make out of all of them was switching between work mode and any other. Now, with the nuisance of having to show up to a job and pretend to be a normal person for 40 hours a week out of the way, I'm hoping to merge all of my fringe interests into one complete package of awesomeness.
How will I pay the bills without going to work, you ask? First order of business is having less bills to pay. Without the steady stream of income of a 9 to 5, I am definitely going to have to change my spending habits to stay afloat. Since this period of unemployment was planned out ahead of time, I also will be able to draw upon funds I saved up over the last few months of working full time. Those savings will hopefully carry me through the first few weeks of unemployment during which time I'll be taking an 21 day immersive yoga teacher training course. After completing the course, I am going to attempt to begin generating some revenue as a part time yoga teacher right away. The plan after that is to supplement my teaching income with money from working odd jobs, temp or part time work while I also try my hand at writing and making art and music. The goal is to eventually phase out work in the traditional sense completely and live off of teaching yoga and other creative endeavors entirely.
I am building a DIY empire from scratch. With intentional awareness of how meta this is I will be chronicling my journey and using the chronicles as a vehicle to propel it onward. In other words, the very words you are reading are kick starting this punk rock renaissance. This is a trial by fire. Do it yourself or die.
