Listen to your BARK!

I knew the title would catch your attention! Today we crossed southern Georgia, but before we left the Savannah area I had to make a quick stop by Nine Line Apparel and Black Rifle Coffee Shop. I have always wanted a shirt from here…and I needed coffee too! I would have never known they were right here, but my google detour around one accident on 95 yesterday brought me right by their front door! They were kind enough to grind some fresh beans for my daily french press:

We are at Big Mikes for the night…Big Mike is Retired Special Forces Veteran who now runs a small ranch where he rescues horses and mules…he’s got some other critters in here too, but they haven’t come up to the camper yet. It’s a nice quiet spot to get a few hours of remote work in without a lot going on around me. Every hour or so I take Freedom out and toss the ball for a bit if the Donkey’s aren’t close so he can stretch his legs…when he goes under the trailer to get out of the sun I know it’s safe to go back in and get more done. Today was the first day on my trip that I collected any bugs on my windshield…everything is alive down here (except for those skeeters on my windshield RIP).

Anyway…back to that ass 🙂

If you know me…you would easily admit that my opposition to growing up has me do things from time to time that are…well, a little Jackasseryish (I hope that the NY times adds this to wordle).

Most of the time, my antics are well received and the only thing normally at risk is my my own humility which I offer free and graciously to those around me. But once in a while these things have put me in positions where I wish I hadn’t done what I did. Not often…but it happens from time to time. Boy…what an awful feeling that is. It’s hard to rationalize with and apologize to someone who was the victim of your behavior and let them know how truly sorry you are. Good intentions…gone wrong. But Jackassery is not solely to blame here, there are lots of other situations that come up in everyday life where our good intentions go wrong (or don’t go at all)…nevertheless the victim of the situation feels no different. Thinking back I remember countless times of forgetting to reply to emails, not invite ALL people to a meeting, not involve my wife in a decision because I wanted to “surprise her”…the list goes on (and on and on and on).

So, how do we cope with that? It’s easy to say that you just learn from your lesson, create a plan and not let it happen again right? NOT (well not for me). I think I lost grip of having control of my own plan along time ago…I didn’t allow for enough time to sit and create a new plan let alone execute one. As the victim count rises, self esteem crashes in the opposite direction.

My goal in life is to decrease this behavior…no, not by being less of a jackass (that’s kind of my trademark), but buy moving a bit slower through the day and making sure time is available to make new plans and correct course when I need to. There simply isn’t the need to RUN all day! Minimize distractions…oh, what a bad habit I have when it comes to distractions. How do you minimize distractions? Well…I think you don’t actually get to minimize them all (maybe turning off phones, planning some alone time etc) I think you have to make THEM wait when possible. In my world, my distractions are typically things that need to get fixed…sometimes quickly. Looking over the past few years, I dissolved my ability to tell the difference between what was urgent, and what was important (and…what wasn’t important at all). I literally taught the people around me that I would drop whatever I was doing to tend to something regardless of it’s urgency or importance. Being able to fix something for someone else on demand earns back some of that self esteem…but it’s short lasting (and perpetual). This is also an area I need to develop a better sense for. If any of you have a system for dealing with this in your life…please share!

So today was a little more of me admitting to my problems than ways to solve them…but hoping some of you would be kind enough to comment on some ways YOU deal with these situations. What’s that saying, “it takes a village to raise a jackass?” yeah…pretty sure that’s what it is~

Tomorrow we travel to the Fort Bayou Brewing Company in Ocean Springs Mississippi (you just spelled M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I in your head didn’t you). I’m sure I’ll find some good beers and I’m positive Freedom will continue to make new friends. He really is a super chill pup, loves people and LOVES other dogs…big or little it doesn’t matter to him. It’s currently 81F and the sun is beginning to lower…quit yer bitchen about the snow up in NH, it’s gonna be mosquito season soon! See you tomorrow! Until then…Let Freedom Ring!