Is it spring yet..? Living off-grid in the wintertime brings unique challenges. Although I live in a developed country I choose to live on rural acres where the only electricity available is that captured from the sun or a generator. Spoiled by extreme quiet. (what is extreme quiet? Imagine no human noises, the loudest noises are from tinnitus ringing in your ears playing the tunes from back in the day, machine-gun fire's rat-tat-tat, or whatever it is that damaged the tender parts of your ears. Spoiled by said quiet, a generator's noise is heard for a mile or so. Therefore we use it as little as possible. Long periods of dark mean cold weather. And I know many of you are still wondering how to find a place free of human noise or wondering why I would want that.

Much of the dark is spent feeding woodstoves or managing propane heaters. Imagine all the stuff taken for granted in the developed world and producing it all yourself. That is winter off-grid. Am I complaining? Almost. The forced priority change does take a bit to get used to. The wait for "things to warm up" whether it be the woodstove, a propane heated room, or my computer forces me to slow my pace. Something that fights the military part of me. Somehow I am still moving on from the "go as hard as you can until you drop" mentality. I'm sure many of you can relate, military history or not, what is in motion tends to stay in motion. Regardless, the point I seem to be headed to is, a forced slow-down of pace still serves me positively by keeping me present in my day, resting my body while reading, and giving my brain time to solve world hunger or so it thinks. It is easy for me to complain about a forced change and yet this is why I choose this life. The simplifying of things and moving from overcomplicated hustle and bustle to a life that serves me more positively, even in the frustrating moments.

Coming soon to my social media, author read excerpts from HBD, Mongers, and The Tripper Series. I have a few of my works on Audible, Yet I thought it would be fun for you all to hear the author read. Since I tend to write in the cadence that I speak in, it will give you a live author voice to attach to storylines. Producing these short videos is a good stretch for this reclusive introvert. Stretches are a way of life for me, a way to help me, help me. A way to get what I say I want and grow as a human in the process.

I hope your January is treating you well, whether you are experiencing winter or summer, let it be a month of growth and acceptance. Stretch yourself in a healthy way and accept that the earth is in charge of light, dark, warm, and cold. All we can do is adapt, and that in itself is a way of life.