I admit it! I’m in it for the money, but not just for the money, I’m in the blogosphere to grow and to open up new doors that I haven’t been able to before. I’ve noticed that when I work for an hourly wage I exchange my time for a set amount of cash. When I hire people my time becomes more valuable as a manager and I make more, but my time is still taken up looking after people and other parts of the business. I need the time and resources to do the things that I like to do in midlife. Like follow my dreams and watch them unfold.

“Follow your bliss.”

Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it.

Joseph Campbell

Recycled Alberta wheat pool elevator

I’ve used this philosophy in the past and it always seems to work out. I’ve tried my hand at many things in my life, one of which was to build our 2000 square foot home out of recycled material for less than $30,000 dollars. I didn’t have a lot of money when I bought my first piece of land and as luck would have it the real estate market was down at the time. I knew where I wanted to live, but lived about 450 miles away.

I use to receive the real estate paper from Vancouver Island while in Calgary and I found a 5 acre lot that I could not afford to go and see, after a bit of negation I was able to purchase the land sight unseen and it took about another 6 month before I was able to afford to come and see it for real. I figured that even if it was Florida swamp land, it wouldn’t be the end of the world and it was time to take a bit of a gamble to spice my life up, or continue on the same path that would have been nice, safe and would probably been more of the same.

On seeing my 5 acre estate covered with trees, I was a lot more impressed than I thought that I might be. For the next 3 years I collected good windows, doors, wood siding and anything else that I thought I could use to make my house with. I even went as far as to help demolition an Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevator for the wood and beams. Then I loaded the materials and my possessions  into a 48’ semi with the help of some friends and shipped to my property. It took a while to build the house but at the end I had no mortgage. The  friends that had thought that I was crazy in the beginning doing this, had to eat their hats (and NO! I had no building experience, however by the end I could carpenter, wire, plumb, drywall and a host of other skills.) Don’t let fear and common sense get in the way.

I like to step out on a limb and try new ideas and midlife should be no different. The whole blog idea is one of those ideas. I really enjoy the process as I’m learning about blogging and computers and thing I didn’t even know existed. From the feedback that I have received so far, other people have found the subjects I have written about interesting, useful and even inspiring too. The feedback that I receive is also gratifying and inspiring to me on my midlife quest and helps me  keep my blog on track.

I really like this forum because it forces me to be honest with myself and also to take chances and risks that I could normally avoid by not full showing up as I am without an image to uphold. Midlife is more enjoyable and gets lighter as I find others in the same place that want to move forward and they also have some great ideas to share.  I find living on the edge brings me to life again. As someone once said “Don’t be afraid your life will end. Be afraid that it will never begin”.

So a couple of thoughts that I think are worth sharing is that blogging is fun, rewarding and whether you make a fortune or not, it really doesn’t matter. I have found that it’s a journey, a process, and the trip has opened up possibilities and avenues that I would not have experienced in life otherwise. It also has brought new friends into my circle. As I write about my past experiences I realize all the things that I have accomplished in my life that I normally overlook, and don’t give myself a lot of credit for, are in fact real achievements.

Secondly as part of my multi-point plan, I need to make an income, enough that I can afford to do the things I want to do and follow my dreams. I also want to follow my heart by doing something rewarding while making that living. I feel a great passion and excitement creating and sharing this blog, because it meets my purpose for being on this planet.  By sharing my experiences and hopefully helping and inspire others to grow and take the next step I hope I can help others to create their dreams. It’s really easy to sit and wait for something to happen, but it’s a lot more exciting making a choice to create the next steps and see what unfolds, like a flower coming out of its bud.

It’s a bit like being a scientist doing a blog, I get to try all kinds of things out, some will work and some will not, there are no failures, just ways that don’t work, as Edison said. So if you should get inspired to give it a shot “Don’t let fear and common sense get in the way”